Obama’s Convoluted Priorities | FrontPage Magazine
By Ari Lieberman On March 3, 2014
As President Obama greets world crisis after crisis with confused vacillation and impotence, a recent Gallup poll unsurprisingly suggests that Americans no longer believe that their president commands respect from foreign leaders. And why should they? The President’s foreign policy has proved to be an exercise in defeatist isolationism, where tyrants are appeased and allies are thrown to the wolves.
In Ukraine, a nation where democracy advocates risk losing to the forces of extremism and where Russia stands poised to intervene militarily, our president remains mute while our defense chief expresses “concern.” The same scenario is currently unfolding in Venezuela where students and the middle class, fed up with rampant crime, autocratic rule and a tanking economy, have banded together against the Cuban- and Iranian-backed thuggish ruler of that country, Nicolás Maduro. Aside from expelling some Venezuelan diplomats, the administration has done nothing to bolster pro-democracy protestors.
In the East & South China Seas, China, seeking to expand its maritime borders and engage in yet more land grabs, has embarked on a series of aggressive military deployments designed to intimidate our Pacific allies. One analyst noted that China might be gearing up for a quick sharp war, aimed at seizing Senkakus or southern Ryukyu islands. Yet the United States, the premiere Pacific naval power, has done virtually nothing to provide reassurance to our allies.
And of course there is the administration’s botched and near amateurish policies in the Mideast that have only served to embolden enemies, prolong conflict and alienate allies. In Syria, Obama drew his red line, warning Assad of the consequences of chemical weapons usage. That warning turned out to be nothing short of a fiasco, embarrassing the president and turning Russia’s Putin into the savior. Moreover, the president’s inaction severely weakened pro-Western elements in Syria and partly served as the catalyst that caused much of the rebel movement to fall under the influence of Islamic extremists.
In Egypt, the administration backed the fascist Muslim Brotherhood over a more Western-oriented movement that had the backing of much of the country. So angered were the Egyptians over the U.S. betrayal that they recently turned to Russia for arms, signing a two-billion dollar, Saudi-financed deal.
Iran represents the administration’s quintessential foreign policy failure.
-go to links-
In Ukraine, a nation where democracy advocates risk losing to the forces of extremism and where Russia stands poised to intervene militarily, our president remains mute while our defense chief expresses “concern.” The same scenario is currently unfolding in Venezuela where students and the middle class, fed up with rampant crime, autocratic rule and a tanking economy, have banded together against the Cuban- and Iranian-backed thuggish ruler of that country, Nicolás Maduro. Aside from expelling some Venezuelan diplomats, the administration has done nothing to bolster pro-democracy protestors.
In the East & South China Seas, China, seeking to expand its maritime borders and engage in yet more land grabs, has embarked on a series of aggressive military deployments designed to intimidate our Pacific allies. One analyst noted that China might be gearing up for a quick sharp war, aimed at seizing Senkakus or southern Ryukyu islands. Yet the United States, the premiere Pacific naval power, has done virtually nothing to provide reassurance to our allies.
And of course there is the administration’s botched and near amateurish policies in the Mideast that have only served to embolden enemies, prolong conflict and alienate allies. In Syria, Obama drew his red line, warning Assad of the consequences of chemical weapons usage. That warning turned out to be nothing short of a fiasco, embarrassing the president and turning Russia’s Putin into the savior. Moreover, the president’s inaction severely weakened pro-Western elements in Syria and partly served as the catalyst that caused much of the rebel movement to fall under the influence of Islamic extremists.
In Egypt, the administration backed the fascist Muslim Brotherhood over a more Western-oriented movement that had the backing of much of the country. So angered were the Egyptians over the U.S. betrayal that they recently turned to Russia for arms, signing a two-billion dollar, Saudi-financed deal.
Iran represents the administration’s quintessential foreign policy failure.
-go to links-
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