In the Middle East today, there were two events that tell us much about American foreign policy. First, in Israel, there was the funeral of former prime minister and president of Israel Shimon Peres. There were many dignitaries there to pay their respects, but I want to focus on president Obama. Obama spoke about Peres and his contributions both to Israel and to peace which were many. Peres' main contributions all came before Obama was president, but it was appropriate for the American president to honor this leader of our close ally. Second, three hundred miles away in Syria, the Assad forces are massing outside the city of Aleppo in an attempt to strike at the rebels and to drive them out of Syria's largest city. The Russian and Syrian planes have been bombing the city relentlessly for the last week and have killed hundreds of civilians in the process. The response from Obama is to have John Kerry threaten to stop negotiating with the Russians for a cease fire in Syria.
There you have it. American foreign policy in the age of Obama/Clinton and Obama/Kerry can be boiled down to one thing: WORDS. Donald Trump frequently says that the USA doesn't win anymore. I think that may be slightly off. The truth is that the USA doesn't "do" anymore. Sure, that's a bit of an overstatement, but not much of one. The Middle East is in chaos and the USA talks. If we have vital national interests in the region, then we need to be willing to do something to back up our words. If we have no vital national interests there, then we ought to shut up and not try to push into the middle of the mess. In Syria, half a million people have died in the fighting and many millions have fled as refugees. Nearly all the deaths have been at the hands of the Assad forces. The Assad/Russian/Iranian attack on Aleppo is something that anyone paying the slightest attention knew was coming months ago. If Obama wanted to stop the attack from happening, it was obvious that he needed to adopt a strategy to take action to prevent it. Talking is not enough. The strategy did not require putting American troops on the ground in Syria; we could have sent arms to the Kurds, we could have made clear to Moscow that armed support for Assad would be met by out sending weapons to Ukraine, or we could have bombed the Assad chemical facilities or air force bases once Assad started to drop chemical weapons bombs again, to name a few choices. Obama chose instead to just talk. The Russians were fine with that, because they know what it means. They know that for Obama talking is a panacea even if in reality talking is just talking.
Over the last eight years, America's position in the world has crumbled. It's not just that our military has been weakened. It is, rather, that our friends are unsure of us and our enemies are emboldened by inaction from the USA combined with a torrent of words. We are living in dangerous times as a result.
The saddest thing of all for the USA is that Hillary Clinton also uses words instead of actions as a sign of progress. She did it as secretary of state. She does it on many more areas. She is out campaigning and telling us how she has fought for women's rights and children for her whole life. She talked about it often; she accomplished next to nothing. She talked, she did not "do". We cannot take another four years of leadership from someone who does not understand that while words matter, they are dwarfed in importance by deeds.
There you have it. American foreign policy in the age of Obama/Clinton and Obama/Kerry can be boiled down to one thing: WORDS. Donald Trump frequently says that the USA doesn't win anymore. I think that may be slightly off. The truth is that the USA doesn't "do" anymore. Sure, that's a bit of an overstatement, but not much of one. The Middle East is in chaos and the USA talks. If we have vital national interests in the region, then we need to be willing to do something to back up our words. If we have no vital national interests there, then we ought to shut up and not try to push into the middle of the mess. In Syria, half a million people have died in the fighting and many millions have fled as refugees. Nearly all the deaths have been at the hands of the Assad forces. The Assad/Russian/Iranian attack on Aleppo is something that anyone paying the slightest attention knew was coming months ago. If Obama wanted to stop the attack from happening, it was obvious that he needed to adopt a strategy to take action to prevent it. Talking is not enough. The strategy did not require putting American troops on the ground in Syria; we could have sent arms to the Kurds, we could have made clear to Moscow that armed support for Assad would be met by out sending weapons to Ukraine, or we could have bombed the Assad chemical facilities or air force bases once Assad started to drop chemical weapons bombs again, to name a few choices. Obama chose instead to just talk. The Russians were fine with that, because they know what it means. They know that for Obama talking is a panacea even if in reality talking is just talking.
Over the last eight years, America's position in the world has crumbled. It's not just that our military has been weakened. It is, rather, that our friends are unsure of us and our enemies are emboldened by inaction from the USA combined with a torrent of words. We are living in dangerous times as a result.
The saddest thing of all for the USA is that Hillary Clinton also uses words instead of actions as a sign of progress. She did it as secretary of state. She does it on many more areas. She is out campaigning and telling us how she has fought for women's rights and children for her whole life. She talked about it often; she accomplished next to nothing. She talked, she did not "do". We cannot take another four years of leadership from someone who does not understand that while words matter, they are dwarfed in importance by deeds.
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