The lapdog congress, tailor to our imperial president, gave him a garment made of health care. Unfortunately, the expensive suit may come apart at the seams and he finds himself needful of new clothing material. So he decided foreign affairs are just the stuff. As a result, and because President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton are leaders and statesmen in name only, American foreign policy is now in shambles on every continent. Why do the incompetents persist?
Disastrous White House foreign policy initiatives are typified by the discourtesy President Obama showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his state visit. Results of that Chicago-style diplomacy are already apparent. This week the head of Israel’s important Defense Forces Planning Directorate, Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel, will visit China to meet senior officers of the Chinese defense establishment. The White House insists the visit is to convince the Chinese to back sanctions on Iran and is not designed to repair Israel’s military relations with China, frozen for the last four years at U.S. request. And no way would Israel sell China any of its superior weapons technology. Still, General Eshel will be greeted with full military honors in China, just as Chinese generals will be honored during their reciprocal visits to Israel. Additionally, rumors abound of more Israeli visits to Russia.
For their part, President Obama and Secretary Clinton keep pushing their “reset button” with Russia. For example, a five sentence Associated Press release on 18 March said President Obama authorized American troops to march in a Red Square parade on May 9th. The White House wants our troops to salute Lenin’s tomb during what the Kremlin promises will be a huge ‘Victory Day’ celebration. White House Press Secretary Gibbs has yet to mention American troops honoring Russia, nor has he commented on Russian nuclear bombers routinely buzzing Alaska and overflying Britain. American foreign policy disasters are endless. A few more examples:
The abrupt cancellation, applauded by Russia, of missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic designed to protect European democracies from Iran’s missiles. Governments of two allies were damaged and embarrassed.
The state visit to Australia, cancelled so the president could promote his healthcare bill at home. The government of Australia was hurt.
The cancellation of President Obama’s attendance at the May U.S./EU Summit in Madrid, ensuring the high level meeting would not be held. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy are slighted and angry.
The over-flights of the U.S. border by Mexican military helicopters. Danger to citizens near that border is downplayed by the Department of Homeland Security, as is the murder of two Americans in Mexico.
The $35 billion contract to replace our fleet of aged refueling aircraft. Europe’s EADS consortium (France, Spain, Britain, Germany) partners of Northrup Grumman, have the best aircraft. Lobbied by Boeing, the White House changed rules to eliminate EADS. President Sarkozy has made it clear, in subtle Gallic fashion, that he considers President Obama to be a dolt.
There is START, latest nuclear arms reduction treaty negotiated with Russia. Aware of Obama’s desperate need for foreign policy successes, Moscow got what they wanted. We do not know just how bad it is because the proposed treaty is kept secret by the White House. The Senate, after November’s elections, may save us.
There is Washington’s corrupt boss of Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai. Fearing an honest vote, Karzai said U.S. and UN forces were influencing elections to end his wobbling reign. The White House said his statement was “genuinely troubling.”
The pressure on Honduras to return to power a Hugo Chavez ally who is opposed by that nation’s congress, Supreme Court, church and army, all of whom deposed him according to Article 239 of the Honduran constitution.
And then there is Argentina, Britain, and the assassination of the “special relationship,” Obama’s worst blunder in fifteen months.
In 1982, Argentina’s junta invaded the British Falkland Islands. The islanders are English speakers who want nothing to do with the unstable, mismanaged, and failed state of Argentina, so they asked their mother country to save them. Margaret Thatcher sent the Royal Navy. The Brits shed blood and took back their islands—and that was that until last month when Secretary Clinton pointlessly reopened an issue settled for thirty years. She said Britain should negotiate the status of British land with Argentina, a bankrupt nation thirsting for oil deposits reputed to lie below the Falklands.
Why did Hillary Clinton do that? Why did President Obama send the bust of Churchill back to England? No room in the White House basement? Why did he respond to Prime Minister Brown’s thoughtful gift of with a set of CD’s that cannot be played on UK equipment? Why did he give Queen Elizabeth an iPod loaded with his speeches? Some say these boorish snubs were because of British sins in Kenya, Obama’s ancestral homeland the Brits once ruled (1895-1963). Whatever the reason for all the animosity shown to Britain, it has finally come to a head.
Last week the British parliament officially noted the American president’s churlish actions and declared the “special relationship,” forged in the Second World War, was at an end. Old friend Bruce Anderson wrote in London’s Independent: “We British not only speak the same language. We tend to think the same way. We are more likely than anyone else to provide tea, sympathy and troops.” Whether Obama intentionally killed the special relationship or he was just careless, it will take a greater president to bring it back to life.
If all this damage was done by the White House and State Department to insure Obama is not a one-term president it might be understandable. But how could so many disasters help him? Will not the voters realize the danger he is to their safety and that of western civilization? It seems that American foreign policy now caters to left wing liberals, or it is short-sighted, or it is simply being managed by incompetents who care nothing for the national interest. Or all three. But whatever the reasons, no one in the world now trusts, fears, or respects President Barack Obama.