New York Times is reporting that the Donald Trump administration plans to keep Russia as a rival, bucking his earlier claims that America should be 'friends' with Russia. This should not be surprising because:
In 1992, George Bush wrote up an official policy called the 1992 Defense Planning Guidance which declared that the United States would become the 'unipolar' power in the world, or the world's police. The document insisted that the United States handle international military operations and discourage rivals or even allies from policing themselves. The document also ordered intervention in the 'former Soviet Republics' -- eleven nations that became independent after the fall of the USSR.
In 2000, friends and associates of George W. Bush including his brother Jeb in a group called Project For The New American Century (PNAC) signed onto the next big document, "Rebuilding America's Defenses," which ordered a larger military capable of sustaining three large scale wars at the same time, suggested pre-emptive wars, demanded "transformation," and wished that "the process of transformation will be a long one" unless there was a "new Pearl Harbor." PNAC members filled the George W. Bush cabinet. The PNAC plan was implemented throughout the government, most notably with the administration falsely claiming that Iraq had 'weapons of mass destruction' or WMDs.
In 2015, the original writers of the PNAC document got together again, this time at the Koch brothers funded American Enterprise Institute (AEI), to write the next follow up war policy document, "To Rebuild The Military." This document ordered the same things as the earlier PNAC document -- namely larger military, hegemony, and three large scale wars.
Donald Trump ran for office on a policy of better relations with Russia, but the policy seemed schizophrenic, as he also ran on a policy of escalating tensions with Iran, which is a sort of default ally with Russia since the United States has long been for regime change there. Donald Trump also ran on attacking Hillary Clinton for her role in Libya, but Donald Trump himself was for regime change in Libya a few years ago before he became against it.
Once in office, Donald Trump handed off the power to make military decisions to the deep state in a new policy of delegation called "Total Authorization." Further, despite complaints before the election that Barack Obama was the king of drone strikes, the Donald Trump administration has increased those.
Now, Donald Trump is turning against Russia according to a new document. Highlights from The New York Times article:
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s first national security strategy envisions a world in which the United States confronts two “revisionist” powers — China and Russia — that are seeking to change the global status quo, often to the detriment of America’s interests...
While the document’s description of pushing back against China on trade is familiar from the campaign, its description of the challenge posed by Russia seems at odds with Mr. Trump’s own refusal to criticize President Vladimir V. Putin for his seizure of Crimea, efforts to destabilize Ukraine and his violations of a key nuclear treaty with the United States. In fact, the document describes Russia’s behavior in far more critical terms than Mr. Trump himself often does.
China and Russia, the document says, “are determined to make economies less free and less fair, to grow their militaries, and to control information and data to repress their societies and expand their influence.”
Here is today's full article. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/18/us/politics/trump-security-strategy-china-russia.html?smid=tw-share