General Le Van Cuong talks about President Obama's 6 successes and 3 failures

(Baonghean)- Looking back at the past 8 years - 2 terms of President Obama, Major General Le Van Cuong said that this president had 6 successes and 3 failures.

On the occasion of Mr. Barack Obama leaving the position of the White House owner - President of the United States, Mr. Donal Trump taking office on January 20, 2017, Nghe An Newspaper interviewed Associate Professor, Dr. Major General Le Van Cuong - Former Director of the Institute for Strategic and Scientific Research of the Ministry of Public Security about the good and bad aspects in 8 years - 2 terms of President Obama.

Pv:Could you please talk about the US and international context when Barack Obama took office as the 44th President of the United States on January 20, 2009?

Associate Professor, Dr. Major General Le Van Cuong:President Obama took office in a context that was not entirely favorable. Due to domestic and foreign policy mistakes, his predecessor, George Bush, left behind serious consequences.

President Obama took office on January 20, 2009. Photo TL

Domestically, Mr. Bush Jr. left behind two “piles of trash”: One is the most serious economic crisis. Two is a deeply divided American society. The American people have lost faith in the Republican Party and do not believe in the US government apparatus dominated by two parties. Since 2005, American society has fallen into a very serious political crisis.

In foreign affairs, Mr. Bush Jr. left behind a record of many thorns, pains and deadlocks such as: The nuclear issue between Iraq and Afghanistan. The nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula and Iran's suspected nuclear program are at a standstill. The growing threat of terrorism. The Israel-Palestine relationship is at a dead end. Pakistan, America's ally in South Asia, is falling into violent instability. The strong rise of Russia, China... challenges America's interests and role in regions around the world.

The consequences left by Bush Jr. seriously weakened America's role.

Reporter: Major General, please tell us about the goals and solutions that President Obama has put forth and committed to during his campaign and when he became President of the United States?

Associate Professor, Dr. Major General Le Van Cuong:All of Obama's adjustments are aimed at overcoming the consequences left by his predecessor, while at the same time finding a new approach to bring America out of the crisis and restore America's position and role as a superpower in the world.

Domestically: The first goal is to get America out of the crisis and into a new development cycle. The second goal is to overcome America's divisions. Push back the socio-political crisis, and regain strength from within. Of the two goals above, getting America out of the crisis is the top priority.

In foreign affairs, if “Bush Jr.” prefers to use unilateral military force and is ready to strike first, Obama values ​​consensus, dialogue, and the combination of many countries. Obama values ​​the value of cooperation on a global scale. He cares about broad security partnerships. He helps allies and friends protect themselves.

Mr. Obama and strategists observe the implementation of the plan to destroy terrorist leader Billaden. Photo TL

With the Muslim world, after taking office, Obama declared that his job was to convince Muslims that Americans were not their enemies.

In the Middle East, Obama's goals include: Withdrawing troops from Iraq; destroying the Taliban and Afghanistan; Solving Iran's suspected nuclear issue; Resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict through the formation of two states.

With Russia, in 2009 President Obama advocated resetting relations with Russia and made many positive statements. For example, the US and NATO cannot set up a missile defense system in Eastern Europe without Russia's consent. Or once he said, no decision that benefits NATO is based on harming Russia.

With China, Obama believes that through dialogue and cooperation, it is possible to make China a responsible stakeholder in the US-led international community.

Basically, Obama's goals and approach to the world are correct and positive. They are conciliatory and constructive. Unfortunately, in the process of carrying out his duties, especially in the last years of his second term, Obama increasingly deviated from those commitments.

Reporter: Could you please summarize the results and achievements Obama has achieved during his 8 years in office?

Associate Professor, Dr. Major General Le Van Cuong:Looking back over the past 8 years and 2 terms, it can be seen that Obama has achieved the following results:

First isbrought the US out of the economic crisis, starting in September 2008. In the last years of Obama's second term, the US economy began to stabilize and had slow but quite certain growth, directly or indirectly affecting the global economy.

Second isreached the P5+1 agreement with Iran. Iran's nuclear program is the most serious and difficult problem to solve in South Asia - Middle East. From 1979 to 2015, Iran and the US considered each other enemies, living in hostility. Iran did not recognize the Jewish state of Israel, its closest ally in the Middle East. For more than 60 years, since 1948, the US has used Israel as a "trump card" on the Middle East chessboard to restrain the Muslim world, serving the US's strategic interests in the region with the largest oil reserves on the planet. Since the IAEA published a 13-page report on January 1, 2011, according to reliable sources, Iran may be developing nuclear weapons. According to Israeli authorities, Iran's use of nuclear weapons puts Israel at risk of destruction. Israel has repeatedly attempted to use strategic aircraft and cruise missiles to preemptively attack and destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, but has been opposed by the Obama administration. It must be noted that this is a positive action by Obama, a wise decision. If war is launched against Iran, it will ignite a war throughout the Middle East that cannot be controlled.

Third isnormalizing relations with Cuba, from March 20-22, 2016, Mr. Obama made a historic visit to Cuba. From 1928 to 2016, it took 88 years for a US president to visit Cuba. On July 20, 2016, Cuba opened an embassy in Washington, on August 15, 2016, the US opened an embassy in Cuba. Surpassing 7 presidents, Obama made a milestone in foreign policy.

Cuban officials welcomed President Obama in a historic visit, ending a dark period in US-Cuba relations. Photo TL

The fourth isThe results of the war against terrorism. Although there may be different, even opposing, perceptions and assessments. Some results in this area are that Obama has made America and Americans live safer; Destroyed the terrorist leader Billaden; Withdrawn troops from Afghanistan and Iraq...

Thursday isnot attack the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria. In July 2013, when news broke that the Bashar al-Assad regime had used chemical weapons, despite being under great pressure to attack, the Obama administration calculated that if it used force to destroy them, it would likely push the Middle East into an unquenchable fire of war. That was also a great success marked by Obama.

Friday isRestore European alliances - trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific relations... Expand and promote more friends on the continents.

President Obama ate bun cha during his visit to Vietnam. Photo TL

Besides, Mr. Obama also had many mistakes and failures. There are 3 problems that emerged:

First isRegarding domestic affairs, Mr. Obama could not overcome the internal divisions in the United States. American society is still divided and in deep crisis. This is what Obama promised but could not do. Mr. Obama did not understand the mood of the American people that they have lost faith in the federal government, they want breakthrough changes. This led Obama to excessive actions in supporting candidate Hillary Clinton, which an incumbent president should not do.

Second isIn terms of foreign affairs, the first failure was to push the US-Russia relationship into the abyss. During his 6 years in power, the first 2 years were spent re-establishing relations with Russia, but from 2011-2016, due to many objective and subjective reasons, the US-Russia relationship fell into the abyss. To the point that in his last days as US President, on December 29, 2016, the US expelled 35 Russian diplomats...

Third isusing NATO military forces to preemptively eliminate the Libyan government of President Gadafi in October 2011. Obama's mistake was similar to the Bush administration's use of force to eliminate the Shaddam Hussein government in Iraq. It was Obama's mistake that turned Libya into a holy land for all terrorist forces around the world.

Reporter: According to the Major General, from January 20, 2017, what did Mr. Donald Trump inherit from Obama?

Associate Professor, Dr. Major General Le Van Cuong:Domestically, Trump’s fundamental and long-term goal is no different from Obama’s, which is to restore America’s “greatness.” To make America powerful enough to lead the world. The goal is no different, only the approach and solution are different.

Donald Trump is different from Obama in that he focuses on reviving domestic production, encouraging and requiring American corporations and businesses that invest abroad to return to domestic production.

Regarding economic cooperation, Donald Trump prioritizes bilateral agreements, reviews multilateral agreements, doubts the multilateral agreements that Mr. Obama is aiming for, and even considers them a disaster.

In terms of foreign affairs, Donald Trump has a different view from Obama. With Russia, Trump restores relations with Russia, cooperates with Russia to solve world problems. With China, Donald Trump firmly opposes China's trade policies that harm the US and the world.

With allies, Donald Trump's policy is mainly tactical. Donald Trump forces alliances and allies to spend more on defense to shoulder more costs with the US. With Islam, Donald Trump does not seem to be as friendly as Obama. With immigrants and migrants, Trump completely opposes and supports Brexit, and even mocks Prime Minister Merkel for being generous to immigrants.

With Asia, Trump is interested in establishing bilateral relations.

Thus, the possibility of Donald Trump inheriting very little of Obama's legacy is very small. Donald Trump is still an unknown that the whole world continues to watch.

Reporter: We would like to thank Associate Professor, Dr. Major General Le Van Cuong for giving Nghe An Newspaper this interview!

Chi Linh Son (Implementation)