America First

Pacifico

It doesnt matter what the US do it will always be wrong. If they become internationalist then they will be criticized for getting involved in other peoples wars, if they turn insular they are criticized for standing by and not doing anything while people get slaughtered.

After the last decade in Afghanistan and Iraq perhaps the time has come for them to step back a bit and let others try something else.

Pacifico

Well China are buying up great swathes of Africa, if that means a return to a more stable continent then surely a good thing?

Toko Black

Any and every country, government and organisation will face criticism internally and externally no matter what policy, action or inaction they take, be it within or without their own boarders.
That is just par for the course of fallible and having to deal with other fallible human beings.

How much or how little criticism you get is not an actual measure of doing the right or best thing for yourself or others.
It is far better to suffer criticism from a child for not giving them all the sweets they demand than to take the easier route of giving in to avoid the tantrums and then having to deal with a grossly overweight diabetic teenager in the future.

Within a democracy, that means the additional burden of sacrificing re-electability, working hard to get as much as you can done, or working even harder to balance getting as close to what is needed to be done with making sure that a significant enough of your population is educated, informed and on board to keep it moving forwards.....

.... or you could just give in to and ride the waves of popularism, letting the world go to hell in a hand basket, lining your pockets with as much as you can while sitting on your luxury yacht out at sea while the mainland burns.

Cliff

China has such a trade surplus it can afford to spend money in projects overseas. But make no mistake they are doing it for the benefit of China. Africa for its raw materials, middle East for oil an the UK for technology and famous brands.

Ruperts slippers

This American policy is just a slow down in the hyperglobalisation of the previous yrs, a different strategy especially after the financial shocks to the money markets. Not really a big deal.

Toko Black

In a large part, the 'financial shocks' originated in the US - had the US been more insular and the rest of the world hadn't invested so much money in stocks and 'packaged' funds from the US, the crash would still have hit them(the US) hard, it would have just left us a hell of a lot better off in that respect.

There is also a significant difference between foreign and international policy, co-operation and engaging in international bodies and organisations in contrast with attempting to encourage businesses and especially multinationals to maintain jobs and taxes geographically relative to their source of profit.

In other words, being part of Nato, the Paris Climate Accord, international research, developement and aid packages etc is a completely seperate issue from trying to reduce shell companies, offshoring and international job outsourcing.

If it were simply policies and reaction to hyperglobalisation, I would be more than happy to support them, but it isn't.
America First is about America becoming more insular and/or self interested with regards to the world on all fronts, including the environment, security, aid and politics, non of which are related to hyperglobalisation.

Ruperts slippers

Hyperglobalisation is the metaphoric term that covers every aspect of governmental involvement outside of its own space, such as environmental, political, foreign  economic, agricultural polis, etc, etc. I picked just one example eg the financial markets as an example.

That's it, one word to describe what you said in 5 paragraphs.

krish

'globalist' is favourite term of derision from the (alt-)right and their attached conspiracy wackjobs spreading actual fake news like Alex Jones. They use it to attack anyone - virtually a catch-all label for those not with them - it was Steve Bannon's insult of choice to anyone he saw pulling Trump away from him. When I hear the term these days, it automatically evokes Jones shouting some ridiculous sh*t and dribbling.

Ruperts slippers

Yes but in academia it has nothing to do with the alt right or anybody involved in that mud fight. I don't even know who Alex Jones is, I just don't have the time nor the headspace to listen to that drivel.

EarthRod

Globalism places the interests of the entire world above those of individual nations, which of course goes against Trump's America First Policy. So his aids use the word 'globalist' as a derogatory term.

That's politics.