USA - Building a Wall Around America - the Isolationist Trump Doctrine and Strategy as unveiled by Donald Trump

A wall around America, instead 
of one between Mexico and US

President Donald Trump declared a new national security strategy on Monday,December 18, stressing the "America first" message of his 2016 campaign and faulting previous U.S. leaders for failing to measure up to it and look out for the nation's citizens. Isolation

"Our leaders engaged in nation building abroad while they failed to build up and replenish our nation at home," he said, pointing to the economy's strong performance and predicting even better under his policies.

His security strategy envisions nations in constant competition, reverses Obama-era warnings on climate change and affirms that the United States will unilaterally defend its sovereignty, even if that means risking existing the agreements with other countries that have dominated the United States' foreign policy since the Cold War.

The strategy from the Republican president could sharply alter U.S. international relationships if fully implemented. It focuses on four main themes: protecting the homeland, promoting American prosperity, demonstrating peace through strength and advancing American influence in an ever-competitive world.

Trump's doctrine holds that nation-states are in perpetual competition and that the U.S. must fight on all fronts to protect and defend its sovereignty from friend and foe alike. While the administration often says that "America First" does not mean "America Alone," the national security strategy makes clear that the United States will stand up for itself even if that means acting unilaterally or alienating others on issues such as trade, climate change and immigration.

Despite the risk of potential isolation presented by Trump's strategy, its fundamentals are not a surprise. The strategy emphasizes that U.S. economic security is national security. And it stresses that the U.S. is interested only in relationships with other countries, including in alliances such as NATO, that are fair and reciprocal.

The strategy also details the threats of "rogue regimes," like North Korea. It says that China and Russia "challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity."

Despite international challenges, the document cites emerging opportunities to advance American interests in the Middle East. "Some of our partners are working together to reject radical ideologies and key leaders are calling for a rejection of Islamist extremism and violence," it says. "Encouraging political stability and sustainable prosperity would contribute to dampening the conditions that fuel sectarian grievances."

Note EU-Digest: Obviously the President of the USA can and must do what in his eyes he believes is good for America. As to the EU, what is good for America, necessarily does not have to be good for the EU. Consequently, as has been written many times, the EU must stop being the "lapdog" of America, given its importance as a world class economy, with a population of close to half a billion people, and establish its own independent foreign policy based on EU principles and  priorities, and include a review of its military objectives within this context.

As to the leaders of European Populists and Nationalist parties, like Geert Wilders, Jean Marie Lr Pen, Nigel Farage, and others, who apparently admire Trump's "America First Isolationist Doctrine",  we  recommend they pack their bags and request asylum in the US  from their idol Donald Trump.   

Read more: Trump unveils details of 'America First' security strategy

EU politics: Europe’s populist parties aren’t done by a long shot - by Eric Reguly

If there were a single image that summed up the quick rise of Europe’s anti-establishment parties, is was the one of Alexis Tsipras and Pablo Iglesias together, on stage, at an anti-austerity rally in Athens just before the Jan. 25 Greek election. Wearing their trademark open-neck blue shirts – no neckties ever for them – their arms were outstretched, as if in celebration, as the crowd cheered them on.

Mr. Tsipras, the leader of the radical left Syriza party, would win that election; Mr. Iglesias, leader of Podemos (We Can), the Spanish equivalent to Syriza, would top the polls in Spain, much to the distress of the mainstream parties.

The image implied that the populist revolution had arrived in Europe, where the centre-right and centre-left parties that had ruled for decades were in full retreat as voters grew angry at the stalled recovery, the harsh austerity measures and the obscene unemployment levels.

But could January have been the peak of the populist movement? Shortly thereafter, Syriza was riven by infighting as its efforts to make a breakthrough with its bailout masters in Brussels and Berlin went nowhere. Podemos’s rise stalled as spring approached. In Britain, the UK Independence Party, whose goal is to yank Britain out of the European Union, won only one seat in the May 7 election; even UKIP’s leader, Nigel Farage, got shut out. Beppe Grillo’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement, Italy’s biggest opposition party, lost momentum. While the Euroskeptic Finns Party placed second in Finland’s election, their vote tally fell by two points.

Investors have applauded the apparently flattening popularity curve of the protest parties. Bond yields, with a little help from the European Central Bank’s ultra-easy monetary policy, have sunk throughout the euro zone. The rage against the middle-party machine seemed less shrill as the economy improved. The falling euro and oil prices, and the ECBs €1.1-trillion ($1.3-trillion) quantitative easing program, helped.

Not so fast. Rumors that the populist surge is over might be exaggerated, greatly so.

Read more: Europe’s populist parties aren’t done by a long shot - The Globe and Mail