By Sushil Kutty
For a certified peacenik, with no appetite for war, United States President Donald Trump can confound. That’s because Trump’s ‘USA First’ potentially pits the United States against all and sundry other countries. President Trump’s threats and theatrics does not help. Witness the tariff wars he started and the plethora of altercations with a number of countries for no fault of theirs.
Next could be with India! Of late, President Trump has been betraying signs of impatience with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. To this extent, he even said “Pakistanis are brilliant”, a ‘story’ Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir broke, that President Trump likes Pakistan “so much” he will get Apple to “make the i-phone” in Pakistan!
So, Trump is tilting towards Pakistan? Apparently, President Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., likes Pakistan and has Pakistan-friendly friends. Among them a certain gentleman who told Trump Jr that the Indus River System has huge deposits of gold settled at the bottom of the “rivers” and the Pakistanis do not have the know-how to “mine” the river-gold.
So, the rivers are open for negotiation and President Trump is the master of the deal! Trump will pivot Pakistan-way. “Sorry, Mr. Modi, there are richer veins!” Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not a babe in the woods, he will know what is cooking?
And President Trump is watching the goings on in Pakistan including Gen. Asim Munir rewarding himself the Field Marshal’s 5-stars! Munir is Pakistan’s second Field Marshal and President Trump is the sort who likes his generals ‘Star-Spangled’!
That said, despite being a peacenik, Trump loves to flaunt the USA’s military might! The latest is the ‘Golden Dome’ that Trump says will be completed by the time his second term ends. “The Golden Dome will integrate with existing ground-based defence capabilities and is aimed at protecting the US from cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles and drones, whether they are conventional or nuclear.”
Trump has appointed a 4-star general to head the mission, which has gained urgency in the wake of India’s showing in the “4-Day War” with Pakistan, especially with its air defence system. That could be a reason why Trump “lost it!”
President Trump is the sort who wants to be on the top of things. Trump truely believes that the US is born to rule forever. Trump’s recent missteps as far as India is concerned appears to be rooted in a supremacist-streak, a suspicion about him that has lingered.
The Trump statement “this is a very dangerous world, we’re going to protect our citizens like never before” takes “USA First” to another higher level of “We, Us and Ours”. Add to that the ‘Golden Dome’ and America’s proposed missile system is a threat rather than a deterrent.
The estimated cost of $175 billion for the Golden Dome is a giveaway to something cooking. Take note that the “Golden Dome” is a “weapon”, a “space weapon”. It will be a “futuristic defence system to counter next-generation aerial threats” to the United States.
“I promised the American people I would build a cutting-edge missile defence shield…Today, I am pleased to announce we have officially selected architecture for this state-of-the-art system,” President Trump said.
Does that sound like a peacenik? Once fully constructed, the Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from the other side of the world, or from outer space.
Besides warmongering, Trump has also been fear-mongering and scaremongering with statements like “the new system is very important for the success and even survival” of the United States, begging the question, why would anybody/any country threaten the United States’ “survival”?
Going by Trump’s rhetoric, the United States will have to be protected from “cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles, and drones”. The General chosen to lead “Golden Dome” specialises in missile defence and space systems.
‘Golden Dome’ hopes to mirror the success of Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’ but on a far grander scale. While the ‘Iron Dome’ is designed and armed to put down short-range weapons, ‘Golden Dome’ will strike from longer range, and far into Outer Space. Russia and China have taken note. So should India, the newest military superpower! (IPA Service)
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