China and Iran are related in varying degrees to the New Silk Roads and of course the pivot to Asia, which was first announced by Hillary. So she had to say, "I want to reassure our allies in Japan and South Korea and elsewhere that we have mutual defense treaties and we will honor them." Crucial add-on; "Our word is good." Asians, as demonstrated in the last G20 in China, are not impressed.
On NATO, Trump said the Atlanticist monolith must engage in direct counter-terrorism operations in the Middle East. NATO actually has a Defense Against Terrorism program for 12 years now. The problem in the priorities are regime change -- from Libya to Syria; keeping the heroin flowing from Afghanistan; and not giving a damn about "moderate rebels."
Trump did promise to make NATO follow the money: "They have to understand I'm a business person." Allies "are not paying their fair share."
Secretary Clinton went no holds barred emphasizing Trump has been "praiseworthy of Vladimir Putin." Trump: "Wrong." He could have qualified, if he was not sniffin' so hard; in a March 20 debate, Trump said, "Putin is a strong leader, absolutely. He is a strong leader. Now I don't say that in a good or bad way. I say it as a fact."
It went virtually unnoticed. But Trump, in one sentence, actually may have ruled out WWIII if he becomes President; "I would certainly not do first-strike" -- as in the official US doctrine, reiterated by Obama, that guarantees a US first nuclear strike. Secretary Clinton did not comment.
I want my Pyongyang Tower
Donald seems to have found a solution to North Korea; "You look at North Korea, we're doing nothing there. China should solve that problem for us. China should go into North Korea. China is totally powerful as it relates to North Korea." Crucial add-on; Iran also "has power over North Korea."
Now imagine a three-way summit involving Xi Jinping, Ayatollah Khamenei and Kim Jong-un debating Trump's deal, which might throw in a Trump Hotel and Casino Pyongyang for good measure.
Secretary Clinton was adamant that "Donald supported the invasion of Iraq." Trump: "Wrong." Actually, right; he did, already in 2002. But "that is a mainstream media nonsense put out by her!"
Donald was adamant that "President Obama and Secretary Clinton created a vacuum for ISIS." Actually, Hillary might have been "fighting ISIS your entire adult life." Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn has not briefed Donald properly; he meant al-Qaeda in Iraq -- which sprang up as a direct consequence of Bush's "Mission Accomplished." Its spin-off, ISIS/ISIL/Daesh, fully emerged only in 2014, when Hillary was already out as Secretary of State. So Donald was not able to explain how the emergence of ISIS was a willful decision taken by official Washington.
It was on the theme of cyber-attacks on the US that Secretary Clinton finally managed to -- subtly -- conflate the Pentagon's three "existential threats" who happen to be closely involved in Eurasia integration; Russia, China and Iran.
Expanding in one sweep from cyberspace to Full Spectrum Dominance, she said, "whether it's Russia, China, Iran, or anybody else, the United States has much greater capacity. And we are not going to sit idly by and permit state actors to go after our information, our private sector information or our public sector information."
Donald stressed, "whether [the DNC hack] was Russia, whether that was China, whether that was another country, we don't know." Technically correct. That did not prevent Secretary Clinton from doubling down; "I was so shocked when Donald publicly invited Putin to hack into Americans. That is just unacceptable.
Highway to Hell
So, in a nutshell, Donald may have landed only two good blows; on NAFTA and dodgy trade deals, and on the absolute mess in the Middle East exacerbated by Obama/Clinton. Nothing though on the Clinton Foundation -- which benefits handsomely from Persian Gulf direct/indirect supporters of Salafi-jihadism.
In the end, do all these words matter, as Hillary herself stressed? Hardly. An alleged victory by knock-down in the first debate may be just a blip in the race. Secretary Clinton won't conquer new votes beyond the "basket of deplorables" spectrum as much as Donald won't conquer new votes among white-collar whites.
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