War

Submitted by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream,

President Trump’s defense secretary has said that he did not see possible military collaboration with Russia. “We are not in a position right now to collaborate on a military level” James Mattis told reporters on Thursday after talks at the NATO headquarters in Brussels. He accused Russia of violating international law, labeling their actions as “aggressive” and “destabilizing.” His comment are perhaps the strongest indication yet from the Trump administration that prospects for any significant cooperation between the U.S. and Russia against ISIS in Syria is unlikely anytime soon.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused NATO of constantly trying to provoke Russia in an attempt to draw them into a confrontation. He also said that members of the alliance continue to interfere in Russia’s domestic affairs. RT reports: The accusations came as Putin addressed senior members of the Russian intelligence agency FSB on Thursday.

One day after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told US NATO allies they will have to pay up and meet their mandatory quota of 2% of GDP (which only 5 nations currently satisfy, among them the US and Greece), on Thursday the Pentagon's new chief also had some bad news for Russia when he rejected any kind of military collaboration with Russia, despite previous calls by Putin for the West to work with his country on Syria and other issues.

Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign has several different platforms but the most important was his stance on trade. Donald Trump is a protectionist. He views the U.S. foreign trade policy over the last 25 years as a failure. With the passing of NAFTA and other free trade agreements millions of manufacturing jobs that have been eliminated. Donald Trump’s main target for unfair trade practices during the election was China. At one point during the campaign he even claimed that China was raping the U.S.