A: The European Union as a whole has been a long-standing ally of ours, and through NATO we’ve been able to make some significant progress. We also have to look east, because increasingly, the center of gravity in this world is shifting to Asia. Japan has been an outstanding ally of ours for many years. But, obviously, China is rising and it’s not going away. They’re neither our enemy nor our friend. They’re competitors.
A: Well, keep in mind what the remark actually, if you had the whole thing, said. And what I said is nobody has suffered more than the Palestinian people from the failure of the Palestinian leadership to recognize Israel, to renounce violence, and to get serious about negotiating peace and security for the region. Israel is the linchpin of much of our efforts in the Middle East.
But, you know, China is an authoritarian country, becoming more and more authoritarian. But can anyone deny that they have taken more people out of extreme poverty than any country in history? Do I get criticized because I say that? That's the truth. So that is the fact. End of discussion.
A: I would assess what our strategic interests are. What would I want from Russia?
A: We need to find ways to deal with a post-Castro Cuba. I would bring Cuban-Americans into the dialogue. I would change the Bush administration policy which is limiting family visits, which is limiting remittances from Cubans. We should be re-evaluating the embargo. Also finding ways that we ensure that Cuba becomes democratic, with trade unionism, with free elections. And we should be engaged in a policy right now.
"I grew up on a dairy farm in Orangeburg County. On that farm, I learned the value of hard work, family and community. I know how great the people of South Carolina really are," Hutto said. "It would be nice if Lindsey Graham would leave Washington and come home long enough to meet them. Maybe he'll have time for that after we win in November."
Hutto said that Graham spends too much time in the Washington D.C. bubble and not enough time working for his home state. "He cares more about foreign affairs than about South Carolina. We all see him on talk shows every Sunday pretending to be the junior Secretary of State. He's always talking about anything but us."
Hutto said that Graham's firm belief that the US should act as the world's policeman is wrong. "It's time for our allies abroad to take more responsibility for their own security," he said. Instead, Hutto said he would focus on job creation, public education, and infrastructure.
TRUMP: The Iran deal is one of the worst deals I have ever seen negotiated in my entire life. It's a disgrace that this country negotiated that deal.
TRUMP: What we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? We are going to have to hit hard to knock out ISIS. We're going to have to learn who our allies are. We have allies, we have no idea who they are in Syria. Do we want to stay that route, or do we want to go and make something with Russia?
CLINTON: Libya is a little different [than Syria]. Libya actually held elections. They elected moderates. They have tried to piece together a government against a lot of really serious challenges internally coming from the outside with terrorist groups and other bad actors. Let's remember what was going on at the time. This was at the height of the Arab spring. The people in Libya were expressing themselves, were demanding their freedom, and Gadhafi responded brutally. Now, they had an election, and it was a fair election, it met international standards. That was an amazing accomplishment for a nation that had been so deprived for so long. This doesn't happen overnight. And, yes, it's been a couple of years. I think it's worth European support, Arab support, American support to try to help the Libyan people realize the dream that they had when they went after Gadhafi.
During a lunch with Spartanburg County Democrats, Stamper attacked Sen. Lindsey Graham's loyalty to conservative principles and said spending trillions of dollars on foreign engagements isn't fiscal conservatism, limiting abortion and marriage isn't limited government conservatism, and supporting the National Security Administration's data collection isn't constitutional conservatism.
"I will settle for their grudging and reluctant support," Stamper said of Republicans and independents he hopes to sway.
KASICH: First of all -- yes. We have to make it clear to Russia what we expect. We don't have to declare an enemy or threaten, but we need to make clear what we expect. Number one is we will arm the folks in Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom. Secondly, an attack on NATO is an attack on us.
TRUMP: We're going to have to learn who our allies are [against ISIS]. We have allies, we have no idea who they are in Syria. Do we want to stay that route, or do we want to go and make something with Russia?
BUSH: The very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple basic fact.
A: The biggest threat to the US is, right now, North Korea. Iran not as big a threat, but a long-term threat. And quite frankly, the tendency of Putin to move in a totalitarian direction, which would unhinge all that's going on positively in Europe.
A: What's happened in Russia is they've moved from being a democracy under Yeltsin to being a complete autocracy under Putin. The government has been centralized. Any kind of democratic effort, any opposition party, any opposition voice has been squashed.
For that to occur, the world has to see America as a force for good again, which is why I talked about leading an effort to make primary school education available to 100 million children in the world who don't have it, in the Muslim world, in Africa, in Latin America.
Leading an international effort on sanitation, clean drinking water, economic development using microfinance as a tool. I mean, here's a way that America could actually demonstrate its commitment to humanity, which I think is critical for our leadership.
Sen. Marco RUBIO: Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do.
KASICH: I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct are interest. The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals.
Huntsman: I've tried to figure this out for 30 years of my career. First of all, I don't think, Mitt, you can take China to the WTO on currency-related issues. Second, I don't know that this country needs a trade war with China. Who does it hurt? Our small businesses in South Carolina; our exporters; our agriculture producers. We don't need that at a time when China is about to embark on a generational position. So what should we be doing? We should be reaching out to our allies & constituencies within China. They're called the young people. They're called the internet generation. There are 500 million internet users in China. And 80 million bloggers. And they are bringing about change, the likes of which is going to take China down.
Nancy Mace Russia should be removed immediately from the G-8, and the U.S. "must also be prepared to go further by placing sanctions on Russia. If Russia wants to bully its neighbors, they cannot be treated as a legitimate player on the international stage," said Mace.
Obama warned of "costs" if Russia moved into Ukraine, calling Putin's actions a "clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity."
No one knows for sure how much Russian President Vladimir Putin cares about what the US says or does regarding troops in Ukraine, but Putin "does care about missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic," Graham said. Putin "very much cares about democracies on his borders," Graham said, and the US should increase that concern by helping Poland and the Czech Republic, and support Georgia's bid to become a member of NATO. I would like to create a democratic noose around Putin's Russia," said Graham.
TRUMP: What we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? We are going to have to hit hard to knock out ISIS. We're going to have to learn who our allies are. We have allies, we have no idea who they are in Syria. Do we want to stay that route, or do we want to go and make something with Russia? But very important, who are we fighting with? Who are we fighting for? What are we doing?
RUBIO: There are three major threats. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where North Korea and China pose threats to national security. No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of ISIS. The third is rebuilding NATO, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, where Vladimir Putin is threatening the territory of multiple countries.
A: We have no important enemies. What we need to do is to begin to deal with the rest of the world as equals. And we don't do that. We spend more as a nation on defense than all the rest of the world put together. Who are we afraid of? Iraq has never been a threat to us. We invaded them. The military industrial complex not only controls our government, lock, stock and barrel, but they control our culture.
"Our enemies are emboldened and we are not supporting our allies in the world by bankrolling corrupt governments in countries that hate our culture, burn our flag and train terrorists to kill Americans and our allies.
"Sen. Graham has stood side by side with our president to support a failed foreign policy. The American people want to know why we continue to send foreign aid to countries who prove time and time again that they cannot be trusted. It's wrong."
A: In Libya, Obama made a decision to subordinate our decision-making to the United Nations. I don't agree with that. If he says Gadhafi must go he needs to maintain the options to make Gadhafi go and he didn't do that.
Q: Wouldn't your policy result in either chaos or prolonged US involvement?
A: Gadhafi is someone who has American blood on his hands. I called for the establishment or at least the threat of the no-fly zone one of the first national voices to do so on March 7th. Obama waited for the United Nations to pass a resolution. Then he made the mistake of saying, by the way, American policy is to make Gadhafi go. Now he has his hands tied by the United Nations, subordinated our decision-making options to that pathetic organization in many respects. I would never put the United States in that position. If the president says Gadhafi must go, he must go.
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| 2016 Presidential contenders on Foreign Policy: | |||
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Republicans:
Sen.Ted Cruz(TX) Carly Fiorina(CA) Gov.John Kasich(OH) Sen.Marco Rubio(FL) Donald Trump(NY) |
Democrats:
Secy.Hillary Clinton(NY) Sen.Bernie Sanders(VT) 2016 Third Party Candidates: Roseanne Barr(PF-HI) Robert Steele(L-NY) Dr.Jill Stein(G,MA) | ||
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