RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/10098

The Obama administration hardly regards itself to have failed at anything. In fact, it judges itself by its intentions, not by its results. Hillary Clinton, in her first major foreign policyspeech in 2009, put the Obama approach on the table. To paraphrase: If we succeed around the world, it will be because of our honorable commitment to process (read: “engaging our enemies”). If we fail, it’s because previous administrations have made mistakes and have given Mr. Obama a “bad hand” to play. In fact, Hillary’s speech suggested, as often echoed by Obama, that all of American foreign policy history was at fault, most especially things like U.S. recognition of Israel, CIA activity in Iran, our supporting dictators to assure the flow of oil, etc. Clinton made it clear that the administration is committed to “process” and must not be held accountable for the results of its policies.

Just to remind one of the most glaring failures, we mention Iraq; Afghanistan; Libya; Egypt; al-Qaeda terrorism from the Maghreb to West Africa to Yemen to Azerbaijan and Central Asia, to Southeast Asia; Iran; Syria; Turkey; China; South America (Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, to name a few); Central America and the Caribbean; and Russia. “Enough already!” you say. But let’s not leave out cyber and intelligence security, not to mention embassy security (Benghazi).

 

The administration’s motives in pressuring Israel into “peace talks” with a Palestinian Authority that does not acknowledge the country’s right to exist, is unclear. U.S., Secretary of State John Kerry’s effort flies in the face of insurmountable problems: Mahmoud Abbas, who is in the ninth year of a four-year term as head of the Palestinian Authority-but not Gaza, where Hamas rules-has no ability to enforce agreements with anyone; the PA supports and sustains violence against Israelis; and no Arab state really wants peace between the parties, in fact most-as members of the Arab League-call for the destruction of Israel.

 

Thinking fancifully about what a settlement would look like only leads to the conclusion that it is impossible. Over the years the U.S. and the international community have poured billions into the West Bank and Gaza. The notion has been to provide the Palestinians with the wherewithal to create a state, that is, a sovereign entity with a government that could keep order and help its people to prosper economically. What the funding has created is a military force that often abuses its power against its own brothers, and a spectacularly and continuously corrupt government. The Palestinian Authority is always broke and has had to be bailed out by the West every couple of months when it rediscovers that it cannot pay its employees, whose numbers are steadily growing.  

 

One could go on and on, but perhaps the way to put things is to say that the only way a Palestinian state could exist alongside Israel is if it recognizes the Jewish state, renounces and punishes all violence against Israel, and eliminates all anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli teaching and propaganda in schools, TV and the media. Despite the ongoing hate-mongering and incitement against Israel and the Jews, U.S., European, Arab and other international aid continues to flow to the PA and Gaza (Hamas).

 

The number of Obama’s foreign policy failures depends on how and what one counts. The new U.S. forced Israeli-Palestinian peace “process” will be at least the Obama administration’s 17th foreign policy failure, or only the 16th or maybe the 18th. Keep in mind Hillary’s and Obama’s insistence that all previous American foreign policy achievements were in fact failures. Recognizing that leads to the conclusion that the Obama administration’s failures have been the result of deliberate efforts. Not surisingly, they are touted as successes by this administration. 

 

The Palestinians’ constant refusal to meet face-to-face with the Israelis was mitigated by a letter of gaurantee from Hillary’s successor to Obama’s foreign policy agenda, John Kerry. In it, Kerry is said to have promised the Palestinians terroitories that belong to the sovereign democratric Jewish state of Israel. In return, the Arab/Muslim block that supports the Palestinians would feed Obama’s illusionary diplomatic sucess. We hope Israel will not be forced to pay the price for this “success.”