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The Obama Watch
Obama’s Diplomacy a Global Failure
His leftism has won America no friends anywhere.
One point about the Obama Administration is significant but has been little remarked on — the global failure of its foreign policies. These failures have taken different forms in different parts of the world, but looking at the big picture one fact is obvious: Obama’s leftism and denigration of the U.S. does not appear to have won the U.S. a single friend even among leftist and anti-U.S. regimes and individuals.
One cannot call this Obama’s own failure with certainty, because his personal agenda, if any, remains a mystery. Nonetheless, the fact remains that the most left-wing U.S. President ever, and a far-left Secretary of State, have failed to modify the anti-Americanism of any significant left-wing government or movement anywhere is the world.
Some years ago Irving Wallace wrote a novel, The Man, about an Afro-American becoming president through a series of accidents. Within a few months his resolute Statesmanship had crowds in Africa cheering the U.S. Flag. It hasn’t exactly worked out like that.
There was some hope at the time of Obama’s inauguration that his administration might lead to a softening of relations with Iran. Instead relations have moved to the verge of war. In Egypt Mubarak has been removed with Obama’s encouragement — now 19 American NGO workers, who has been teaching civics unmolested under Mubarak have been arrested and it has been announced that they will be put on trial. The aim is plainly a break in relations with the U.S. It is also reported that Egypt is again allowing arms shipments into Gaza. Influential figures in the new Egyptian Government have been telling the U.S. they no longer want its aid despite the fact Egypt’s precious tourism industry has been wrecked. Does this mean they are looking to a resumption of Russian aid? And don’t forget he’s managed to alienate Israel as well. Could the “Arab Spring” have been handled better from the US point of view? It is impossible to say, but it is hard to imagine how it could have been handled worse.
The crazy states of North Korea and Venezuela have not modified their behavior in the slightest since Obama succeeded Bush, except perhaps to get a bit crazier. Hugo Chavez raves against Obama as incoherently as he did against Bush and is increasing the systematic violation of human rights.
The same goes for Putin’s Russia. We all know that it was Ronald Reagan who converted the Russia of Gorbachev and Yeltsin from the supreme enemy into, at least temporarily, something like a friend, and did so without compromising, but on the contrary by reaffirming, U.S. principles.
It is China, not the U.S., that is increasingly penetrating the wealthier parts of Africa. Gaddafi, before he was overthrown and murdered, gave some signs of moving towards rationality and a friendlier stance. His successors’ position is ambiguous.
And what about Obama’s Whacko scheme to turn NASA into a feel-good psychotherapeutic agency to make Muslims feel better about their lack of achievements in modern science? I haven’t exactly noticed any Muslim gratitude.
The list goes on and on, but at the bottom line, it appears Obama and Clinton have not won the U.S. the friendship of as much as a single Somalian goat-herd. Worse yet, the U.S.’s important natural allies in the Third World, the Christian communities in Asia, the Middle East, and North and Central Africa, have been attacked with apparent impunity. No one seriously expects a pro-U.S. government to survive in Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrawal. It is a near-miracle and a fantastic tribute to their sense of duty that U.S. servicemen keep fighting there with so patently hopeless an outcome.
Afghan officers have been quoted as asking: why should they risk their lives when it is obvious the Taliban will return in force after the U.S. withdrawal? They will probably not be as fortunate as the South Vietnamese officers who went into re-education camps. Have any plans been made to evacuate Afghanistan’s small westernized elite when the U.S. pulls out?
Pakistan is no friendlier to the U.S. than it ever was, as proved by its long sheltering of Bin Laden.
In Britain and Europe, of all the obscene creatures who cheered and gloated over 9/11, I do not know of one who the Obama presidency has moved to recant. Speaking of Britain, still the U.S.’s major ally, Daily Telegraph correspondent Con Coughlin wrote recently:
When the Obama administration announced that it was to end US combat operations in Afghanistan in the summer of 2013 — a year earlier than agreed — it did so without bothering to inform its British counterpart, despite the fact that the UK has a full division committed to fighting alongside American troops in southern Afghanistan. Only a few days previously, at Chequers, David Cameron gave Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, his personal pledge that British forces would continue combat operations until the Afghans were ready to take care of their own security, rather than being tied to some artificial timetable. At a stroke President Obama had undermined the Prime Minister’s position. If this is how the Afghan mission is being handled, then what is the point of Prince Harry being asked to risk his life for a cause no one believes in?”
Hundreds of British (and other) servicemen have died in Afghanistan only to have the rug pilled from under the Western commitment.
The one possible success, in Iraq, was set in motion by President Bush, not Obama. In South East Asia the U.S. appears to have good friends and is quietly strengthening its position. But this is because, at present, it has little or no competition there. India is largely anti-Muslim, but is big and wealthy enough not to need the U.S., and China has not yet impinged on U.S. areas of influence too much.
It wasn’t meant to be like this. Obama was meant to bring the Third World onto America’s side.
About the Author
Hal G.P. Colebatch’s “Immram,” Counterstrike, is being published by Australian publisher Imaginites.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (39) | Leave a comment
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Richard Baker| 2.14.12 @ 6:49AM
He must be frustrated. The world's leaders have weighed him and found him wanting. They know a pushover when they see one. The reason is that, particularly in foreign policy, there's no there there.
Timothy L. Pennell| 2.14.12 @ 9:57AM
May I cut in?
"It wasn't meant to be like this".
Really?
Pay attention Hal. You might learn something.
In the 3 years since he's been in Power, the Middle East has been transformed in to a Prelude to Armageddon.
Tunisia has gone over to the Islamists. He abandoned Mubarak, in favour of the Muslim Brother hood, who's first words upon toppling the old regime were: 'Now we go to WAR, against the Jew.'
He toppled Khadafi, who was not a threat to anyone. Now, one more Jihadi Piece, is added to the Chess Board.
He REFUSES to do anything with IRAN. He REFUSES to do anything about SYRIA. Only the countries NOT in Jihadists' hands, does he deal with.
A Blind Man could see what's coming.
What? You need more?
Hamas sells Drinking Mugs, on its Official Web Site. The Mugs are adorned with the Face of OBAMA. He is wearing a Traditional Arab Hat, and the Traditional Muslim Dishrag around his neck. Hamas believes that he has been "SENT BY ALLAH" to Destroy the Jews. They believe that he is The DELIVERER, and that he will Deliver Jerusalem, back to Muslim hands. They have even given him the name: ABU HUSSAIN - Son Of The Father.
This is the President of the United States of America.
This THING, sits on the Throne of the Largest, Most Powerful Christian Nation on the Planet, and Israel's only Ally.
This is who he is. This is what he is.
He was RUNNING GUNS, for God's Sake, to Mexican Drug Cartels, so that he could use the Hundreds of MURDERED Mexican Men, Women, and CHILDREN, as Props, in his effort to eliminate the Right of Americans to Arm Themselves, against an Oppressive Government.
You don't believe me? Read what CBS wrote about it. Read what CBS wrote about the Emails. Over 1,000 people MURDERED by Obamas' hand.
"And I saw the BEAST rise from the Sea. And he was given a MOUTH, to speak Haughty and Blasphemous words. And he was allowed to exercise Authority for forty two months." Revelation 13-5.
READ IT! Then, look around the world. Russia is, once again, aiding and abetting the Enemies of LIGHT. Every Country that falls to the Islamists, increases their numbers, until they are the size of the Army that is Prophesied in Revelation.
You people are supposed to be RELIGIOUS!
This sh*t isn't happening in the shadows. It's right in front of you.
Barack Hussein Obama is EVERYTHING that Hamas thinks he is. He's everything the Bible says he is. And, he's everything that I KNOW he is.
Why can't you see what I see?
How long have I been writing this? How long have I been laughed at? How long have I been labeled: A Kook?
Do the Math, for GOD sakes.
His Foreign Diplomacy is EXACTLY what he wants it to be.
If your name is Barack Hussein Obama/Barry Soetoro/Abu Hussain?
It couldn't be any better.
Ken (Old Texican)| 2.14.12 @ 11:25AM
Timothy,
America Alone Said NO!
Foreword and Disclaimer
This is copyrighted material. Any pirating efforts will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. (Copyright March 17, 2011)
This is a work of fiction….Pure speculative fiction. It is also a “Cautionary tale”.
As you will note, Part One, (Texas Said NO!) was published in the dark days of October 1, 2010. This new cover will simply continue the story. Call it a fictional “future history”. Both are in the kindle store at amazon.com or at www.americaalonesaidno.com in PDF format
No matter how I played games, the identities of the men and women in this fictional story would be perfectly obvious. The President is the President, and the Senators are the Senators we have. Nevertheless, the story takes place totally in the future with any actions or thoughts portrayed totally from my imagination.
First, I have never heard any of the named officials in this manuscript utter an expletive as I may have fictionally expressed here. The named government officials and Senators and Representatives portrayed here are absolutely splendid God fearing people and in my estimation, and any thoughts and/or actions I have attributed to them here are purely figments of my imagination.
Second, given the fictional circumstances, I honestly believe these Senators and other named officials would lay down their very lives for our country if necessary.
God knows I bless the “Army of One”, Rush Limbaugh. I have shamelessly placed words in his mouth that he has never uttered, nor perhaps even thought in his innermost being.
This is a story of an all too plausible existential attack upon our country, and our way of life. It is in fact a fictional future history of World War IV.
I have written the story under a pen name to avoid unnecessary death threats.
God bless America.
Old Texican
Al Adab| 2.14.12 @ 12:02PM
Very good Ken:
The American Left, and I suppose leftists around the world, think they can (to borrow from John Lennon) imagine an alternate reality into existence. It is that delusion, the willful refusal to accept the world on its terms, that carries them to their central planned world to come.
This world in fact is a dangerous place for Liberty and free markets. Most of the world rejects the concept while coveting what it has produced. Those who oppose freedom do not operate in their own best interest. They are not, contrary to what our Left (and this President) thinks, rational beings. They seek personal aggrandizment and destruction for its own sake. The naive refusal of our Left to understand that fact endangers us all with the scenario you posit.
ignoriod| 2.15.12 @ 5:55AM
The only way to make the Red party fears/dreams come true: car bombs
Right in their private voucher schools!!
just blast their little grandkids to SMithers and Mybe, just Maybe:
the REDs might pretend to care about post abortion embryos
O.F. A.N. A.S.S.| 2.16.12 @ 4:21PM
Sheep sodomzer alert:
SMithers, and Mybe, just Mybe, the Mensan painting REDS as the heartless pretenders, and not the compassionate baby killers compassionately concerned with the plight of sodomizers, Mybe, just Mybe, is a sodomizer of sheep, Mybe, just Mybe, by SMithers.
Ovines For
A Nation
Absent Sheep Sodomization
Jobe| 2.14.12 @ 1:42PM
You are truly a voice "crying out in the wilderness". I have been making the same arguments for several years and recieving the same non-receptive treatment. Perhaps, though not as eloquently as you, I can step up my attack and convince some of the fellow travelers to take a REAL LOOK at obama. These are not the people that need to be convinced of his venality and dishonesty, rather, we must convince those who are deriving benefit from the mess that obama has made.
glassfinger| 2.14.12 @ 6:34PM
"In your face", Rush's latest description, and it's dead on right. Three years of nuance asking: who is he? Moot point. He said from the beginning-the Constitution was a hinderence to him and his plan to change everything. Up front, in your face. Since innaugeration he has proceeded to ignore it and rule as if it doesn't exist. No one ever did anything to stop him. A press conference lamenting the latest violation doesn't stop anything. Now he is blatant about it, because no one has stopped him. This individual needs to be arrested and dragged out of the Oval Office. We, all of us, have let him go on too long. This incrediblly blessed nation cannot afford (in every sense of the word) one more day of this. We are watching one crime after another take place. No one is saying stop. Why not? That is the real question. The Unitied States of America is not some sloven third rate dictatorship-not yet. It is what he wants. It is not what we want. Stop him.
Alan Brooks| 2.14.12 @ 2:57PM
Take it on board:
your descendants will have less someday, other peoples will have more; zero sum gain will be turned around against you. That is not a threat, not a promise, but, rather a guarantee.
If the British could go down after '45, then so can you.
Spin By Stupidity | 2.16.12 @ 4:25PM
. . zero sum gai- . . zero sum gai- . . zero sum gai- . . zero sum gai- . . zero sum gai- . . zero sum gai- . . zero sum gai- . . zero sum gai-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-
Indy| 2.14.12 @ 7:50AM
POTUS does not like our UK ally, that's obvious.
ignoriod| 2.15.12 @ 5:56AM
?????????????????????????????????????
tsd| 2.14.12 @ 8:05AM
He is a complete failure at any form of diplomacy... we now have few allies and many enemy's.
Russel| 2.14.12 @ 12:17PM
Well Rush just said the Muslim Brotherhood seems to have an affinity for him and he has been reciprocating , having quite a bit more affection than for the GOP of our country , it appears . If he's not a Muzzie I'll eat my shoe .
albert constantine jr| 2.14.12 @ 1:47PM
I believe a proper muslim uses a shoe as a projectile instead of a meal.
ignoriod| 2.15.12 @ 5:57AM
And WHO????? was a Bush house guest?
JimH| 2.14.12 @ 8:10AM
He is not even a useful idiot.
Tim the Enchanter| 2.14.12 @ 8:25AM
Which one: the "useful" or the "idiot"? Or perhaps both?
numbatdog| 2.14.12 @ 8:38AM
Don't want to state the obvious but any student of history could see this coming. Weakness begets contempt in Geopolitics. Betraying your old friends does not encourage new friends. Bowing to tyrants is a worthless exercise.
The reality is tyrants do not want to "talk". They want to rule everyone around them and will not be dissuaded with cash payouts which they simply accept as tribute from a weak power and go right on with their tyranny.
Obama's failure to stop or even slow Iran, the greatest danger to world peace, will confirm America's impotence to the world. Vulnerable countries will look for a new protector and China is waiting in the wings.
Jobe| 2.14.12 @ 2:37PM
Even a cursory look at History as it played out between World Wars will show that all along the road to World War II, there were points at which Hitler could have been stopped. The will and the leadership were lacking. We have leadership that features world class timidity, total lack of foresight, and absolutely no sense of History. obama is not just a failed president, he is a miserable human being who may not be failing at all. After all, the first rule of criticism is to know what the object of the criticism is trying to do. We may not be sure of what obama is trying to do, but we can see pretty clearly that what he is doing bodes ill for this nation.
John| 2.14.12 @ 9:12AM
President Urkel's major accomplishment will go down in history as the "Arab Spring." Next domino is Syria. Can Saudi Arabia be far behind? When all is said and done he will ask, "Did I do that?"
Tenn Slim| 2.14.12 @ 9:19AM
If you all desire to fully grasp the Obama FP "mystery" I recc reading Dem Strategists, Code Pink, Daily Kos, Progressive Dems, and Jays list of leftist directories. The FP of this admin is fully laid out in these sites.
No "mystery " here, the goal is the withdrawal of US PRESENCE Across the Globe, the demise of Corporate presence across the Globe, and the imposition of the Cloward Piven Economic theories. A totalitarian welfare state, wholly committed to the enrichment of the long denied Leftist, salving ages old angst of not being listened to, and the Leftist agendas of each and every 1960s activist. He has managed very successfully, and it has been only the past 12 months that this agenda has fully come light.
The Chaldean Hand has written on the Oval Office wall, hence the openness now.
Semper fi
Thunderbottom| 2.14.12 @ 9:25AM
Back when Obama was running for President, some commentator noted that Obama supporters mistook their candidate's popularity in the international community as a sign that they wanted Obama to be president of the world. They didn't - the international community just wanted him as the next President of the US (probably because they regarded him as a milquetoast who could be persuaded to abandon US interests in favor of the interests of the international "progressive community").
Jimmy| 2.14.12 @ 9:37AM
Are you all mad? President Oboma has done a great service to our country, and is continuing to do so. As a rising tide raises all boats, so does Oboma raise the rating of all past presidents. I myself am grateful for Barry. Peanut anyone?
Harry the Horrible| 2.14.12 @ 9:55AM
I wish it was a global failure. Unfortunately, I think that, given Obama's goals, it has been a roaring success. He's critically weakened the US at home and abroad.
Gr0w1er601| 2.14.12 @ 10:07AM
My cat could formulate better foreign policy doctrine- and he's dead!!
Von Mises Jr.| 2.14.12 @ 10:16AM
Obama's plan was not to bring the Third World to America's side. It was to bring America into the Third World.
Only if Barry Soetoro could recapture the magic of serfdom, he could be King for life with his world traveling daughters to be heir apparent Queens. Reid, Pelosi, Schumer and the rest of the "regressive" progressive movement can be our Nobles.
Hobbes| 2.14.12 @ 10:29AM
'A condition of perpetual warfare has left the US more or less bankrupt, a state of affairs that can be sustained only as long as China chooses to fund the federal debt. Stagnant for a generation, the standard of living of the majority is falling and the country's infrastructure rotting away. Increasingly the US resembles Latin America some decades ago.' John Gray
nathan| 2.14.12 @ 11:56AM
Must we again and again go over and over this?
There was never any chance of success in Iraq. All OBH did was acknowledge the disaster that Bush/Cheney set in motion and quit putting names on the wall. Let's go through this "briefly" again:
1: No WMD's found.
2: 4500 Americans dead.
3: Cities/towns totally destroyed.
4: The Christian community, untouched by SH, in poverty stricken exile partly in of all places, Syria.
5: Infrastructure, not restored despited who knows how much money wasted.
6: Care to guess at the civilian deaths? Hundreds of thousands probably. Innocent lives folks.
7: Democracy - the same form of government the Founders universally condemned? Madison called it the vilest form of government on earth? And here "conservatives" talking about bringing the blessings of that form of government to Iraq. And look what happened the moment we left.
We could have stayed 20 more years and nothing would have changed. Just more names on the wall. Let's admit once and for all Bush screwed up and BHO decided to cut our losses.
Egypt. Oh please already. Mubarak a kleptomaniac human rights abuser who impoverished his country and tortured everyone, Christians included. I will ask AGAIN, what did Jefferson say when people are reduced to a state of despotism? They have not only a right but an OBLIGATION to deal with the despot and if Mubarak didn't meet that definition no one does. Why the writer here believes that the Egyptian people should have continued to live under this guy indefinitely is beyond me. If he was living there would he have sat back, let his son be taken off to some prison, be tortured, and said, "hey no problem, I'm cool with this, since Mubarak is keeping the peace with Israel, having my son come back with a few less body parts is a small price to pay." Give me a break here. Not a single one of you or the writer would have lived under this one single day much less years and yet because he payed "lip service" to keeping the peace with Israel, conservatives were all to willing to sacrificing the Egyptian people and letting them be systematically abused by someone who wasn't any better than the guy we took out in Iraq. Very generous of them.
Once again, with a million people in the streets of Cairo I want just ONE of you to say what BHO could have said/could have done that would have changed their minds as they exercised their Jeffersonian perogatives on this guy. Or is Jefferson restricted to just white people in North America? Because you all know and this writer knows too there wasn't ANYTHING BHO could have said or done that those million people, having watched American president after American enable this guy for decades as he systematically abused his people, there wasn't anything any president at that point anything a president McCain could have said, that they would have listened to. But if you or the writer thinks differently, speak up. Otherwise, enough of this.
If previous presidents had told Mubarak that a condition of all that aid was to stop abusing his people, maybe things would be different now. Maybe.
Dagny Taggert| 2.14.12 @ 1:09PM
Wasn't one of the unwritten conditions of the aid to leave Israel alone?
Ken (Old Texican)| 2.14.12 @ 5:11PM
Nathan,
Your screed above ignores the fact that the Egyptians and other Muslim countries have NO CHANCE at a decent life under sharia law.
Sharia Law IS their de-facto dictator.
PS: wars have never bankrupted our country....only selling benefits for votes has bankrupted our country.
Herb Tarlek| 2.14.12 @ 11:50PM
"PS: wars have never bankrupted our country....only selling benefits for votes has bankrupted our country." Wrong. Have a look at the budgets since 2001 & tell me these wars didn't have an impact. The Medicare Part D added a lot too, I'll give you that. We do Iran & we'll be done, our creditors will say no mas.
Louis Jenkins| 2.14.12 @ 1:07PM
Eygpt says that the billions in aide are not needed, they just accept it as due cause. And 19 US citizens are going to be tried in a court of Islamic law? Obama and his queen crony, Hillary, aren't doing much of anything. This nation deserves better. And we're fixing to get four more years of this useless man- useless as t--s on a boar hog I might add, except when it comes to domestic over regulation. People, it's not going to get any better as long as Obama is in charge.
Ken (Old Texican)| 2.14.12 @ 5:19PM
Louis,
I have NO clue who or what those 19 Americans are.
Nevertheless, Egypt is imploding as we write. Mass starvation is their only future.
POST American| 2.14.12 @ 10:44PM
---AGAIN---
-about that unfolding 'Agenda 21'
----------HALOCAUST-----------
Gerrit Brooks| 2.22.12 @ 12:39AM
Is this an Opinion Article?
Gerrit Brooks| 2.22.12 @ 12:40AM
Anyone going to add Citations?