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Trump's Amoral Saudi Statement Is a Pure Expression of Decades-Old 'U.S. Values' and Foreign Policy Orthodoxies
Greenwald, Glenn
http://theintercept.com/2018/11/21/trumps-amoral-saudi-statement-is-a-pure-and-honest-expression-of-decades-old-u-s-values-and-foreign-policy-orthodoxies/Date Written: 2018-11-21 Publisher: The Intercept Year Published: 2018 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX23139 Donald Trump's statement that the US would continue business and diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi may be blunter than people are used to but it is standard operating procedure of American policy. Abstract: -- Excerpt: Donald Trump on Tuesday issued a statement proclaiming that, notwithstanding the anger toward the Saudi Crown Prince over the gruesome murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, "the United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region.".... This statement instantly and predictably produced pompous denunciations pretending that Trump's posture was a deviation from, a grievous violation of, long-standing U.S. values and foreign policy rather than what it actually and obviously is: a perfect example - perhaps stated a little more bluntly and candidly than usual - of how the U.S. has conducted itself in the world since at least the end of World War II. The reaction was so intense because the fairy tale about the U.S. standing up for freedom and human rights in the world is one of the most pervasive and powerful prongs of western propaganda, the one relied upon by U.S. political and media elites to convince not just the U.S. population but also themselves of their own righteousness, even as they spend decades lavishing the world's worst tyrants and despots with weapons, money, intelligence and diplomatic protection to carry out atrocities of historic proportions. Subject Headings |