WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – A major U.S. daily has blasted what it described as President Donald Trump’s "distorted foreign policy” in accommodating notorious Arab dictators in the Persian Gulf -- specifically the Bahraini monarch – while harshly censuring American European partners.
Pointing to clear consequences of Trump’s statements and impressions, The Washington Post insisted in one of its editorials that a "good example” came on Tuesday "when Bahraini security forces stormed an opposition encampment just two days after Mr. Trump promised the Persian Gulf nation’s king that there would be no more "strain” between their governments.”
The influential newspaper then added, "Those strains, of course, concerned the Sunni regime’s crackdown on its Shia opposition, which has been escalating in recent months.”
Underlining Washington’s "challenging” ties with the Bahraini regime, which it described as "a key ally that hosts the U.S. 5th Fleet and a conspicuous violator of human rights” the Post noted that the previous U.S. president Barack Obama also failed to rein in the Manama rulers for their human rights abuses but at least it tried by publicly urging the regime "to liberalize” and "held up arms sales… when it did not.”
The daily then went on to further point out that last weekend Trump also "promised Saudi Arabia and other Sunni dictatorships that they ‘will never question out support,’ adding, ‘We are not here to lecture.’”
However, it emphasized, the president on Thursday "declined to restate the U.S. commitment to defend its democratic European allies if they are attacked, as Article 5 of the NATO treaty provides.”
The editorial also drew another contrast between Trump’s treatment of Arab despots and U.S. NATO allies, writing: "In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Mr. Trump gamely joined in a chauvinistic, males-only sword dance. In Brussels, he was captured on videotape as he rudely shoved aside Montenegro’s prime minister to position himself at the center of a group photo.”
However, U.S. President Donald Trump has boasted that he has "made and saved” his country "billions of dollars and millions of jobs” during his first overseas visit as he arrived at its final destination in Sicily, Italy.
Trump made the claim in a tweet message on Friday after landing in the Italian city for a summit of Group of Seven industrialized nations, known as G-7, describing his trip as "very successful,” without elaborating.