If there is one thing Donald Trump is clear on, it’s winners and losers.
The transactional nature of his first presidency showed how he ranked leaders based on their perceived strengths and weaknesses — and his personal taste. That meant Germany was cut down to size but the likes of North Korea got an audience.
How everyone fits into his orbit this time will come down to how many ingratiate themselves and what kind of relationships they already had. Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu will celebrate a fellow political survivor while Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy will need to put on a brave face. Others like India’s Narendra Modi and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman will seek out deals without the finger wagging they had to endure under other U.S. administrations.
Here is a look at who will be pegged as a friend or foe in Trump world.
WINNERS
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
He’s had a tense relationship with outgoing President Joe Biden and will welcome the arrival of a longtime ally in the White House.
Trump is likely to reinforce U.S. support for Israel. Biden paused some military aid over concern at Palestinian civilians’ suffering from Israel’s war on Hamas, which the U.S. designates a terrorist group. The incoming U.S. leader will also be more sympathetic to Netanyahu’s insistence on pursuing the battle against Iranian proxies and refusal to countenance a future Palestinian state, despite the risks of igniting a bigger regional war.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Trump’s return is a boost for Modi, who’s faced scrutiny for his Hindu nationalist policies at home and allegations of extrajudicial killings abroad. Modi and Trump share close personal ties, often praise each other publicly, and call each other friends.
A Trump administration may not support Canada’s push to hold India’s government accountable for alleged killings of dissidents. Trump’s promise of negotiating a deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine also gives Modi space to maintain close ties with Moscow, which supplies India with cheap oil and military equipment. The Biden administration, in contrast, had expressed frustration with New Delhi when Modi met Putin in Moscow in July.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin
Putin see Trump’s comeback as an opportunity to exploit divisions in the West and extract further gains in Ukraine. The incoming U.S. president is expected to strain the unity of NATO allies and put the future of aid for Ukraine in doubt with his ‘America First’ policy.
File photo dated Jan. 28, 2017, of President Donald Trump speaking with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on the telephone in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C. (Pete Marovich/Pool/Abaca Press/TNS)
His unpredictability, though, has some worried in the Kremlin that Trump could in the short-term escalate the conflict in a bid to force a settlement on Putin, with potentially disastrous consequences such as a nuclear confrontation.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
The kingdom’s de facto ruler will see an opportunity to revive long-stalled efforts to secure a key security pact with the U.S. Trump, whose team drew up the Abraham Accords that opened diplomatic ties between Israel and a number of Arab states, is expected to devote major attention to expanding that to Saudi Arabia.
If he can unlock an Israeli peace treaty with the kingdom, that …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
