The Re-awaking of the International Bully to the South of Us.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a bully as "A person who uses strength or influence to harm or intimate those who are weaker". I suspects that Mr. Trump has always been a bully.  It appears as if his approach to almost any discussion either face to face or when on social media is to bombastically shout over his opponent, insulting them whenever possible and ignoring them when they say things he doesn't like. He has used his financial power to dominate. His approach has been surprising successful in his business life. Experience has shown him that many people just back down when faced with this overbearing attitude, perhaps in part because  they can't believe it is happening.   Mr. Trump has recently started to apply that apparently successful strategy to international affairs.

There have been times when the USA was capable of, and the population was willing to, support a president who wanted to dominate world politics. For example, the American political philosophy of manifest destiny has long been applied to other parts of the world. The Mexican -American War of the late 1840s was a blatant land grab as was Spanish American War fifty or so years later.  In fact for the next hundred years, the USA consistently, whether overtly or subvertly, stuck its nose into the politics of various countries scattered across the globe. And for the most part they got away with it. The USA, in terms of their economy were the world power. They could afford to either directly or indirectly buy governments , to use their economic might to pressure  governments to do what they wanted or if that failed - they had a large enough army and navy to threatened countries. There was as well a time when the battle lines between the Soviet Union and the USA were clear; a time when 90% of the world was divided into two political camps. Countries that fell within the USA's sphere of influence - automatically supported their ally. I am not too sure if Trump realizes that things are changed.

The USA is not the economic powerhouse it once was. There are other countries (e.g. China and India) whose economies have a significant impact on the world economy. There are other countries who may in fact have healthier economies and who are not dependent upon the USA. As the US's economic power wanes - citizens in other countries are less willing to be influenced by USA's political desires. The reduced economic power also means that the US has less money to continually build up its armed forces. It is clear from the recent budget submitted by Trump that if the priorities are to better support the armed forces - then there are not sufficient funds to support the environment or enhanced social programs. And finally - while citizens of the US have, because of extraordinary manipulation (e.g. the myth of weapons of mass destruction), been supportive of American intervention in the Middle East, their natural desire to be insulated from the world predominates (part of Trump's winning campaign platform was the promise to not engage in foreign wars). There may not be a way to convince the American public that another war is a good thing for them.

In the past ten or so days - Trump has dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb ever made, has continued to threaten North Korea with the USA's Navy sailing ever closer to their water, used 59 cruise missiles to protest Assad's use of chemical weapons and has been surprisingly combative with Russia. It would appear as if Trump thinks that these dictators will react to his bluster. It appears as if he thinks that these men perhaps don't understand the art of bullying. By definition Putin, Assad and  Kim Jong-un are bullies. They have been bullies on the international stage for far longer than has been Trump. They have total control of their countries political apparatus and they have far more to lose if they back down.  They are not going to back down quickly or easily.

If Trump does not find a way out (although he seems to never be embarrassed about changing his mind and then doing the exact opposite of what he promised), the world is going to come far too close to another war. There are times when I start to understand how some people felt in 1914 or 1939 as they watched their world slip in chaos.