Trump’s U.N. Address Offers a Doctrine of Peace Through Force

In his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, President Donald Trump spun a familiar web of rhetoric regarding U.S. foreign policy—one that highlights force as a method of achieving peace. In a speech that moved from Iran to Venezuela, Cuba, and beyond, Trump presented something approaching a foreign-policy doctrine: American military might is not the alternative to diplomacy but the leverage that makes it possible.David Satterfield, Director of Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, tells TIME that the speech Tuesday demonstrates a position held by the Trump Administration that “force is the only currency of value.” “The strong do as they will and the weak suffer as they must,” he says, further characterizing the approach. In Trump’s telling, strength is not merely a deterrent. It is something to be used—through military action and economic isolation—to force negotiations or impose an outcome.How Trump defines ‘peace through strength’Trump has repeatedly distilled his foreign policy strategy into three words: “peace through strength.” The examples he gave of this policy in action illustrate how he may see the U.S. functioning as a global enforcer g...