Trump presidency doesn’t bode well for global peace: Pundit

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, if elected, will try to reassert US dominance by increasing military spending and starting a new arms race, which does not bode well for global peace, says Professor Dennis Etler, who has a decades-long interest in politics.

Etler, a professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California, told Press TV on Friday that Trump is even more aggressive than former US President Ronald Reagan, who started several proxy wars in Central America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

A British research organization -- the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) -- has warned that if Trump became president of the United States, he would pose a grave danger to the world.

“In the event of a Trump victory, his hostile attitude to free trade, and alienation of Mexico and China in particular, could escalate rapidly into a trade war – and at the least scupper the Trans-Pacific Partnership between the US and 11 other American and Asian states signed in February 2016,” the EIU said in its global risk assessment released on Thursday.

Professor Etler said Trump “has said that he's a ‘commonsense conservative,’ who thinks the US has been given a raw deal by both allies and adversaries. US allies have taken advantage of her largesse and her adversaries have outsmarted the US at the negotiating table, resulting in bad deals that have put the US at a disadvantage.”

“Trump has said that US military intervention abroad is a bad idea, citing the examples of Iraq and Libya. Nonetheless he has also said that he will invade Syria with ground troops to wipe out ISIL. He brags that he will negotiate with countries like Russia and China but make better deals for the US than his predecessors. Basically Trump is saying, ‘I'm gonna make them an offer they can't refuse.’ But how will he achieve all that?” he added.

‘Peace through strength’

“Trump has declared that he will make the US military so strong that no one would dare stand up against it. It would therefore not have to be used. This policy is no different than Reagan's policy of ‘Peace through strength,’ which of course led to US backed wars in Central America and other proxy wars in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Trump is even more aggressive than Reagan. He often proudly states at rallies that ‘I am the most militaristic person in this room,’” Professor Etler said.

“But what is such a strong military needed for? There is no threat to the US homeland that requires a new round of military spending. Its only purpose then is to bully and intimidate US adversaries or those who are perceived to be such throughout the world. That means that Trump will use the military to threaten other countries to do his bidding on the assumption that they will fear the consequences of non-compliance,” the analyst noted.

“But what if countries like China, Iran or Russia call Trump's bluff and refuse to comply? He would have to make good on his bombast and bluster or lose credibility,” he stated.

Trump's unbridled militarism

“In short Trump has pledged to ‘Make America Great Again,’ meaning to make the US position in the world unchallengeable. He has already said that the Iran nuclear negotiations were the worst deal in history. Will he demand that the provisions be changed or face the wrath of the US military? What about the South China Sea? Will he demand that China ‘stand down’ or face unforeseen consequences? Would he have ‘stood up’ to Russia in Crimea and ‘forced’ her to pull back? Trump's unbridled militarism is meant to reassert US primacy throughout the world,” Professor Etler said.

“There are some anti-imperialists who think Trump's rhetoric is an indication that he will negotiate a repartition of the world and allow Russia and China their own regional spheres of influence, that he will accept a multi-polar world and that the US will retreat into ‘Fortress America,’” he noted.  

“They contrast this with the war-mongering of [Hillary] Clinton who advocates ‘humanitarian interventions’ and regime change, a prescription for more wars, destruction and refugees. But is a US retreat truly Trump's intent? All indications are that he and his supporters want to reassert US dominance, not concede it. And they see increased US military spending and a new arms race as the means to do it. That does not bode well for global peace and security,” the academic concluded. 

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