Have You Been Able To Sort Anything Out With (US Sec State) Tillerson, Venezuela, The Monroe Doctrine, And China?

Question

NPR painted Tillerson's comment as a complete bungle, a faux pas...the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 being viewed in Latin America as neo-imperialism.

(On his visit to Venzuela, Tillerson argued that the Monroe Doctrine -- the 19th-century declaration of U.S. primacy in the Western Hemisphere -- “clearly has been a success” and remains “as relevant today as it was the day it was written.”)

Was Tillerson invoking the Monroe Doctrine as a warning China to keep hands off, is that the point? This is an article I found helpful...somewhat different from the NPR take...do you understand what is going on here?

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/view/articles/2018-02-06/tillerson-was-sorta-right-about-the-monroe-doctrine

Answer 1

I see it as a way to tell China to stay away, or Russia if you prefer. He may have offended some Latin American Leaders and I don't think this should be for the public to read but in most ways? I agree. The Doctrine has worked 200 years but the Chinese are determined to expand their global empire by any means possible. I doubt whether this will do much good but I do agree with it. Chinese monetary expansionism is already way out of hand, while their people are starving.

I believe the Monroe Doctrine should be kept and enforced.

Comments

Thoughtful interesting comments Rooster, ty!

Answer 2

I haven't heard much about it. Do you have a link to the PBS piece?

The Bloomberg article seems reasonable, although it's possible that Tillerson said some things that everyone tacitly understands, but which are not supposed to be talked about in public. 

Comments

Tink, the NPR segment about Tillerson's foot-in-mouth comment, offending everybody, was on the radio. I was wondering if NPR has a liberal bias? So I was looking for another perspective. 

It's likely Tillerson truly offended Latin America, when he was trying to cultivate them. Your suggestion of the "tacit understandings" also possible, perhaps!

---

Virginia, I think NPR does have something of a liberal bias.  They fired Juan Williams for not strictly toeing their line, and saying things they didn't like when he was a guest at Fox.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Williams

---

Had not heard of Juan Williams, Tink, that article portrays an intriguing person of some complexity! (and now ima be more careful of NPR...)

---

Yes, Virginia, I think NPR is usually more subtle in their bias than, say, NBC or CNN.

---

When I had TV in the winter of 2015-16, I finally just gave up on CNN; at first I was SO delighted at the concept, a station you could go to anytime for quick, but quality news (ha! )...then tried FOX...more  ... did not try NBC, but would have expected them or ABC or CBS to be better.

---

Actually, I find Fox's straight news coverage (between 6 and 7 in the evening) to generally be more balanced than that of the major networks, in the sense of presenting more sides of the story in question.  (I am of course excluding the opinion hosts on Fox, who come on later in the evening, and who certainly have an agenda, but at least they don't pretend to be journalists.)

---

O'Tink that is interesting comment (about FOX 6-7 PM)...if I am ever (forced to be ) close to a TV set again, I will give that FOX hour a go!

Answer 3

Virginia, I am afraid that European news are hardly referring to Tillerson's "warning":

http://www.euronews.com/bulletin

There seem to be lots of other "matters" to worry about ...

Isn't that strange?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_Doctrine

Comments

This is interesting, Marianne - the Monroe Doctrine was originally composed with European competition in mind, but maybe now the emphasis is indeed more on China!

---

Yes, Virginia, and also Russia is being addressed.

That looks much like "gunboat diplomacy":

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gunboat_diplomacy#English

Additionally, China is expected to deal with North Korea - without losses ...

---

Marianne I smiled sadly at gunboat diplomacy..."(idiomatic) The pursuit of foreign policy objectives with the aid of conspicuous displays of military power. "

---

Yes, Virginia, that reminds of many very dark chapters in human history.