A Look At Obama’s 2009 Foreign Policy
Alienate Friends But Don’t Convince Your Enemies
Obama’s More Obvious Foreign Policy Failures
Following his inauguration, Obama was fast out of the traps and began alienating U.S. allies almost immediately!
He started with America’s closest and strongest ally first by ordering a bust of Winston Churchill returned to the U.K. because the Brits supposedly tortured his grandfather in Africa in the 50s. In case the Brits didn’t get the message he compared the British Empire to South Africa’s apartheid regime and also to the former Soviet Union.
He then attempted to bully Israel and achieved nothing accept driving a wedge between the U.S. and its second closest ally.
Seemingly undeterred he moved on to the Russians and carefully prepared the way by stabbing two other allies in the back, namely the Czech Republic and Poland who had agreed to having U.S. missiles in their countries.
He did however manage to make Putin and Medvedev laugh all the way to the bank by suggesting that they clamp down on corruption, and didn’t even get a thank you for canceling the missile deployment on their borders, and it seems likely that he got snubbed by members of the Duma.
It’s claimed on some websites that the footage was doctored, but the explanation given as to how it was done only half explains it.
Obama then strove to win Muslim admiration, and not only failed but embarrassed the majority of Americans by literally bowing and scraping.
Obama then offered Iran serious negotiations and carrots but they had little time for him since they were too busy torturing, raping and killing demonstrators, and building new underground nuclear facilities. Obama’s reaction to the atrocities was to voice his appreciation for the “robust debate” that was taking place.
And last but not least, the Chinese smothered domestic coverage of a presidential visit but did give the world the spectacle of the American commander in chief getting a talking-to about fiscal responsibility from a Communist chieftain. The Chinese then sent a delegation to the U.S. and much to the surprise of those meeting them, the Chinese wanted to know who was going to finance Obama’s intended Health Bill.
Not So Wonderful Copenhagen
Two additional humiliations then occurred in Copenhagen, the first when the Olympic Committee delivered the bad news that the president’s effort to play hometown booster had failed utterly, before he even landed back in the U.S. and the second when the Chinese, Indians and Brazilians gave him very short shrift during the supposed Global Warming talks.
Afghanistan – To Do Or Not To Do
The decision to reinforce U.S. military in Afghanistan came after an excruciating and almost year long hesitation and dithering that undermined the confidence of our fighting men and allies, and stating that the U.S. would start pulling out after 18 months pleased the Taliban no end and seriously weakened any resolve that anti-Taliban tribes might have had.
France’s President, Nicolas Sarkozy perhaps asked the most worrying question, “Est-il faible?” (Is he weak?) and if the answer appears “Yes”, a year from now then the U.S. and the free world will be in deep trouble.
Have There Been Foreign Policy Successes?
I have simply described some of Obama’s obvious foreign policy failures, but he may have had successes too, and if I have overlooked them then please post a comment and they will be published.
And the same goes for any failures that I may have overlooked.
Last 10 posts by Michael Redbourn
- Israel Gets Green light To Build In East Jerusalem - March 13th, 2010
- Does Obama's $8.6 Trillion Deficit Worry You? - March 11th, 2010
- The End Of Many Democracies Is Near - March 9th, 2010
- Not Only Is Israel Not An Apartheid State - March 4th, 2010
- The Dubai Liquidation - February 27th, 2010
- The Fiscal Stimulus Package Of 2009 Was A Failure - February 23rd, 2010
- Liberals Turn A Blind-Eye To Reality - February 17th, 2010
- Are You Being Tracked? - February 14th, 2010
- Australia's Kevin Rudd Gets It Right! - February 11th, 2010
- How Many Personal Assistants Does Michelle Obama Have? - February 9th, 2010
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