MUSTREAD: CHET NAGLE THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.5940/pub_detail.asp
April 9, 2010
The Emperor’s New Clothes: Foreign Affairs
Chet Nagle
The lapdog congress, tailored to our imperial White House, has produced a garment made of health care. Unfortunately, that very expensive suit may come apart at the seams, and the administration may find they are needful of new clothes. So the administration has decided foreign affairs are just the ticket. As a result, and because members of the Obama administration are leaders and statesmen in name only, American foreign policy is now in shambles on every continent. Why do the incompetents persist?
Disastrous White House foreign policy initiatives are typified by the discourtesy shown Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his recent state visit. Results of that Chicago-style diplomacy are already apparent. This week the head of Israel’s important Defense Forces Planning Directorate, Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel, will visit China to meet senior officers of the Chinese defense establishment. The State Department and the White House insist that visit is just to convince the Chinese to back sanctions on Iran, and it is not designed to repair Israel’s military relations with China, frozen for the last four years at U.S. request. And no way would Israel sell China any of its superior weapons technology. Still, Gen. Eshel will be greeted with full military honors in China, just as Chinese generals will be honored during their reciprocal visits to Israel. Additionally, rumors abound of more Israeli visits to Russia.
Mindless of that, Washington keeps pushing the “reset button†to make Moscow smile. For example, a tiny Associated Press release on 18 March said the White House has authorized American troops to march in a Red Square parade on May 9th. It seems the administration wants our troops to salute Lenin’s tomb during what the Kremlin promises will be a huge “Victory Day†celebration. White House Press Secretary Gibbs has yet to mention American troops honoring Russia, nor has he commented on Russian nuclear bombers routinely buzzing Alaska and overflying Britain. American foreign policy disasters are endless. A few more examples:
· The abrupt cancellation, applauded by Russia, of missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic designed to protect European democracies from Iran’s missiles. Governments of two allies were damaged and embarrassed.
· The state visit to Australia, cancelled so the president could promote his healthcare bill at home. The government of Australia was hurt.
· The cancellation of President Obama’s attendance at the May U.S./EU Summit in Madrid, ensuring that high level meeting would not be held. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy are slighted and angry.
· The over-flights of the U.S. border by Mexican military helicopters. Danger to citizens near that border is downplayed by the Department of Homeland Security, as is the murder of two Americans in Mexico.
· The $35 billion contract to replace our fleet of aged refueling aircraft. Europe’s EADS consortium (France, Spain, Britain and Germany) partners of Northrop Grumman, have the best aircraft. Lobbied by Boeing, the administration directed the Pentagon to change the rules and eliminate EADS. French President Sarkozy has made it clear, in subtle Gallic fashion, that he considers the leadership of the United States to be dolts, from top to bottom.
· There is START, latest nuclear arms reduction treaty negotiated with Russia. Aware the White House desperately needs foreign policy successes, Moscow got what they wanted in the negotiations. We do not know just how bad it is because details of the proposed treaty are largely being kept secret. The Senate, after November’s elections, may save us.
· There is Washington’s corrupt boss of Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai. Fearing an honest vote, Karzai said U.S. and UN forces were influencing elections in order to end his wobbling reign. He even threatened to join the Taliban. The White House said his statement was “genuinely troubling.â€
· The pressure by the State Department on Honduras to return deposed Manuel Zelaya to power. An ally of Hugo Chávez, Zelaya is opposed by the Honduran congress, Supreme Court, church and army, all of whom legally deposed him according to Article 239 of the Honduran constitution.
· And then there is Argentina, Britain, and the assassination of the “special relationship,†the Obama administration’s worst blunder in 15 months.
In 1982, Argentina’s junta invaded the British Falkland Islands. The islanders are English speakers who want nothing to do with the unstable, mismanaged, and failed state of Argentina, so they asked their mother country to save them. Margaret Thatcher sent the Royal Navy. The Brits shed their blood and took back their islands – and that was that. Until last month when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pointlessly reopened an issue settled for 30 years. She said Britain should negotiate the status of British land with Argentina, a bankrupt nation thirsting for oil deposits reputed to lie below the Falklands.
Why did Secretary Clinton do that? Why did the White House send the bust of Churchill back to England? No room in the basement? Why did they respond to Prime Minister Brown’s thoughtful gift with a set of DVDs that cannot be played on UK equipment? Why did they give Queen Elizabeth an iPod loaded with presidential speeches? Some say these actions were because of British sins in Kenya, the president’s ancestral homeland that the Brits once ruled (1895-1963). Whatever the reason for all the animosity shown to Britain, it has finally come to a head.
Last week a committee of the British parliament officially noted the history of the Obama administration’s churlish actions and declared the “special relationship,†forged in the fire of the Second World War, was now ended. Old friend Bruce Anderson wrote in London’s Independent: “We British not only speak the same language. We tend to think the same way. We are more likely than anyone else to provide tea, sympathy and troops.†Whether the White House intentionally killed the special relationship or was just careless, it will take a new and very capable American government to bring it back to life.
If all this damage was done by the White House and State Department to insure reelection, it might be understandable. But how could so many disasters help? Will not the voters realize the growing danger to the safety of America and of Western civilization? It seems American foreign policy now caters to left wing liberals, or it is short-sighted, or it is simply managed by incompetents who care nothing for the national interest. Or all three. But whatever the reasons, no one in the world now trusts, fears, or respects the United States.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing editor Chet Nagle is a Naval Academy graduate and Cold War carrier pilot who flew in the Cuban Missile Crisis. After a stint as a navy research officer, he joined International Security Affairs as a Pentagon civilian – then came defense and intelligence work, life abroad for 12 years as an agent for the CIA, and extensive time in Iran, Oman, and many other countries. Along the way, he graduated from the Georgetown University Law School and was the founding publisher of a geo-political magazine, The Journal of Defense & Diplomacy, read in over 20 countries and with a circulation of 26,000. At the end of his work in the Middle East, he was awarded the Order of Oman in that allied nation’s victory over communist Yemen; now, he writes and consults. He and his wife Dorothy live in Virginia.
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