After the Bay of Pigs disaster in 1961, President John F. Kennedy said that Richard Nixon, the man he defeated in the 1960 election, sympathized with the president's unique burden. "Indeed, foreign affairs are the only important issue the president deals with, isn't it?" the rattled young Kennedy told the former vice president. “I mean, if the minimum wage is $1.15 or $1.25, who would do something to whom?”
Kennedy, like other presidents, faces the painful fact that foreign policy’s challenges in the nuclear era fall only on the commander-in-chief. Today, India and Pakistan are getting closer to a war that could have a catastrophic impact on their region and the world. Is the Trump administration willing, enough to help keep peace?
It is in the interest of the United States to prevent larger conflicts, even if nuclear weapons are not introduced, which will be a diplomatic and humanitarian disaster on multiple levels. However, the possibility of nuclear exchange is so terrible that it is a kind of class in itself. Even if the use of nuclear weapons is included in the two warring countries, the consequences of destruction and radioactivity will spread throughout the region and eventually enter the U.S. coast. Indians and Pakistanis may exercise restrictions because nuclear forces have been historically possible even when they are angry. But at the same time, we must hope that so far the government seems to be obsessed with political revenge, cultural wars and the president's theory of pet economics to rise.
The escalation of tensions between the two major nuclear weapons powers is serious International crisis. How does the administration usually operate at such a moment?
The U.S. Presidential Administration has a variety of inter-agency tools and processes that help the executive branch navigate through high-risk, short-term and conflicting information. National Security Advisors typically coordinate state and defense opinions to obtain information from various national security committee experts and strive to obtain timely information from the intelligence community. The president and other senior officials often reach out to allies and others through formal (and sometimes even more important).
All of this could happen in the White House. Perhaps President Donald Trump is meeting with National Security Adviser Marco Rubio, who in turn holds meetings and contributions with government leaders such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Perhaps Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Intelligence Agency Tulsi Gabbard are gripping gloves with other top NSA members, providing Trump with a reliable option to the country (and other relevant parties) and reducing potential existing crises.
Explained with the famous Ernest Hemingway series, it's pretty. Trump, at least from his answers to reporters’ questions yesterday, seems unaware of what was going on or what was endangered. "What a pity," Trump said. He borrowed the stock phrases he used when he faced information that he didn't seem to have fully grasped. He continued: "I think people know that something will happen based on a little bit of the past. They've been fighting for a long time, you know? They've been fighting for decades, and in fact, if you really think about it, it's actually hundreds of years. No, I just hope it ends soon." You can think about it all day, but India and Pakistan (two countries that didn't stand independent until 1947) "had been fighting for centuries."
Suitably, Trump served as the Middle East envoy for amateur diplomat Steve Witkoff at the swearing-in ceremony. Witkoff, a real estate tycoon with no experience in foreign policy, has deceived his informal daggers in negotiations with Russia about Ukraine.
Similarly, it is impossible for Hegseth and Gabbard to be able to accomplish the work of a major crisis. Gabbard, in particular, seemed to be on her head even at the confirmation hearing. Since then, she has been different from her own intelligence community on issues such as Venezuela. According to former senior staff, the Pentagon in Heggs (the one hired by Heggs) is a mess. (Of course, Heggs may have signal meetings with his wife and family as we speak to increase the speed.) Other administrative officials, such as CIA Director John Ratcliffe, have been nowhere to be seen so far. Mike Waltz, designated by the UN ambassador, has not been confirmed, but his position after Turtle Bay will be weak: every UN diplomat knows that Waltz has been exiled from the White House to New York.
However, it is commendable that the double Rubio does seem to be very busy. (Rubio is the only one who runs both the National Security Council and the State Department, which is both a criticism and a compliment that Marco Rubio is not Henry Kissinger. He is also engaged to national security advisers of both countries. Pakistan’s main military patron is China, and Rubio’s work has been complicated. The crisis could strengthen Beijing’s influence in the region, which is harmful to the United States.
Every United States and those who care about global peace should bless Rubio and hope for his success. It is often difficult for Americans to see the connection between distant conflict and their own well-being, but experienced diplomats know that ripples of military and economic instability will have a huge impact not only on American physical safety, but on daily production standards at home. (For example, this reality is why President Bill Clinton worked frantically and successfully avoided the 1999 Kagill conflict between India and Pakistan.)
In the 1990 gangster movie Miller's Crossthe mob lieutenant warned his boss to underestimate the dangers of other gangs. When the top guy said no to worry, the lieutenant replied, “If I thought you were worried, I would worry less.” We must hope the government is worried enough. At least Rubio seems to be involved. But it would be more reassuring to see that the government is far less focused than its internal dissatisfaction (and insulting our allies) and more on maintaining nuclear peace.