Libertarian communicator and former presidential candidate Ron Paul examined President Donald Trump’s foreign policy regarding Russia in an in-depth discussion last week with host Sophie Shevardnadze on the RT show SophieCo. Paul says in the interview that he had been pleased with Trump’s campaign statements supporting improving United States relations with Russia and expresses concern about the Trump administration’s sudden shift away from this objective.
Seeking to explain the reason for the shift in policy toward Russia, Paul points to Trump’s lack of a “firm set of principles” regarding foreign policy and the presence of neoconservatives who “have a great deal of influence” in the Trump administration and who oppose being “more open and friendly with Russia.”
While neoconservatives may have had much influence on Trump recently, might that change? Paul suggests there is potential for more big swings in Trump’s foreign policy. In addressing the potential for further escalation of US military attacks in Syria, for example, Paul says, “I don’t think Trump has a precise position, and it changes depending on which advisor he might have talked to recently.”
In addition to US relations with Russia, Paul, who is chairman of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, discusses in the interview additional aspects of US foreign policy.
Paul says that, as it has through history, the seeking of war profiteering, such as for the military-industrial complex, plays a significant role in promoting war or promoting “a sense of war and conflict to make an excuse to build more and more weapons.”
Watch the complete interview here:
Read a transcript here.
