That Had To Leave A Mark
When you lose the WaPo’s editorial board
President Obama’s foreign policy is based on fantasy
By Editorial Board, Published: March 2
FOR FIVE YEARS, President Obama has led a foreign policy based more on how he thinks the world should operate than on reality. It was a world in which “the tide of war is receding” and the United States could, without much risk, radically reduce the size of its armed forces. Other leaders, in this vision, would behave rationally and in the interest of their people and the world. Invasions, brute force, great-power games and shifting alliances — these were things of the past. Secretary of State John F. Kerry displayed this mindset on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday when he said, of Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, “It’s a 19th century act in the 21st century.”
That’s a nice thought, and we all know what he means. A country’s standing is no longer measured in throw-weight or battalions. The world is too interconnected to break into blocs. A small country that plugs into cyberspace can deliver more prosperity to its people (think Singapore or Estonia) than a giant with natural resources and standing armies.
Unfortunately, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not received the memo on 21st-century behavior. Neither has China’s president, Xi Jinping, who is engaging in gunboat diplomacy against Japan and the weaker nations of Southeast Asia. Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is waging a very 20th-century war against his own people, sending helicopters to drop exploding barrels full of screws, nails and other shrapnel onto apartment buildings where families cower in basements. These men will not be deterred by the disapproval of their peers, the weight of world opinion or even disinvestment by Silicon Valley companies. They are concerned primarily with maintaining their holds on power
Smart Power.
Makes Ya Barf, Media, Morality, Nanny State, People, Politics | Mr. Bingley | 
March 3, 2014 12:58 pm
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Our “leaders” are simply not to be taken seriously on critical foreign policy issues. They have no overall strategic aim for our foreign policy,no clear idea where they want us to be in three, four, five years and simply put they don’t really care about foreign policy. They react to crises with bland words, and by wishing them away into the cornfield with the help of the compliant media. Whatever happened to the urgency of the Syrian crisis?
I refuse to believe that in a generation, the US has gone from a country with people of industry and vision to one of indolence , sloth and myopic social welfare introspection.
US policy has not always been correct and sometimes the US should have kept its nose out of other people’s business but whatever the criticisms that could be leveled there was an underlying desire to promote freedom. Am I wrong? Could this underlying good simply disappear in a few short years?
Great. NOW they tell us.
WaPo has been aiding, abetting, and actively promoting this kind of crap for years since 2008. Now they want to pretend that they knew all along it was going to fail. Every last member of the American political/media complex should be airdropped into Crimea and be forced to stare down the Russians.
The reality is this.
If George W. Bush was still in the Oval Office, Putin would not have moved troops into The Ukraine and there’s not a Liberal alive that doesn’t know that, including that hair ball, Obama.