With the NC primaries coming up on March 15, students at Western Carolina University have different views and thoughts about the candidates, elections, and foreign policy. Some are impatiently waiting for the voting process to begin.
“[Foreign policy] is fundamentally important to every single election…there are 192 other countries that the president will be a symbol for. Foreign policy in trade affects how strong our economy is. [It involves] military, diplomacy, and soft power. Foreign policy also includes immigration,” explained assistant professor in the Political Science and Public Affairs Department, Jennifer Schiff, during last week’s ‘Intentional conversations.’
WCJ talked with several international students attending WCU on their opinion of the presidential candidates and their proposed foreign policy.
They are all familiar with what the elections could hold for the future of America and future relations with other countries; however, all of them voice their thoughts and concerns differently.
Guy (Mecca) Kanyinda, a student from the Democratic Republic of the Congo studying political science and sociology, believes that that foreign policy in America is “all over the place.” He discussed briefly about how America says they will take refugees and then they won’t take refugees and that they keep bouncing [lives] all over the place.
“People come to America for freedom and if [America] keeps being ‘wishy washy’ about it, they are ruining hope for those people,” explained Kanyinda.
As far as the candidates go, Kanyinda speaks about how he supports Hillary Clinton:
“Hillary’s immigration policy is actually kind of on pace with Obama’s and I’m a huge Obama guy, so anything for Hillary, I’m with it,” Kanyinda said.
“As far as Republicans go, if I had to pick the lesser of all the evils, it’d probably be Rubio just because he says a lot of things [that], if I was a Republican, I would go for. And definitely not Trump because anyone who is talking about building up a wall to keep people out doesn’t deserve to be the most powerful man [in America],” Kanyinda said.
Alexey Rybakov, a student from Moscow, Russia, is studying public relations and broadcasting, and has his own views of the foreign policies.
“In my opinion, Obama promised many things, but what he does is not what he promised. Then relating to my country, I don’t know because I’m not a big fan of the policy in my country. I’m not a fan of Putin …I don’t really like what’s going on in the Middle East, both from Russia and the U.S.A.,” explains Rybakov.
Rybakov talks about his view on America’s candidates:
He believes the elections are a total mess.
Tanica Pslamist, is a student from London, United Kingdom studying film and television at WCU, has strong feelings about American foreign policies and the 2016 elections.
“Between 1981 and 1989, Ronald Reagan was the first Republican to really put his foot down and allow immigrants to basically come into America, get a work permit, be able to have American privilege, be able to have opportunities, and create a more successful and better life for themselves. However, now, deeper into the 21st century, times are changing and it’s disappointing because the Republicans have really changed their ways and regulations,” said Psalmist.
Psalmist voices her concerns if Donald Trump becomes the president of the United States of America:
Psalmist said there are candidates like Trump, who are preventing immigrants to come into America, and she thinks it is “disgusting.” She feels that Trump is sexist, racist, obnoxious, a big joke, and his professionalism is unqualifed. When it comes to Hillary Clinton, she was involved in a massive scandal and economy fraud, and Psalmist feels as if Clinton is acting like nothing happened.
Abdulaziz Alhammam, a student from Saudi Arabia, is studying construction management at WCU and doesn’t know much about American politics.
“The United States has a strong relationship with the Saudi government,” said Alhammam, explaining that that strong relationship is mainly in politics and the economy.
Alhammam likes Hillary Clinton for letting 65,000 Syrian refugees into America because it will help ease the ongoing humanitarian crisis. But he is also concerned about America’s future.
“I’m worried about America’s economy because, right now, it is in no condition to go to war,” explained Alhammam commenting what some of the presidential candidates are proposing on dealing with ISIS.
