Hillary Clinton’s stance on foreign policy

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has detailed her plans for foreign policy and national security with a focus upon being loyal to allies, being firm with rivals and confronting the threat of terrorism with an established plan. Clinton supports globalism for the US and advocates a leadership role amongst other nations.

However, Clinton claims that “we are strongest overseas when we are strongest at home”. She believes in prioritizing investments in the economy and education because the “country can’t lead effectively when so many are struggling to provide the basics for their families.” Clinton believes that the military can be maintained with a well-planned budget, which she claims can be attained through prioritizing defense reform initiatives and ending the sequester for defense spending.

With the goal of being a global leader, Clinton emphasizes the need to stick with the nation’s allies. On Clinton’s official campaign website, she states that she will “strengthen the essential partnerships that are a unique source of America’s strength”. She advocates maintaining relationships in NATO and with Israel, Japan and South America, among others. Clinton claims that strong relationships with such nations allows for the creation of large coalitions capable of solving international issues. Clinton cites the coalition she helped to build while Secretary of State which created sanctions against Iran as a demonstration of the efficacy of utilizing strong alliances to form effective coalitions.

In her policies with NATO, Clinton’s official statements mostly appear in contrast to her opponent’s. Trump referred to NATO as “obsolete” and said that “it’s possible that we’re going to have to let NATO go”. Clinton’s official campaign website, meanwhile, states that “NATO is one of the best investments that America has ever made”.

Clinton plans to honor the alliance between America and Israel through financial aid of the latter’s defense. Clinton emphasizes the need to maintain Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge, a phrase that defines Israel’s ability to counter conventional military threats from other nations. This is not a new policy of Clinton’s – during her tenure as Secretary, Clinton increased aid for Israel by $550 million and while Senator of NY, she signed the Schumer-Graham letter to pressure friendly Arab states to end the then ongoing economic boycott of Israel. Clinton claims that the Iran nuclear deal will help protect Israel from the allegedly hostile nation, as it is intended to prevent Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weaponry. In terms of the conflict between Israel and Palestine, Clinton supports a two-state solution as she did in 1998.

Clinton believes that it is necessary to be firm with rival nations. Clinton officially states that she will “stand up to Vladimir Putin” to “deter Russian aggression in Europe and beyond.” In her memoir, “Hard Choices”, Clinton attributes the illegal Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 to a desire to control nations on Russia’s borders and reduce American influence near Russia. Clinton states that she will “increase the costs to Putin for his actions.” In terms of China, Clinton claims that she will “hold China accountable” for any alleged infringements regarding the rules on cyberspace, human rights, trade and territorial disputes. She references the illegal (by international law) “dumping” of Chinese steel on America’s markets and promises to appoint a trade prosecutor to better enforce trade laws.

Clinton has addressed the civil war in Syria with plans to take refugees and deal with the conflict in the nation. Clinton claims that the best solution for the civil war is a diplomatic resolution so that military efforts can be focused on ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Clinton has said that she deplored the Syrian government’s crackdown on protesters, which led to the civil war, but indicates that ousting President Bashar al-Assad should no longer be the top priority.

“We need to get people to turn against the common enemy of ISIS,” Clinton said in a question and answer session with the press in late 2015. However, Clinton does believe it necessary to deal with Assad afterwards. Clinton’s foreign policy advisor Jeremy Bash told the Telegraph that Clinton would order a “full review” of the Obama Administration’s policies on Syria in an effort to end Assad’s “murderous regime”.

Clinton plans on continuing the Obama administration’s policy of accepting Syrian refugees, while emphasizing the need for a refined vetting process. In 2015, Clinton stated that if the vetting process was refined to her administration’s standards, she would make plans to accept as many as 65,000 refugees.

Clinton has detailed the fundamentals of her plan to defeat ISIS on her campaign website. She emphasizes three main points: taking out ISIS’s stronghold in Iraq and Syria, working with allies to dismantle terror networks and hardening defenses at home.

Clinton believes that ISIS’s main body in Iraq and Syria can be defeated by “intensifying the coalition air campaign against ISIS fighters, leaders and infrastructure” and supporting local forces, especially the Kurdish and Arab forces that are currently fighting ISIS on the ground.

Clinton claims that her policies can “dismantle global terror networks” through working with European intelligence services and tech companies. She believes that the cooperation with European intelligence would facilitate the identification of those who help jihadists forge documents and travel. She also states that working with tech companies would allow the US to fight propaganda online and intercept ISIS communications. Clinton proposes supporting domestic law enforcement and intelligence officers in order to stop terrorists on US soil. All of this makes up Clinton’s proposed “intelligence surge,” a campaign of investing in intelligence to prevent terrorism.

Another key part of Clinton’s intelligence surge plan is to eliminate the Islamic State’s leadership on the ground. Clinton’s campaign told the Guardian this September that a key priority of her policies against ISIS would be to kill or capture the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The campaign cited the Obama administration’s elimination of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in reference to their plan for Baghdadi.