Sunday 10 December 2017

Just what have you done Mr Trump?

I wonder if you have any idea?
Even my Jewish-Israeli friends are wondering why you did it. Yes, they do see Jerusalem as the capital but they are wondering why you would act in a way which jeopardises that.
The harm done by the move is hard to comprehend. The United States of America is supposed to be a world leader.  The leadership sees itself as being at the negotiating table whenever there is a major world crisis.  It claims all sorts of moral authority and leadership. One move by one President has knocked down years of work.
As an outsider I suppose I see the "two state solution" as being the only viable solution. What would be absolutely marvellous in my book would be for the Israelis and the Palestinians to make peace, share Jerusalem and show the rest of the world how it can be done. I also know the chances of that happening are so remote that it is unlikely to happen in my lifetime. I know too that people have to keep trying. Israelis and Palestinians feel very differently about the issue. I even have colleagues on both sides of the debate who are friends with each other while having opposing points of view about what the solutions are. This time though they are equally appalled. They say they expected the transfer of the embassy would go ahead. It is the manner in which it was done which has caused them so much alarm.
Yes, Mr Trump is keeping a campaign promise. I can only assume that there was money involved.  He must have been told how much harm his act would cause.
There were questions being asked last night on our news SBS news service about Mr Trump's fitness for office. And yes, I would have to question it too. He's erratic. His use of social media is downright dangerous. His taunts are childish. He isn't listening to advice. And yes, he is the President of another country and I don't suppose I should be criticising him. That said - he frightens me.
I have no fondness for any current federal or state politician here. There are one or two who I believe are genuinely trying to do a good job. I may not agree with everything they say or do and I wouldn't necessarily want to vote for at least one of them but at least he's trying. Another has worked incredibly hard and been willing to listen to good advice but may not get back in. It was a fluke of the electoral system last time. It's an uphill battle all the way for them.
In the end it will be the well known faces and the familiar names which get elected.  They may not be the best people to run the country but the most able generally choose not to do the job. And at least our lot haven't got their finger hovering over a nuclear button.

3 comments:

kayT said...

I wonder if you are aware that the last three presidents before Trump also made a "campaign promise" to do this. (I wasn't aware of this until very recently.) And none of them did what they said they would do. So at least Trump (whom I abhor as a person, you must understand) did what he said he would.

Anonymous said...

I think you will find the others said they would look at whether it could be done - not that it would be done. It's a standard thing in US politics. CW

kayT said...

I don't feel like doing a lot of research but just quickly I find that in 2008 Obama said "Jerusalem is the capital of Israel." In 2000 George W. Bush said as soon as he was elected he would "move the US embassy to the city that Israel had chosen as its capital". Yes, these were campaign promises (as I said) but they did go beyond looking at whether it could be done to stating unequivocally that it would be done.