Middle East Christians
in America and beyond appear to be behind the new president due to his
pro-Russian, anti-Saudi leanings
Donald Trump, the next
president of the United States of America – I guess those are words few of us
ever expected to hear, along with ‘Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition’ and
‘Leicester City, Premier League Champions’,
I went to bed early
assuming that Clinton had it in the bag, and that overall this was probably the
lesser of two evils. She’s awful, but I broadly agreed with PJ O’Rourke on this
one.
Not that I made any
endorsement; it slightly baffles me how many Brits in particular seem to forget
that Americans aren’t voting for the president of the world, but their own
leader, and should do what they feel is right for their nation, not what we tell
them to.
Except that, of course,
American foreign policy affects everyone on earth. I’d be curious to see how
many of the large numbers of Middle East Christians who now live in America
(many Egyptian Copts but also Iraqis, Lebanese and Palestinians) voted for
Trump. Anecdotally they seem to be overwhelmingly pro-Trump, viewing his
pro-Russian, anti-Saudi leanings as being good news for them. He almost
certainly can’t be worse than either Bush or Obama as far as they are
concerned, both of whom have been catastrophic for persecuted Christians.
Obama’s administration
in particular has been extremely soft, almost sympathetic, to some dreadful
Islamist groups in the Middle East, naively describing the Islamic Brotherhood
as ‘largely secular’.
Not surprisingly, many
Middle East Christians think Obama has Muslim sympathies and that Trump – who
certainly doesn’t – could be good for them.
Trump’s warmth towards
Putin will be of far more concern to Christians in strongly Catholic Poland and
Lithuania, but then maybe this is an opportunity for Europeans. As I’ve argued
before, as grateful as I am for America saving us from both Nazi Germany and
the Soviet Union, it has also infantilised our continent.
Trump may be a chance
for European countries to start growing up and defending ourselves; David
Goodhart has suggested that British military commitment to north-east Europe
could be a bargaining chip when our Brexit negotiations begin. I certainly
don’t want conflict with Russia, and sympathise with some of their gripes
against the west (such as the ransacking of their economy under Yeltsin) but we
should also be increasing our military spending and presence in Poland and the
Baltic.
Russia is a particular
concern for me as a conservative; many traditionalists see Putinism as a
bulwark against western decadence and their suspicion that Marxism didn’t
actually lose in 1989, but reaction stripped of its moderating influences (in
Russia’s case, the rule of law) is a dangerous force that can only harm European
conservatism.
The upside of a change
in president is that it brings the chance of peace in Syria closer, although
this was probably likely whoever took over, as a new leader would find it
easier to do the inevitably squalid deal that will leave Assad in power. For
that reason many persecuted Christians may be celebrating the unlikely victory
of the three-times married New York property tycoon.
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