Opinion/Foreign Relations
Ken Timmerman’s Threat Watch, www.kentimmerman.com 12-12-25
| They’re calling it the “Trump Doctrine.” It’s the national security “pivot” from regions far-far away, to taking care of business right here in our own backyard. As I mention in my podcast with Prophecy Today, this document setting out America’s national securities priorities and how to accomplish them is written in Trump’s own very distinctive voice. Even the way it puts the question is pure Trump. From page 2:”1) What should the United States want? “2) What are our available means to get it? “3) How can we connect ends and means into a viable National Security Strategy?” I guarantee you, this is not the way policy wonks think. Or think tankers think. Or National Security Council staffers think and express themselves. This is Donald J. Trump through and through: clear, concise, to the point, without the peppermint stick ice cream. And what does it say? Well, for starters, gone are the great power adversaries and the doom and gloom of the Biden era, which demonized Russia and China. Yes, Trump recognizes that both are potential adversaries, but he also believes in the Art of the Deal: Let’s make money, not war. So instead of antagonizing Putin or Xi, Trump offers both of them partnerships — if they are wise enough to accept them. Does that amount to appeasement, as the Trump haters claim? Not in the least. As Dov Zakheim, a former senior Pentagon official under Bush 43 wrote this week at The Hill, “Taiwan also should have few quibbles” with the new strategy. “The document assigns priority to ‘deterring a conflict over Taiwan’… and it assures that ‘we will maintain our longstanding declaratory policy on Taiwan,’ meaning that the United States does not support any unilateral change to the status quo in the Taiwan Straight.” Full disclosure: Dov Zakheim was one of many Bush 43 national security officials who endorsed my run for Congress in 2012 against Chris Van Hollen, now the wannabe Socialist Senator from Maryland. The Trump haters – no surprise here – acquired what appears to have been an early draft of the new National Security Strategy and referred to it erroneously as a classified version of the full text. In that draft, some National Security Council staffer (and probable leaker) proposed that the United States encourage Poland, Hungary, Italy and Austria to pull out of the European Union and forge closer ties with the United States. As someone who lived in Europe for 18 years, let me tell you just how dumb an idea that is. The EU is hugely unpopular in those countries and several others, including France, the Netherlands, and yes, even Germany and Sweden. We don’t need to stoke the flames of the anti-EU populations in Europe: the EU is doing that quite well all by itself, thank-you. It is my belief that the EU will collapse on its own at some point because of the authoritarian overreach of the unelected bureaucrats who run things in Brussels. But that is Europe’s business, not ours. And Trump is the ultimate real-politician. He was not elected president to correct all the world’s ills, as some of his own unelected staffers believe they were sent to the White House to do. He just needs to set the example. Donald J. Trump was elected president of the United States to make America great again. And that starts, as he rightly states in this document (and every day on television and at campaign rallies) by securing our borders and securing our hemisphere. I was involved in writing an earlier draft of the National Security Strategy, but not a single line of what I wrote made it into the final document.  Why? Because the President knew better. It’s time for the so-called “experts” to politely close their mouths and stop leaking. This president has shown that he is light-years ahead of his own aides. He understands power in ways that few ever have the privilege to know. And now, to Venezuela. Attorney General Pam Bondi released delicious video this week of U.S. troops rappelling from helicopters onto the deck of a supertanker off the coast of Venezuela. She then announced that not only were we seizing the two million barrels of oil on board, but the ship as well – making it a $250 million to $300 million hit on the owners. Those kind of losses will go a long way to deter other shippers and black market oil dealers from hauling Venezuelan oil to markets beyond the reach of the United States military. What I find especially pleasing in the pressure the Trump administration is applying to Maduro, besides his desperate telephone call to Trump two weeks ago begging for amnesty, is the way Maduro’s backers are reacting. Vladimir Putin called Maduro this week to pledge his undying support. Thanks, Vlad. You and whose navy? Even the Ukrainians, who just three years ago had squat for a military, managed to sink the flagship of your Black Sea fleet. You don’t think US SouthCOM could do that and much more? Somehow, I don’t think much military support is going to flow from Russia to Venezuela. But my favorite is the Iranians. They have had a strategic partnership with Venezuela for more than twenty years. They have set up ballistic missile factories in Venezuela. They use the country as a hub for intelligence activities and to infiltrate terrorist operatives and drugs into the United States. And the two partner to violate international oil embargoes. When Venezuela has problems with their oil refineries, it’s the Iranians who send over the repair crews. This is yet another reason why I so love and respect our president. He is playing billiards in Venezuela. By encouraging Maduro to leave he is playing a bank shot that also strikes to the heart of the Iranian regime. Losing Maduro will be a huge loss for Tehran — and little to no cost to us. Join me this Saturday at 1 PM where I discuss this and other issues on Prophecy Today Weekend. As always, you can listen live on 104.9 FM or 550 AM in the Jacksonville, Florida area or by using the Jacksonville Way Radio app. You can download the podcast later here. Yours in freedom, Ken |
| Ken Timmerman’s 14th book of non-fiction, THE IRAN HOUSE: Tales of Revolution, Persecution, War, and Intrigue, can be ordered by clicking here or by viewing my author’s page, here. Raising Olives in Provence, can be ordered by clicking here. – Senior Fellow, America First Policy Institute (current) – Republican nominee for Congress, Maryland District 8 (2012) – President & CEO, Foundation for Democracy in Iran, www.iran.org – Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2006 Cell: 904-817-8584 NEW NUMBER Follow me on Twitter @kentimmerman Facebook: ken timmerman New personal email: [email protected] Website: kentimmerman.com |
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The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida.
