Rex Tillerson’s View of World Affairs

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/01/opinion/tillerson.html

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To the Editor:

“I Am Proud of Our Diplomacy,” by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (Op-Ed, Dec. 28), is as interesting for what it leaves out as it is for what it claims. There is, for example, no discussion of the United States’ withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, the decision to name Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, immigration restrictions for Muslim countries that have not, in fact, exported terrorists, and the flight of highly trained diplomats from the State Department.

Mr. Tillerson may (as my former ambassador friend claims) be a fine fellow, but the Trump administration is clearly making major mistakes.

PETER K. FROSTWILLIAMSTOWN, MASS.

The writer is emeritus professor of international studies at Williams College.

To the Editor:

Like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, I, too, am proud of United States diplomacy. But as a recently retired career diplomat, I am deeply concerned by his support for 30 percent reductions to the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development’s budgets. These, in addition to the extensive personnel cuts in both organizations that Mr. Tillerson is unwisely pursuing, will do long-term harm to our country’s diplomatic capacity.

At a time when the United States is facing serious national security threats around the world, we need robust leadership that strengthens this crucial capacity rather than undercuts and diminishes it.

MARK L. ASQUINO, SANTA FE, N.M.

To the Editor:

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s lopsided view of the world’s hot spots conveniently ignores our Latin American neighbors. Clearly there must be some interest in a region where past efforts at regime change and military intervention have taught us lessons that could be applied to other parts of the world we struggle to understand.

As we lose our diplomatic clout throughout the Western Hemisphere, from Cuba to Argentina, we continue to treat the region as “banana republics.”

DAVID W. DENT, BROOMFIELD, COLO.

The writer is vice president, Boulder-Cuba Sister City Organization.