Military/corporate power brokers dominated policy making of Obama: Analyst

Military/corporate power brokers dominated the policy making of the administration of former US President Barack Obama, an American political analyst and activist says.

Myles Hoenig, a former Green Party candidate for Congress, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Thursday while commenting on a statement of former US Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul who has said that President Donald Trump will regret the day he allowed American neoconservatives to take over his foreign policy.

“What’s missing in Ron Paul’s statement is an acknowledgement that when Trump came into office his approach to foreign policy diverged from what’s been in place for decades,” Hoenig said.

“Trump was more of an American Firster, yet with the same view of American exceptionalism, but more of an isolationist in foreign matters. To him, our military entanglements all over the world was hurting the US. He campaigned against all kinds of foreign involvements, from attacking NATO to pulling out of TPP and climate treaties to now a trade war with China and other competitors,” he added.

“Paul, as a leader in the libertarian movement, has long opposed military actions abroad, and the US’s attack on the sovereign state of Syria is just another example of involvement on the whim of the commander-in-chief. In this case, there is a clear divergence from Trump’s original position of pulling out of Syria to one now of more military involvement. This is not a new development as the US military has been involved in Syria for many years,” the analyst said.

“Paul is remarking that the neocons, who have long supported regime change in order to enhance America’s hegemony and corporate control over others’ resources, are fully in the saddle of American foreign policy, in spite of the president’s stated positions. The only difference now is that the division is clear with the neocons openly flouting their dominance over foreign policy decisions. With the Obama regime the neocons were the dominant military/corporate decision makers with Obama being more of a willing servant to this interventionist, imperialist approach,” he said.

“The attack in Syria was illegal on all fronts. It was without Congressional approval and violated the UN charter against wars of aggression, as Syria did not pose a threat, imminent or otherwise, against the US. However, Syria, like Iraq, has enormous oil reserves and the leadership has dissociated itself from Western monetary shackles, rising the ire of those on Wall Street who set the economic agenda while the US military carries out the means to bring the victimized country back into its fold,” he noted.

PressTV-‘Trump will regret following neocon foreign policy’

Ron Paul says President Trump will regret the day he allowed American neoconservatives to take over his foreign policy.

The US, Britain and France launched a barrage of cruise missiles on different Syrian government targets on Saturday morning, targeting what they called chemical weapons sites in retaliation for an alleged  poison gas attack.

The US and its allies had been threatening Damascus with military action since April 7, when a suspected chemical attack on the Syrian town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, reportedly killed 60 people and injured hundreds more.

Russia said on Monday it has “irrefutable” evidence that the chemical attack in Douma was a “false flag” operation orchestrated by British spy services.

Russia’s Representative at the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Alexander Shulgin made the remarks during a meeting of the organization’s executive council in The Hague.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk