Should I decide to go forward with my candidacy for President of the United States under the banner of the “Chance for Sanity” Party my platform’s plank on International Relations will be one of Diplomacy.

The United States is the leader of the “so called” free world. We have that title because of our huge economy and history after World War II. Those two reasons plus our subsidies will cause us to keep that title for the foreseeable future. During the Cold War with the Soviet Union, a third group immersed, who were “independent” of both sides and wisely played both sides against each other to great success.

Today’s international situation is composed of three militarily powerful countries of which two have the world’s largest economies. Russia has a third rate economy based on their sale of their natural resources mostly to Europe. Russia is an irritant and not an equal in real power. China is now an equal in most ways. Russia seeks to divide the “Free World” through propaganda and cyber warfare. We are more susceptible as we are more dependent on computers to run our infrastructure and our belief in information on social media.

China with its massive and growing wealth and population is our only real adversary. Their economic power has allowed them to quietly expand their influence into most countries by buying up land and business infiltration. Their bold military moves have put them in control of the South China Sea, put a military base in Aden almost abutting ours, and port privileges in the Caribbean Sea. Their infiltration through use of “private” Chinese companies has put them in control of much of the world’s ports -not here- and communication networks has given them great intelligence capability.

China and Russia use quiet diplomacy to extend their power while we are currently failing with our bellicose policies of agitating friends and mutual fawning with enemies. My ego does not need to be publicly stroked. My administration will conduct diplomacy quietly through established channels. Backing leaders into a corner publicly makes diplomacy difficult since one side or the other will have to lose face for an agreement. Quiet diplomacy may not be the ego booster that Trump requires but it works.

Alienating allies will mean going it alone when we need their support as in Desert Storm and after Nine-Eleven. We will not show political favorites in other countries especially when it undercuts the leadership that supports us. We will not look to upset the status quo just to be in front of the world cameras. Quiet diplomacy is the way China and Russia are succeeding in their agendas.