Trump administration bodes ill for American foreign policy: Analyst

The administration of US President Donald Trump “bodes ill for American foreign policy over the next four years,” according to Richard Silverstein, an American journalist and political commentator.

On Thursday, Trump finalized his first budget for the federal government, and announced a ten percent increase in military spending.

The budget proposal includes the $54 billion boost for the military to finance combat operations abroad. Trump also wants Congress to approve $1.5 billion for the border wall with Mexico.

Silverstein made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Friday when asked how adding $54 billion to an already 600 to 800 billion dollar military budget will make America any safer.

“It might promote US intervention abroad more than the ones that we are already engaged in, and it definitely will point to the decline of US diplomacy,” said Silverstein.  

“Our country has a long history of many centuries of working internationally to try to ease tension and conflict. We had a president who was given a Nobel Prize for resolving the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, this really may mark the death nail of American diplomacy,” he stated.

The analyst said “the State Department is going to see a big cut in its funding and all of the other important agencies that most liberal Americans find valuable like the Environmental Protection Agency and related ones.”

He went on to say that “Trump is putting all of his eggs into a basket of military power and this is a candidate who during the election promised that he would stop US intervention, that he did not support US intervention abroad but he is giving a ten percent increase which is huge in the context of the American budget to the military and this is very alarming.”

“I am hoping the Congress will put the brakes on this. It does have the power to negotiate the budget and I am hoping that the increase will be vastly decreased,” he stated.  

‘A major US war is coming’

During his election campaign, Trump has also repeatedly vowed to “make America great again.” He has pledged a "massive” increase in military spending, saying he will implement “the greatest military build-up in American history.”

Silverstein said that “when you have a military you want to use it. So it is much more likely when you give generals lots of new armaments and advanced weapon systems that they are going to want to use them, not just test them but they want to actually use them in field conditions.”

“So we have already used some of our advanced weapons and give them to Israel, for them to use against the Arab frontline states and Palestinians,” he pointed out.

“So I foresee major US weapon sales abroad which will exacerbate tensions and conflicts throughout the world and I foresee another war on the horizon, perhaps a war in the Middle East, perhaps a war somewhere else, but I think this bodes ill for US foreign policy over the next four years,” he noted.

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