{"id":12510,"date":"2020-07-24T14:00:23","date_gmt":"2020-07-24T21:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=12510"},"modified":"2020-07-23T21:18:33","modified_gmt":"2020-07-24T04:18:33","slug":"trumps-reactive-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/trumps-reactive-engagement\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s Reactive Engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States and indeed the Western world face four quite different challenges on the horizon: China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea. All these threats were analyzed at length in the 68-page U.S. National Security Strategy assessment of December 2017, written by then\u2013national-security adviser H. R. McMaster and his staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The encompassing theme of that blueprint was dubbed \u201cstrategic realism.\u201d In popular parlance it may have been better known as a new \u201cJacksonianism\u201d \u2014 defined loosely as something like the self-composed epitaph of the Roman strongman Sulla found in Plutarch\u2019s life of the general (\u201cNo friend had ever surpassed him in doing kindness, and no enemy in doing harm\u201d [\u03bf\u1f54\u03c4\u03b5 \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u03c6\u03af\u03bb\u03c9\u03bd \u03c4\u03b9\u03c2 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03b5\u1f56 \u03c0\u03bf\u03b9\u1ff6\u03bd \u03bf\u1f54\u03c4\u03b5 \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u1f10\u03c7\u03b8\u03c1\u1ff6\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u03ba\u1ff6\u03c2 \u1f51\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03b5\u03b2\u03ac\u03bb\u03b5\u03c4\u03bf]), or perhaps the reactive principle enshrined in the motto of the Stuart dynasty of Scotland, Nemo me impune lacessi<\/em>t \u2014 \u201cNo one provokes me with impunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One overarching goal of the NSS white paper was to synthesize U.S. and allied interests while isolating enemies and winning over neutrals \u2014 and all in the context of a new domestic paradigm of enhancing the economy of the American interior while securing the nation\u2019s borders. That assessment of continued, though recalibrated, engagement abroad explains the considerable increases in U.S. defense spending, the preservation of some 800 military bases and installations, the steady deployment of 170,000 active military personnel overseas, and the assignment of 30,000 State Department officials outside the U.S. Isolationist powers simply do not commit such massive resources outside their borders; declining nations \u201cin retreat\u201d do not allot such forces to protect the interests of so many allies. The aims of restoring economic vitality in the U.S. interior, pressuring China for reciprocal trade, and establishing a secure southern border and energy independence are not just campaign props, but foreign-policy assets that allow America to extend its strategic reach, if need be, well beyond its borders and on its own terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review The United States and indeed the Western world face four quite different challenges on the horizon: China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea. All these threats were analyzed at length in the 68-page U.S. National Security Strategy assessment of December 2017, written by then\u2013national-security adviser H. R. McMaster and his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-3fM","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9917,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/talk-radio-cable-news-the-mainstream-media-and-the-news-revolution\/","url_meta":{"origin":12510,"position":0},"title":"Talk Radio, Cable News, the Mainstream Media, and the News Revolution","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Corner The one and only. by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review In the hubbub over Trump\u2019s attack on the media, we sometimes forget that Barack Obama et al. customarily went after talk-radio and cable-news conservatives \u2014 whose job, after all, was opinion journalism \u2014 as biased, whereas Trump went\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Trump"","block_context":{"text":"Trump","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/trump\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":685,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/court-journalism-and-the-national-interest\/","url_meta":{"origin":12510,"position":1},"title":"Court Journalism and the National Interest","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner Recent leaks \u2014 the cyberwar secrets, the drone methodology, the double agent in Yemen, the details of the bin Laden mission, and the trove of information that accrued from it \u2014 juxtaposed with polls that have consistently shown uncertainty about Obama\u2019s natural-security fides (cf.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "National Security"","block_context":{"text":"National Security","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/politics\/national-security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10538,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/calculating-the-risk-of-preventive-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":12510,"position":2},"title":"Calculating The Risk Of Preventive War","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Max Boot Strategika The issue of \u201cpreemptive\u201d war is more in the news now than at any time since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The impetus, of course, is the rapid development of North Korea\u2019s nuclear and missile programs, which will soon give Pyongyang the capability to hit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Strategika"","block_context":{"text":"Strategika","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/strategika\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/warsavings.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11323,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-police-were-not-policed\/","url_meta":{"origin":12510,"position":3},"title":"The Police Were Not Policed","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review No doubt Russia must be watched for its chronic efforts to sow more chaos in American elections \u2014 despite Barack Obama\u2019s na\u00efve assertion in 2016 that no entity could possibly ever rig a U.S. election, given the decentralization of state voting. Lately the heads\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "FBI"","block_context":{"text":"FBI","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/fbi\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2814,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/confessions-of-a-contrarian\/","url_meta":{"origin":12510,"position":4},"title":"Confessions of a Contrarian","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media I. I am not on the Obama bus I followed the Obama senatorial campaign and even his early career in Chicago, and confess I was not impressed. I think on any occasion he announces a moral standard it is reactive \u2014 not proactive \u2014\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "May 2009"","block_context":{"text":"May 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/may-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10310,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/trump-and-his-generals\/","url_meta":{"origin":12510,"position":5},"title":"Trump and His Generals","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"By Victor Davis Hanson National Review Trump\u2019s reliance on his generals shows that he values merit over politics. Donald Trump earned respect from the Washington establishment for appointing three of the nation\u2019s most accomplished generals to direct his national-security policy: James Mattis (secretary of defense), H. R. McMaster (national-security adviser),\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "McMaster"","block_context":{"text":"McMaster","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/mcmaster\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12510"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12510"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12514,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12510\/revisions\/12514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}