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Trump tweeted out this picture of Hillary Clinton, surrounded by money and accompanied by a Jewish star.

Donald Trump is a master gaslighter. He takes things said about him and tries to convince us that the flaw in question actually applies not to him but rather to his opponents or detractors.

When he was caught on tape bragging about disrespecting women (and worse)—he told the world that no one (NO ONE!) has more respect for women than he does.

He distanced himself from his role as a leader in the Obama birther movement, (a role which he claimed previously he is proud to have served) only to later claim it was Hillary Clinton who had started the movement in the first place (she did not).

In the last debate of this presidential cycle, Clinton referred to Trump as a puppet for Putin. He disagreed but—because this is Donald Trump—he also responded, “you’re the puppet.” Which makes no sense—the interaction came after Trump pointed at Clinton and stated, “Putin, from everything I see, has no respect for this person”—but this is 2016. So anything goes.

This election cycle is full of additional examples. If something nasty or distasteful is said about Trump, he will happily turn it around to make a similar claim against his accusers. “I know you are, but what am I.”

Trump has also surrounded himself with staff and advisers just as adept at such manipulation. Kellyanne Conway, Chris Christie, Newt Gingrich, Mike Pence and Rudy Giuliani, each in their own way, can take any claim about Trump and readily turn it around on the Clintons, the media, the liberals, or whoever else might be deemed relevant to the conversation.

This week, David Friedman, a Trump Israel adviser, made headlines when he dismissed the idea that anti-Semitism existed amongst Trump’s supporters. He insisted though that there IS actually “anti-Semitic sentiment among Clinton’s supporters.” That’s some Trump-level gaslighting right there!

Are there anti-Semitic Clinton supporters? Of course. When you are talking about tens of millions of people, there are going to be those who hate the Jews. It’s just a way of the world sadly.

But they and their bile are not embraced or welcomed by any respectable person in the Clinton campaign or the Democratic party.

Trump, on the other hand, retweets statements by known anti-Semites to his millions of Twitter followers!

Blatantly anti-Semitic tweets and accounts have been promoted by a top Trump foreign policy advisor, a senior advisor, one of his sons, and of course Trump himself.

And that is just some of the abject anti-Semitism coming from the candidate and his senior advisors… on Twitter. His campaign is of course much bigger than a single social media platform.

Recently Trump stated, “Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty to enrich these global financial powers, her special interest friends and her donors.”

Per Cheryl Greenberg in the Washington Post: “These are old canards straight out of the phony ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion,’ conspiracy theories about wealthy, international Jewish bankers plotting to destroy the nation and take over the world, controlling politicians with their wealth or through the power of the media that they dominate.”

There are some who wonder if Trump actually realizes that language like this is anti-Semitic. After all, his daughter converted to Judaism; she and Trump’s son-in-law are observant Jews and are raising Jewish children. Trump not understanding the weight of his words is horrifying in its own right for a man who could become president. But his ignorance (if given the benefit of the doubt that he is not actually an anti-Semite himself) also raises questions about who he has empowered to run his campaign.

Trump appointed Stephen Bannon, the former chairman of Breitbart News, to serve as CEO and to help run the final months of the campaign. This is a man with a troubling record. Bannon’s wife stated in court that, when choosing a school for their twin daughters, her husband  “said that he doesn’t like the way they raise their kids to be ‘whiny brats’ and that he didn’t want the girls going to school with Jews.” As recently as a few weeks ago, Beitbart News published an article that was an openly anti-Semitic attack against a Washington Post columnist.

Although he has (clumsily) stated he does not want it, Trump has the support of David Duke and numerous other white supremacist organizations.

He has retweeted Mussolini.

When Trump supports got mad at a reporter for writing an unflattering article about Melania, someone created a photoshopped image that made it look like the journalist was in a concentration camp and the image was widely shared within Trump supporter online communities. When asked about it, Trump could (and should!) have outright condemned it. Instead, he shrugged it off. “You’ll have to talk to them about it.” When Melania was asked for comment, she responded: “I don’t control my fans. But I don’t agree with what they’re doing. I understand what you mean, but there are people out there who maybe went too far. [The journalist] provoked them.”

Trump’s primary slogan of course is Make America Great Again. But he also routinely promises to put “America First.” America First was a WWII-era “isolationist, defeatist, anti-Semitic national organization that urged the US to appease Adolf Hitler.”

Trump supporters have even co-opted a cartoon frog named Pepe, imbuing it with horribly racist and anti-Semitic connotations. If you see this particular cartoon frog on social media, be warned. There’s an anti-Semite on the other end of that account.

This week, Trump and Pence addressed a crowd in Israel via video to try and get out the vote amongst the several hundred thousand American Jews currently living in Israel. The event was hosted by Republicans Overseas – Israel. They sold tickets to the event, highlighting a video from Trump. Trump’s remarks, clocking in at just 59 seconds, opened with him saying “I love Israel” and closed with him saying that “together, we will make America and Israel safe again.”

In the past, Israelis have tended to prefer Republican presidents: supporting Romney over Obama 57% to 22% and McCain over Obama 46.4% to 34%.

But not this time: Clinton is currently trouncing Trump amongst Israelis by an almost 2-1 margin.

Clearly Israelis do not believe he is the one to “make Israel safe again.” American Jews obviously feel the same way as they currently support Clinton over Trump by a 3-1 ratio.

In a few more weeks we will definitively see how the rest of the country feels. Regardless of what happens on Nov. 8th though, it’s pretty clear the Trump campaign has emboldened anti-Semitism in America, regardless of David Friedman’s gaslighting on the matter.

In the meantime, watch out for Pepe. And follow me on Twitter @jlemonsk.

The post Anti-Semitism in the Trump Campaign appeared first on Foreign Policy Blogs.

Cette recension a été publiée dans le numéro d’automne de Politique étrangère (n°3/2016). Alain Antil, responsable du Programme Afrique subsaharienne de l’Ifri, propose une analyse de l’ouvrage de Joseph Brunet-Jailly, Jacques Charmes et Doulaye Konaté, Le Mali contemporain (Éditions Tombouctou/IRD, 2014, 668 pages).

Cette somme collective constitue une radioscopie sans concession d’un pays fragile soumis à des transformations multiples et rapides. Les auteurs pointent la faillite d’un État inefficace, corrompu, qui ne semble pas au service des populations du pays, représentant un coût économique trop important et en franc décalage avec le niveau de richesse du pays : « Faut-il rappeler que le nombre des agents de l’État (fonctionnaires et conventionnaires) a été multiplié par 5 entre 1961 et 1987 et que, au milieu des années 1980, le salaire moyen des fonctionnaires maliens représentait 10 fois le produit national brut par tête du pays ? Faut-il se rappeler que les fonctionnaires maliens se plaignaient déjà, alors, du niveau de leurs rémunérations alors qu’à la même époque, le salaire moyen des fonctionnaires de l’administration centrale dans les pays d’Asie à faible revenu (Bangladesh, Pakistan, Laos, Sri-Lanka), pays comparables au Mali en termes de produit par tête, était environ de deux fois ce dernier ? »

La difficulté pour l’administration de délivrer des services, ou même d’arbitrer sereinement les confrontations d’intérêts entre citoyens et/ou entre groupes de citoyens, a fini de détourner les populations de cette instance. Pour beaucoup, l’existence de l’administration malienne n’a d’autre but que de nourrir ses agents.

La « démocratisation » malienne a rapidement peiné à concerner de nombreux segments de la société malienne autrement qu’à travers un clientélisme exacerbé. Le fonctionnement des institutions de l’État paraît généralement coupé de la vie concrète des citoyens, à l’image du Parlement, simple chambre d’enregistrement de l’exécutif, qui dépense, selon les auteurs, beaucoup plus d’énergie à désigner ses multiples bureaux et commissions qu’à s’occuper des problèmes des Maliens. Autre facette de ce difficile fonctionnement de l’État, la mise en place jamais achevée de la décentralisation.

Mais l’ouvrage n’est pas seulement une charge contre l’État. De l’État jusqu’à la famille, en passant par les différents espaces de sociabilité : famille élargie, grins[1], communauté villageoise, communauté religieuse… il observe les transformations sociales à tous niveaux. La section concernant les cadets sociaux est importante pour saisir ces dynamiques sociales. Jeunes contestant l’autorité des aînés, et en particulier des pères qui n’ont plus, dans les espaces ruraux, les moyens économiques de maintenir cette autorité. Femmes qui combattent au quotidien pour arracher des parcelles d’autonomie (notamment le choix du mari). Jeunes qui, alors qu’ils désespèrent de la vie politique, s’engagent dans des processus de contestation locaux et micro-locaux.

Ce livre est certainement incontournable pour qui veut comprendre les dynamiques profondes de la société malienne contemporaine. Il fait cependant presque totalement l’impasse sur la partie nord du pays (pas seulement sa crise mais aussi ses populations), ce qui participe d’une symbolique quelque peu gênante.

Alain Antil

[1]. Le grin est un groupe de jeunes d’un même village ou même quartier, d’une même classe d’âge se réunissant régulièrement pour discuter de sujets politiques, de société ou de simples badinages. À l’origine, il réunissait les garçons ayant subi certains rites (circoncision surtout) au même moment ; ces groupes étaient censés renforcer la cohésion sociale. Aujourd’hui de nombreux grins sont mixtes, et on a aussi des grins regroupant uniquement des femmes, des hommes d’affaires, des retraités…

S’abonner à Politique étrangère.

 

The United Nations envoy for education today called for an immediate investigation by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) into what he called a war crime in Syria – the latest attacks on a school compound in the western province of Idlib that left at least 20 pupils and teachers dead.

In another impassioned plea to the United Nations Security Council urging action to stop the bloodshed in war-ravaged Syria, the top UN humanitarian official stressed that since his last briefing to the body (on 29 September), 400 more Syrians had been killed and close to 2,000 injured in eastern Aleppo.

Prior to a meeting today at the United Nations on sovereign debt restructuring, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) announced that in order to deal with sovereign debt crises – which are creating a growing threat to economic stability in many developing countries – the world is in need of new ways to tackle the problem.

“Tremendous” efforts and increased investments are expected from countries and international organizations in order to improve national statistical capacities in achieving the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Zero Hunger target, José Graziano da Silva, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said today in Rome.

(Own report) - According to a documentation, at least 300 civilians have been killed in Syria during US led Anti-IS Coalition airstrikes - with the involvement of German soldiers. The human rights organization Amnesty International presented the documentation on eleven of these air raids yesterday. The total number of civilian casualties caused by the airstrikes since the war on IS was launched in September 2014, can be expected to be much higher - up to 1200, according to observers. And this does not even include the number of casualties from western raids on Iraq, or the casualties that can be expected during neither the recapture of Mosul that has recently been started nor the forthcoming recapture of Raqqa. The German military is involved in preparing these airstrikes with reconnaissance flights and in-flight refueling. Whereas German politicians are reacting with indignation to casualties in East Aleppo from Russian airstrikes and calling for sanctions, no such demands are raised regarding the western Anti-IS Coalition.

In a near unanimous action, the United Nations General Assembly today adopted a resolution underlining the need to end to the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba, while also welcoming progress in the relations between the two countries.

The Russian president has sown confusion and conflict around the world the past two years. But his short-sighted meddling isn’t the work of a mastermind.

United Nations human rights expert Ikponwosa Ero called upon government representatives gathered in New York for the General Assembly to take swift action to end a growing problem of violence and severe discrimination against people with albinism.

“You didn’t see me whining after I lost the rigged 1960 election, did you?” asks the ghost of the 37th president.

Thai mourners are gathering to say goodbye to their king. But they're also leaving behind piles of trash.

The final battles of the fight for the White House, from swing state Nevada to Trump's hotel in Washington, from the Iran deal to intervention in Syria.

Goldman says data doesn't support Trump's claim that he can pull off an upset like Britain's decision to leave the EU.

With three African countries giving notice that they intend to abandon the ICC, a coordinated exodus might soon be coming.

From Florida resorts to Washington hotels, Trump’s focus on his businesses in the election’s crucial final weeks signals he’s already looking beyond Nov. 8.

The United States has dramatically stepped up attacks on the caliphate’s oil production. But to win this battle, it’s going to have to go scorched earth.

One of the key problems of innovation, James Gleick notes in The Information, is that new things tend to be seen too much in the context of the old.

I read the new book, War Virgin, to see where fact separated from fiction.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Filipino Rodrigo Duterte ( The New York Times)

Intensified U.S.-Russian and U.S.-China rivalry is actually proving beneficial to several states as it increases their room for maneuver between the major powers and pushes them more toward a multi-vector foreign policy strategy. Unlike during the Cold War, where most states were either strictly aligned with one camp or the other, or non-aligned, these modern states have several features in common.

They are all: 1) U.S. allies, 2) situated at the geographical confluence of great power influence, 3) struggling with local nationalistic sentiment with respect to local great powers, and 4) eager to conclude trade and investment deals with these very same local great powers, particularly in energy and/or infrastructure. The Philippines, Japan, and Turkey are all case studies of this new phenomenon.

The Philippines

Recent attempts to portray the Philippines’ new President as a “strongman in the making” willing to “jump into bed with China” have been quite simplistic. Rather than making a full tilt towards China, the Philippines’ new foreign policy strategy is much more nuanced. The goal is to achieve more of an actual balance between the U.S. and China (as well as Japan and Russia). This approach will give the Philippines maximum flexibility to achieve its security objectives (U.S.), while simultaneously seeking new avenues of economic cooperation (China).

This strategy is a necessity not merely from a negotiating standpoint, but from an eternal geographic reality as well. In order to ensure that it will not be taken for granted by any party (not even its treaty ally, the U.S.), the Philippines needs to diversify its foreign policy “investment portfolio”. With respect to actual financial investment, the Philippines has chosen to take a level-headed approach to China after the recent favorable Hague South China Sea ruling. This has occurred despite widespread domestic opposition to China regarding its conflicting South China Sea claims.

The Philippines has used the court’s findings as a platform to begin negotiations with China, not end them. Economically, the Philippines is hungry for investment opportunities. Although the U.S. and, especially, Japan currently account for a sizable share of the Philippines’ inbound FDI portfolio, the Philippines is looking specifically at more infrastructure-related investment. Because of this, China’s traditional political conditions-free investment packages and its previous quick infrastructure investment turnaround times in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America have made quite an impression on the Philippines. Lastly, the opportunity to be part of China’s OBOR initiative, specifically focused on infrastructure, is highly appealing as well.

Japan

Japan, the anchor of the U.S.’s re-balance to Asia to contain China, is currently in the midst of its most independent foreign policy stance in quite some time.  Japan, still considered a great power in its own right for historical reasons, feels the pressure of great power rivalry even more acutely than does the Philippines. This is because Japan is situated in Northeast Asia, home to China and Russia, both of whom have had their own historical issues with Japan.

From a security perspective, Japan still considers the U.S. to be the bedrock of its overall security portfolio. However, Japan also can not ignore the potential benefit of enlisting other great powers in its own bid to counter China. In South Asia, India fits this bill perfectly. In Northeast Asia, Russia would be extremely useful to Japan in creating some strategic uncertainty on China’s northern and northwestern frontiers. Japan sees this Russian benefit despite their ongoing dispute over the Kuril Islands and strong domestic nationalistic undercurrents in both the Japanese and Russian populations on this particular issue.

Crucial to resolving the Kuril Islands dispute, and actually signing a peace treaty with Russia, is increased economic cooperation between the two neighbors. Resource-hungry Japan and geographically-proximate resource-rich Russia are a match made in heaven. Because of U.S. and European sanctions, Russia is desperate for much-needed infrastructure investment and technical expertise to more fully develop the Russian Far East. Japan has displayed a willingness to explore this possibility despite the application of its own post-Ukraine sanctions on Russia, although these sanctions aren’t quite as severe as their American and European counterparts. Lastly, these economic maneuvers with Russia are given increased salience due to the uncertain future of actual TPP passage.

Turkey

Turkey, a U.S. NATO ally, nonetheless has its own calculus to follow in crafting a holistic foreign policy strategy. Like the Philippines and Japan, this is a necessity for Turkey as it sits at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East and Asia. This rich historical and unique geographical position has led to hostilities with Russia in the past, eventually leading to the Crimean War, and with Europe, eventually leading to World War I, and presently continuing uncertainty over eventual EU accession and Syrian refugee crisis resolution.

More recently, Turkey’s relations with Russia had taken a nosedive due to the shooting down of a Russian airplane near Syria. At the time, it was widely assumed that this incident would strengthen Turkish solidarity with the West with respect to Russia in the wake of U.S.-Russian hostilities. However, the recent coup attempt in Turkey has altered this calculus with Turkish suspicions that the U.S. might itself, in fact, have been behind the coup attempt. As a result, Russia and Turkey have temporarily put the aircraft incident behind them with Turkey pursuing more of a balanced diplomatic track between Russia and the West.

This reorientation, however, is not without its problems as Turkey and Russia both have competing visions over Syria’s future. Regardless, the two powers have not allowed these differences to impede potential economic cooperation, already faltering post-Ukraine sanctions and post-Russian aircraft incident. The Turkish Stream project, once thought to be dead because of past Russo-Turkish hostilities, is currently proceeding apace. Ukraine is referenced yet again, as the project would allow Russia to export more gas to Europe through Turkey, bypassing Ukraine in the process. Lastly, this rapprochement has occurred despite historical Russo-Turkish domestic grievances with respect to influence over the Black Sea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meet in Vladivostok (RT)

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