Donald Trump and the Middle East

Trump’s policy proposal is an expansion on his call in December for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims’ entering the United States. In his speech on Monday, Trump appeared to revise that policy, calling for a temporary ban on immigrants from countries subject to terrorist attacks, though the original blanket ban on Muslims is still featured on his website.

Trump did not give any examples of questions that would be asked, but said he wants to “only admit into this country those who share our values and respect our people”.

“I call it extreme vetting“, Trump said. The policy would attempt to establish whether applicants’ beliefs match USA values on gay rights, gender equality and religious freedoms, among others.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump likened the threat posed to the U.S.by Islamist terrorism to that of communism during the Cold War period and pledged measures that mirror American tactics from that era if elected President.

Trump’s proposal starts with a ban that would “temporarily suspend immigration from some of the most risky and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism”. “It’s time to put the mistakes of the past behind us and chart a new course”.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that corruption investigators in Ukraine say an illegal, off-the-books payment network earmarked $12.7 million in cash payments in 2007-2012 for Paul Manafort, now Trump’s campaign chairman.

His foreign policy address marked the latest attempt by the Trump campaign to get their maverick candidate back on message as his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton surges ahead in the polls. “He said Trump’s plan stems from “bigotry” and ignorance” and added that the vast majority of people killed by radical Islam are Muslims.

Vice President Joe Biden also took aim at Trump at the same event. He warned that Trump’s false assertions last week about President Barack Obama founding the Islamic State extremist group could be used by extremists to target American service members in Iraq.

“If my son were still in Iraq and I say to all those who are there, the threat to their life has gone up a couple of clicks”, he said. “They too have much at stake in the outcome in Syria, and have had their own battles against Islamic terrorism”, said Trump.

Mr. Trump also linked the rise of Islamist terrorism to the West Asia policy of the Obama administration, of which Ms. Clinton was a part as Secretary of State.

“She also lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS”.

Trump was vague about what he would do differently to decimate the Islamic State in its strongholds in Iraq and Syria. A lying, bigoted zealot with executive power poses a far greater threat to US stability than any Muslim who comes to the U.S.in search of a better life. But they have been unable to reach an agreement on which militant groups could be targeted. “Our current strategy of nation building and regime change is a proven absolute failure”. “I also believe that we could find common ground with Russian Federation in the fight against ISIS”.

Obama has held up Bush’s years-long commitment to setting up and securing a new government in Iraq after the initial invasion as a reason to avoid US military intervention in countries like Syria. “And all of the many adversaries that we face”, Trump added. “I call it extreme, extreme vetting”, Trump said yesterday.

Trump did not mention his past endorsement of a ban on foreign Muslims entering the United States, instead opting to focus on specific regions, not religion.

Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration law professor at Cornell University, is skeptical of Trump’s promise to enhance a process that is already extensive and lengthy.

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