Donald Trump has made very interesting foreign policy decisions for the first year and three months of his presidency. He has made big moves in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. In Asia, U.S.-Chinese relations have grown tense, and North Korea is preparing to come to the negotiating table. In Europe, Trump has stood up to Putin, calling him out for backing dictatorships, and relations have strained with various countries over Trump’s rhetoric. In the Middle East, Trump moved the embassy in Israel, put together a coalition to defeat ISIS, pushed back against Iran, and took major action in Syria. Trump’s actions have been all over the board with isolationist policies, like the newly imposed tariffs against China, and interventionist policies like the military action taken in Syria.
As of right now, I find the actions taken in Syria to be quite interesting. The Syrian Civil War has been raging for years, with what appears to have been almost no end in sight. Under the Obama administration, a “red line” was drawn, crossed, and later ignored entirely. Weapons were sent to the “rebels” fighting back against the murderous dictatorship of President Bashar al-Assad. These rebels are various groups, sometimes coordinated, sometimes not. They can include individuals from within Syria fighting to take their country back, or from outside groups like ISIS, Russia, Iran, and the Kurds. There are so many hands in this multisided war, so it’s difficult to boil down what’s going on between who. Now, under the Trump administration, a clear line has been drawn, and swift action was taken. Both times Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons on his own innocent civilians, the U.S. struck back.
By striking specific facilities in Syria, the U.S. has effectively shut down Syria’s ability to break international law and use chemical weapons. Civilian casualties were avoided, so only those responsible fell victim to the attacks. The only way Syria can now use chemical weapons is if it first obtains them from either Russia or Iran, its two major financial supporters. This unholy and evil alliance between these nations has done nothing but cause death, destruction, and unrest in the Middle East. Trump has finally made the move to put these two nations in the corner against the rest of the world (with the exception of countries like North Korea). The U.K. and France have moved solidly with the U.S. and are planning to continue doing so. All countries involved are seeking to keep the actions limited to maintaining international law, which is exactly what they should be doing.
This is exactly the foreign policy that I look for from a conservative perspective. It is meaningful and limited. I don’t believe that we should be entering into a full-scale war that has nothing to do with the U.S. Our men and women in uniform should never have to die in vain over something that does not have our security interests at heart. However, I do believe that it is up to the U.S. and other nations to uphold the international laws that have been set in place. If we let chemical weapon attacks slide, chances are that future dictatorships will start using them, and the result will be more innocent lives lost.
Although I do support the President’s actions in Syria, I do not support all of his foreign policy actions, at least as of now. Foreign policy is a tricky and complicated animal that can appear one way at first, but look completely different in hindsight. So there’s a possibility that I will regret my current position in the future, but in this case, that doesn’t appear likely. The only thing I can think of that could change my mind is if Trump uses this situation as a way to put boots on the ground in Syria.
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