02-09-2017, 06:33 PM
(02-09-2017, 05:05 PM)TeacherinExile Wrote: I'm no fan of Donald Trump, as I have indicated time and again. And to some extent, Steve Bannon seems to pose more of a risk to liberal democracy in America than does Trump. But at the ripe age of 62 years, I've learned to take predictions of catastrophe (World War III) with a yuge grain of salt. Attention must be paid in times of crisis, but is Bannon really playing Iago to Trump's Othello, as articles like this insinuate? Is Trump of one accord with Bannon's worldview about existential conflict with Islam and/or with China? What measures would the Trump administration have to take to make any of us conclude--and rightfully fear--that, yes, Bannon is steering us toward a geopolitical cataclysm, as a self-fulfillment of Fourth Turning prophecy?
That's a good question. I think Bannon is already pushing Drump in that direction, with the saber-rattling over Iran and the Muslim travel ban. This latter has also angered our Muslim allies in the fight against the IS. If this continues to rile our Muslim allies, then the IS may gain followers again and the Iraq-USA alliance could dissolve. That puts the battle with the IS squarely back in Trump's hands, with the need to send ground troops and the goal of seizing Iraqi oil fields. It makes a clash of civilizations the only route to victory over Muslim extremist jihadism, rather than working with Muslim allies. Then on top of that, you have Trump taking Netanyahu's side in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and exerting less control over Israeli desire to attack Iran. And now Trump is rumored to be appointing neo-cons like Elliot Abrams to high foreign policy positions, apparently yielding to Bannon's influence rather than holding to his own supposed non-intervention approach. We also have Trump backing Putin in the Syria conflict, which keeps another warlike tyrant in power there, and gives carte blanch for Russia to keep interfering in the region as a natural Bannon ally. All of this indicates a possible Bannon push toward the clash of civilizations, and it seems wise to be afraid of this; very afraid, or very concerned.