Projected Weakness

From the viewpoint of an ordinary American and former military service member, I must say that I am dismayed at the apparent foolishness of our nation’s foreign policies. I have never, since the administration of Jimmy Carter, seen such ill-advised foreign policy, apparently designed to show America as a weak and impotent nation. It is the way foreign countries see us, too. Read the editorial comment printed below from a prominent French newspaper:

“I’m talking about the hesitant, timorous America that we have seen through the incredible sequence in which Secretary of State John Kerry’s wise, forceful speech was juxtaposed against Barack Obama’s strangely indecisive remarks—taking seriatim and almost simultaneously every conceivable geopolitical position. I’m talking about an America willing itself into weakness. A quiescent (i.e., sitting still) America that Mr. Putin with his astounding lecture on democratic morals published in the New York Times, has allowed himself the luxury of humiliating on her home field.” (Bernard–Henri Lévy)

That’s how foreign nations view America’s foreign policy!

The Western World has been famous for making brainless agreements with despots. Appeasement has often been the watchword ever since the foolish agreement at Munich in 1938 when British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, along with French and Italian “diplomats” ceded large parts of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany in exchange for promises of no military invasion of that country. Chamberlain went home proclaiming “peace within our time!” Within a few months after that Munich agreement, Nazi armies marched into Czechoslovakia—World War II was well underway!

“So it is with many negotiations between democrats and tyrants: When there is a deal, it usually winds up being a trade between the theoretical and the tangible, the immediate concession and the long-term promise, the paper agreement and the territorial prize.” (Wall Street Journal 9/24/13 page A17)

Dealing with tyrants by appeasement methods has never worked. And today, we see President Obama saying soothing words to the American people—words that are not backed up with strength. Diplomacy without military back up is not worth the words with which it is spoken. We are seeing with our very eyes, our government transforming Bashar Assad from a war criminal and enemy of humanity (in the words of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon) into a legitimate negotiating partner. Look soon to see him presented as if he were a cooperative and responsible world leader.

We have fools for leaders and diplomats!