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Buy the Book
Obama Carelessness
Bruce Herschensohn’s prescient survey of Obama’s callous foreign policy.
Obama’s Globe: A President’s Abandonment of U.S. Allies Around
the World
By Bruce
Herschensohn
(Beaufort Books, 182
pages, $24.95)
Bruce Herschensohn is a man with a clear-eyed view of how enemies and friends of the United States react to our government’s rhetoric and actions (or inactions). He is a man whose wise foreign policy analysis is based on years of thinking (and writing) about history and international relations. He is a man who understands the value of “treating the U.S.A.’s friends as friends and adversaries as adversaries.”
In other words, Bruce Herschensohn does not work for the Obama administration.
In his new book, Obama’s Globe, Mr. Herschensohn, whose résumé includes achievements in everything from politics and policy to film making to book authorship (largely on foreign affairs), explains how President Obama’s “abandonment of U.S. allies around the world” is reducing America’s influence and harming our national security.
Obama’s Globe, which was published a mere seven weeks ago and less than a month before the recent wave of attacks against Americans across the Muslim world, begins with Herschensohn laying out the current global strategic situation, particularly that the U.S. is at war against Islamic terrorism — whether President Obama likes it or not and even if his administration has banned the use of such terms by our diplomats and federal bureaucrats.
The book explains how Barack Obama’s obvious ignorance of the lessons of history, such as that “wars are not ended. Wars are won or lost,” underlies this president’s too-consistent-to-be-accidental record of terrible foreign policy decisions. Terrible, at least, if one believes the goal of foreign policy should be to advance American interests, power, and security.
As Mr. Herschensohn notes dryly, “the greatest accomplishment of the Jimmy Carter Presidency was that he provided forthcoming Presidents with the evidence of what tremendous damage could be done by choosing to abandon the nation’s friends.” Barack Obama must have been out with his Choom Gang the day they taught this lesson, as he has mistreated allies and cozied up to competitors and enemies as aggressively as Carter did with, not surprisingly to those who learn the lessons of history, terrible results across the globe.
After setting the stage by describing today’s dangerous world, Obama’s Globe takes readers around the planet, explaining how, time after time, this administration has made our world that much more dangerous.
The voyage takes us to England, the Czech Republic, and Poland, then across North Africa, into Iran and Syria, to neighboring Israel, east to Afghanistan and Pakistan, then into China and North Korea before returning to our own continent and visiting Honduras and Canada.
In each and every case, the president has refused to support — or proactively betrayed — our allies. At the same time, this administration has engaged in a foreign policy based on “softness and smartness” which our adversaries perceive clearly and accurately as weakness, while the needs of our position in the world, our relationships with friends and enemies alike, scream out for a realistic and strong approach. Unfortunately, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton seem congenitally incapable of considering, much less implementing, a strategy based on another clear lesson of history: peace through strength.
When it comes to dealing with tyrants, Herschensohn says that “‘peace talks’ are not worthwhile.” In the specific example of the Taliban in Afghanistan, with whom the Obama administration has been having futile discussions, Obama’s Globe asks the question: “What should be done regarding the Taliban if not negotiate?” The answer is short and precise: “Win.” It is a point made repeatedly in the book: American foreign policy must be about winning, not about feeling good or being liked.
In Pakistan, where the national intelligence service, the ISI, has long-standing ties to radical Islamists including the Taliban, Herschensohn suggests that unless the ISI and the Pakistani government “become true partners against both al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the United States should propose a Mutual Defense Treaty with India.” Few things would frighten Pakistan — and perhaps China — more.
In case it wasn’t already clear, Mr. Herschensohn’s is nobody’s dove. He opposes all cuts in the defense budget except those asked for by the Department of Defense. As he put it in a brief interview for this article, “Defense is not a Jobs Bill.” He also aggressively opposes the atrophy of our nation’s space exploration program, which he describes as “reversing Kennedy’s quest of space supremacy.”
So it is not surprising that while he compliments President Obama “for advocating and ordering U.S. forces to take part in the ‘No Fly Zone’ and air strikes over Libya,” he is scathing in his criticism of Obama’s leading from behind, noting that no other American president would have agreed to “become a part of a coalition of nations rather than being the leader of the coalition…”
While this view is widely held in conservative circles, it is increasingly common among Republicans, particularly in the Ron Paul wing of the party, to question the use of American military power around the world. Bruce Herschensohn has no such questions, wondering aloud “what the world would have been like if the U.S. hadn’t entered World War II and the Cold War and Kuwait and Bosnia and Kosovo and how the world will likely look if the U.S. chooses to reject that role. But better to imagine it than have the next generation live it.”
About the Author
Ross Kaminsky is a self-employed trader and investor and is a senior fellow of the Heartland Institute. He is the host of The Ross Kaminsky Show on Denver’s NewsRadio 850 KOA at 11 AM on most Sundays. You can reach Ross by e-mail at rossputin(at)rossputin(dot)com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (15) | Leave a comment
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spike59| 10.3.12 @ 6:35AM
in the case of Benghazi, the president's 'carelessness' led DIRECTLY to four American deaths...if Bush was still President, the MSM would be echoing calls for him to be strung up
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 10:20AM
You still don't get it.
You see it, everyday, in every move he makes, but you REFUSE to believe your own Eyes.
This is about Conquering and Subjugation.
The Muslim's Grandfather was never Tortured by the British. Neither was his Aids Riddled Alcoholic Muslim Father, his make believe Amalgam Girlfriend, or the Guys at the Harvard Law Review that he propositioned for Gay Sex.
None of these things were True.
He is Incapable of telling the Truth.
He is, after all - The One they've been waiting for. "They" being The Dark Armies of The End Times.
We're told that THE ONE will come upon the Scene, at a time of World Wide Catastrophe. That's exactly what he did. He came on to the scene, right after a World Wide Economic Crises, that Threatened the Civilized World.
His entire life, he has been Immersed in Evil. Mentored by Evil. Surrounded by Evil.
He was Raised on the teachings of a God of Murder in the Mosques and Schools that Preach Murder, and Teach Murder.
He has INTENTIONALLY Murdered Hundreds of Innocent Mexicans, in an effort to Disarm Law Abiding US Citizens.
He said NOTHING while Iran Murdered it's people, in the Streets, and Does Nothing, while Assad BUTCHERS the Syrian People by the Thousands.
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 10:24AM
And yet, we're supposed to believe that he waged his Illegal War on Libya, because Khaddafi had killed about 150 of his people.
He throws Mubarek to the Wolves ala Jimmy Carter and the Shah. And, lo and behold, we got the same result. A Radical Islamist State, bent on Domination.
Israel is hopelessly Surrounded, Outmanned and Outgunned. Their only hope has always been The U.S. that hope is gone, now, with this Son of the Father - Abu Hussain - Sitting on the Throne of the World's most Powerful Christian Nation, and Israel's only chance to Survive.
Did you see that "Obamaphone " Creature on YouTube? That is who he seeks out. These are His People. The Rabble. The Scum. Life's Lowest Common Denominator. He's reaching out to Sexual Freaks, the Sodomites, and those who would Murder their Children inside their womb. The Drug Addled, the Convicts, Perverts and the Pedophiles. He seeks to Rally the Worst of the Worst, for one last chance at an Unholy Caliphate, with Israel going first. Then Europe. And, then The United States.
Look at all of the Breadcrumbs that have been scattered all over the landscape, for everyone to see.
LOOK AT THEM! And, believe your eyes.
He knows exactly what he's doing.
You need to think beyond the regular parameters.
And, you need to remember your Lord of the Rings.
THEY ARE COMING.
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 10:33AM
This Book is a Prescient Survey of Obama's callous Foreign Policy.
Please.
It's a Fool's Errand of a book, attempting to Psychoanalyze with 300 Pages of $5 Words, what should only require 2 $1 Words.
OCCAM'S RAZOR.
He's The One they've been waiting for.
Pay Attention!
doramin| 10.3.12 @ 7:07PM
Israel is anything but hopelessly outmanned and outgunned. Were it not for Iran's nukes Israel would be safer than ever.
Its only serious enemies (Egypt and Syria) are both in a state of turmoil and impending collapse. Syria is no longer a national entity let alone an aggressive military power. Egypt is about to collapse in famine and its army is in the process of being purged. Remember how the Ayatollahs beheaded, decimated and demoralized the Shahs once-mighty military in a matter of months.
Israel just needs to do a decapitation strike on Iran's government and the Iranian people will do the rest. Hezbollah will find itself without any friends or protectors (especially if Israel carries out a lighting raid on their Maginot Line and destroys their weapons caches).
The Arab world is in the process of sending itself back to the Dark Ages and they are already in no position to wage modern warfare.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 10.3.12 @ 6:45AM
"As we've watched UN Ambassador Susan Rice tour the Sunday shows with obvious ignorance or lies"...
I don't think I could have written the above sentence without and dangerous being added after obvious.
Who Knows?| 10.3.12 @ 8:28AM
Kudos to Bruce are wonderful.
To be regularly at the tip of the information “spear” about the war on the terror masters, one simply must read what Michael Ledeen writes. His blog, Faster Please, is indispensable.
As all well informed people know, it’s those damned fools in charge of Iran who are THE problem. Get rid of them, and the domino effect in the Middle East would be awesome.
Just as Hitler managed to finagle ultimate power over the German volk, a great and creative nation, the Islamist “Nazis” have done the same in Iran.
May they soon be free! America’s task should be to do everything in our power to make this so.
c. j. acworth| 10.3.12 @ 9:16AM
I just finished reading this article and the preceeding comments, and all I can think to say is "Holy smokes, it's 9:15 and Jack in WI hasn't nuked Israel yet?"
Pecos Pete| 10.3.12 @ 9:28AM
cja: Jack ain't up yet. He'll be here yellin' and screamin' soon enough. But until then, the peace and quite of the comments is soooo pleasant.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 10.3.12 @ 9:53PM
Its the 3rd of the month. Isn't this the day the checks come out, and couldn't that be the reason Jack isn't here?
Pecos Pete| 10.3.12 @ 9:26AM
Ross: Your used the term "Islamic terrorism" and you are now considered a racist by the federal government.
Obama has been a disaster domestically and internationally. Yet, the presidential race is supposed to be close if we are to believe the polls.
I appreciate your review of Herschensohn's book. Don't think I will read it as it will just make me ill.
The Avenger| 10.3.12 @ 10:34AM
not least being the underreported support of Obama for a leftist president of Honduras who wanted to remain in office despite that nation's constitution's term limits provisions. In doing so, Obama opposed Honduras' supreme court and "the chief elements of democracy in Honduras. Opposing [the rule of law in Honduras] was the government of Castro's Cuba, the Chavez government of Venezuela, and the Obama administration of the United States of America."
This is all you meed to know about Obama. He is dangerous and his followers are insane.
Peppermint Tea | 10.3.12 @ 11:07AM
Now don't get all down on Obama. Remember that he was just endorsed by Hugo Chavez.
TLP| 10.3.12 @ 6:05PM
11 Comments.
Pathetic.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 10.3.12 @ 9:54PM
But maybe it is a good place to hold a contest.