MNA – Professor Frank N. von Hippel, former assistant director for national security in the White House Office of Science and Technology says that Trump is a bully, and believes that the United States as the strongest country should be free to bully other countries.







“The Trump Administration is so extreme in so many ways that the opposition is more united than I have ever seen it and is gaining ground,” Frank N. von Hippel told Mehr News in an exclusive interview.

Following is the full text of the interview:

How do you evaluate Trump’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly with respect to his anti-Iran remarks?

I did not like his speech in general or with regard to its treatment of Iran.

At the general level, it denigrated the level of global governance that has reduced the level of war since the end of World War II in favor or a return to a dog-eat-dog world where the strongest dog – presumably the United States – would win.

With regard to the treatment of Iran, it picked out Iran as a cause of all the problems in the Middle East.  That is a very one-sided view.

The discussion of the “horrible” JCPOA made no sense next to the claim that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons.  If Iran leaves the JCPOA, which the Trump Administration seems to hope it will, the worry about an Iranian nuclear-weapon program will increase, not decrease.

Also, there was no acknowledgement of Iran’s unilateral moratorium on the development of ballistic missiles with a range greater than 2000 kilometers.

I worry that the advocates of regime change like John Bolton are trying to provoke Iran to leave the JCPOA in order to have an excuse to urge the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
I hope that the pragmatism prevails and that Iran does not fall into this trap. I understand that Iran’s economy is suffering under the renewed US sanctions but an over-reaction would make things worse. I hope that Iran will work with the other partners in the JCPOA to minimize the damage until the US recovers its political balance.  The Trump Administration is so extreme in so many ways that the opposition is more united than I have ever seen it and is gaining ground.  Unfortunately, political balance will not be fully restored by the coming election but hopefully it will be a first step.

Some believe that globalization means becoming American, but Trump said in his speech that he is against globalization because globalization has been cause for abuse of the United States, why is Trump opposing globalization?

I think it is because Trump is a bully, he thinks that the United States as the strongest country should be free to bully other countries.

Trump said in his speech that US will cut UN peacekeeping budget. What impact will this  US decision have on peace in different regions of the world?

I frankly don’t know the impact. But we need better peacekeeping, not less, in troubled places like the Congo and South Sudan.

Will Trump's critique of OPEC and high oil prices cause confrontation between US and ally countries, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates?

On the one hand, Trump is trying to reduce Iran’s oil exports, on the other, he seems to understand that will result in higher prices.  The only countries that can easily increase their oil output are the other Gulf oil producers.  They have their own economic needs to worry about, so I don’t know how successful he can be if their production increase results in a net decrease in their income.  So the question comes down to a technical one, a country’s oil income is its (Output) times (Price -minus production cost). What will the net effect be if Output increases while Price decreases?