I was reading a summary of what president Obama is going to say later today at West Point as he "lays out his foreign policy agenda". That's the way that the New York Times described the purpose of today's speech. The more I read about Obama's positions, the more I thought that the Obama foreign policy seems to be one designed by clowns. Indeed, Obama's so called "foreign policy" is not only idiotic, but it also is infuriating. Then, after some reflection, I calmed down and realized I was wrong. I could not describe the Obama foreign policy as being designed by clowns; that would be unfair to clowns. No, Obama's foreign policy has been described by procrastinating and delusional people. Let's take a look at just some of its most amazing components.
1. American troops are staying in Afghanistan past the end of 2014, despite Obama's previous announcements to the contrary. There will be just under 10,000 soldiers in that country, but they will stay just until the end of 2016. According to Obama, the Afghans will have the capability to defend themselves at that time.
2. America will be increasingly focused on anti-terror activities around the globe. This will not be an effort that relies on military action, but rather on diplomacy and economic measures. Obama will propose a fund of $5 billion to use in combatting global terror.
3. America is going to start training "moderate" rebels in Syria. There is no indication who these "moderate" rebels are or the nature of the training.
4. America is going to have a 21st century type of foreign policy.
There is much more, but this is enough. Think about Syria. The civil war there has lasted about three years now. Close to 200,000 people have been killed. Many more have been wounded. Many millions are homeless refugees. Right now after three years of battles, the Assad regime is moving steadily towards victory and seems likely to survive the war. On the rebel side, the terrorist groups affiliated with al Qaeda are in control of nearly all forces. Syria faces a choice between governance by a crazy, murderous butcher who has used weapons of mass destruction on his own people on the one hand or, on the other hand, a group of intolerant, misogynistic purveyors of hatred against all who do not share their beliefs who likewise are ready to kill thousands or tens of thousands of their fellow countrymen for political advantage. When the fighting first began, however, this was not the case. At that time, the rebels were led by moderate Sunni Moslems who, by standards of the Middle East, were benign and even pro-Western. These people desperately needed help, but Obama did nothing. By the way, the remnants of these folks are assumedly the same people that Obama is now going to "train". The problem, of course, is that these are also the same people who have already lost the war. Obama dithered for so long in doing anything about Syria that there is no longer any point to it.
And how about that global slush fund for anti-terror activities? What will we do with that? My guess is that much of it will fund ransoms paid to terror groups. You know, those girls who were kidnapped in Nigeria will be returned in exchange for $1 million apiece paid to Boko Haram. That will bring peace until two weeks later when Boko Haram kidnaps other schoolgirls. But, you may say, Obama will also use economic sanctions to control terror. After all, sanctions worked so well to keep Crimea part of the Ukraine. Oh, wait, that did not work. But the sanctions worked to keep North Korea from going nuclear! Oh, wait, that did not work. Okay, but they worked to stop Iran's nuclear program. Nope, that did not work either. So now it is clear why, after all these great successes for sanctions, Obama wants to increase their use.
We will have to wait to see if Obama actually takes steps to carry out any of these delusional policies. Often, especially in election years, Obama has made major policy pronouncements that were for media consumption only. Let's hope that this idiotic foreign policy is just another political lie dreamed up by Obama's media team. For once, it would be nice if he were just lying.
1. American troops are staying in Afghanistan past the end of 2014, despite Obama's previous announcements to the contrary. There will be just under 10,000 soldiers in that country, but they will stay just until the end of 2016. According to Obama, the Afghans will have the capability to defend themselves at that time.
2. America will be increasingly focused on anti-terror activities around the globe. This will not be an effort that relies on military action, but rather on diplomacy and economic measures. Obama will propose a fund of $5 billion to use in combatting global terror.
3. America is going to start training "moderate" rebels in Syria. There is no indication who these "moderate" rebels are or the nature of the training.
4. America is going to have a 21st century type of foreign policy.
There is much more, but this is enough. Think about Syria. The civil war there has lasted about three years now. Close to 200,000 people have been killed. Many more have been wounded. Many millions are homeless refugees. Right now after three years of battles, the Assad regime is moving steadily towards victory and seems likely to survive the war. On the rebel side, the terrorist groups affiliated with al Qaeda are in control of nearly all forces. Syria faces a choice between governance by a crazy, murderous butcher who has used weapons of mass destruction on his own people on the one hand or, on the other hand, a group of intolerant, misogynistic purveyors of hatred against all who do not share their beliefs who likewise are ready to kill thousands or tens of thousands of their fellow countrymen for political advantage. When the fighting first began, however, this was not the case. At that time, the rebels were led by moderate Sunni Moslems who, by standards of the Middle East, were benign and even pro-Western. These people desperately needed help, but Obama did nothing. By the way, the remnants of these folks are assumedly the same people that Obama is now going to "train". The problem, of course, is that these are also the same people who have already lost the war. Obama dithered for so long in doing anything about Syria that there is no longer any point to it.
And how about that global slush fund for anti-terror activities? What will we do with that? My guess is that much of it will fund ransoms paid to terror groups. You know, those girls who were kidnapped in Nigeria will be returned in exchange for $1 million apiece paid to Boko Haram. That will bring peace until two weeks later when Boko Haram kidnaps other schoolgirls. But, you may say, Obama will also use economic sanctions to control terror. After all, sanctions worked so well to keep Crimea part of the Ukraine. Oh, wait, that did not work. But the sanctions worked to keep North Korea from going nuclear! Oh, wait, that did not work. Okay, but they worked to stop Iran's nuclear program. Nope, that did not work either. So now it is clear why, after all these great successes for sanctions, Obama wants to increase their use.
We will have to wait to see if Obama actually takes steps to carry out any of these delusional policies. Often, especially in election years, Obama has made major policy pronouncements that were for media consumption only. Let's hope that this idiotic foreign policy is just another political lie dreamed up by Obama's media team. For once, it would be nice if he were just lying.
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