“We’ve got to send a clear message to Russia and unify our allies,” Obama told a crowd of supporters in Virginia. “They can’t charge into other countries. Of course it helps if we are leading by example on that point.” - Senator Barack Obama.
Scolding the Russians like this reminds those of us around back in 1980 of why so many people voted to end Jimmy Carter’s Presidency. Telling the Russians they can’t charge into other countries, after they’ve finished pretty much occupying one, would be funnier if this didn’t involve a whole lot of dead bodies and refugees.
Of course, this was Barack Obama’s way of castigating John McCain for supporting our continued mission in Iraq. It is as if the Russians would have left Georgia alone in the absence of American presence in Iraq.
This sentiment is utterly laughable. In the absence of a strong and proactive American military presence throughout the world, the only thing keeping the Russians from Finlandizing most of Eastern Europe again would be a sense of relief at no longer having the environmental clean-up at Chernobyl on their account books.
Perhaps while Jimmy Carter addresses the Democratic National Convention next week, he can explain to us all how asking the Russians nicely to leave worked in Afghanistan. Or, maybe that’s why Former President Carter won’t be discussing foreign relations.
The turn we took away from Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy ideas is one of the primary driving forces behind the global expansion of wealth. Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were all smart enough presidents to understand this fundamental reality. Fed-Ex may ship your package to any major city on the globe, but they wouldn’t be stupid enough to even try without the US Navy dominating the high seas.
John McCain may not be the next Milton Friedman on economics, but he does know that people don’t transact much business without a safe place to trade. If we were following the advice of Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama, and not interjecting our military in places of strategic interest, we’d still be getting gasoline for $3.39 - $3.50 - on days when someone decided to hold a 50% off sale.
Now everyone who isn’t one of them; the Neocons, understands perfectly well that Russia invaded Georgia out of their love and solidarity for the South Ossetians. Anyone who has looked into Vladamir Putin’s soul knows the man was truly shocked and saddened that the Georgian Army would behave in a brutal fashion.
We all know the Georgian Army acted in a manner totally and completely different than the way the 58th Division of the Russian Army handled their policing duties in Grozny. Thanks to Uncle Vlad, the Chechnyans now have a great tourist industry in Grozny. Come and see the ruins.
And oh yeah, by the way, there also happens to be this oil pipeline in Georgia. By coincidence, it happens to be the only East-West pipeline in that part of the world that isn’t being maintained by Former German Chancellor, Gazprom Schroeder. But the Russians were leading by example; they’d never be like an Evil Bush and fight a war over oil.
So we turn the clock backwards on a lot if we elect Barack Obama. We also pretty much write off any of our international allies who don’t fall under the survey of the Monroe Doctrine. Assuming, of course, Barack Obama doesn’t decide that wasn’t the James Monroe he thought he’d read about in US History class.
To properly understand just how much we could be throwing away by putting Barack Obama in charge of anything important, I’d highly recommend reading the text Mohammed and Charlemagne, by Historian Henri Pirenne. Pirenne traces the history of pre-gothic Europe from the ebbing of the Roman Empire, to the rise of Charlemagne. He catalogues just how badly Southern and Western Europe suffered economically, culturally and socially from their isolation from the rest of the world. It was that isolation that rendered the Dark Ages ineluctable.
Make no mistake about it. Barack Obama plans to isolate a lot of people. He also tells the rest of the world something we don’t want them to think about our nation. If a country supports a US President from one US party, they will be willfully and vindictively hung out to dry by a future US President from the other.
Neither Bill Clinton nor George W. Bush made such a bone-headed mistake. Once, when Saddam Hussein gave Kuwait trouble during the Presidency of Bill Clinton, the cruise missiles soon were on the wing. Kuwait was treated by President Clinton as America’s ally; not King Bush I’s.
Make no mistake about it. Georgia is not an easy country for the US to logistically support. Their President, to put it nicely, hasn’t helped his own cause here with his decision making. However, according to then Secretary of State Dean Acheson, both of these things could also be said equally about South Korea under Syngman Rhee.
But just as Syngman Rhee finally had to leave Korea one step ahead of condign nemesis, the strongmen the US back tend to leave office in favor of someone less malicious. Judging from the initial actions of new Russian Premier Medeved, the same can’t be said about dictators backed by Valdamir Putin.
So Barack has made a funny at the expense of our current US policy in Iraq. It’s worth a chortle or two, if you didn’t initially think removing Saddam Hussein was a good idea. But like all genuine humor, it reveals more than a little about the man telling the joke.
Barack Obama has shown himself to be a man who leads by example. The problem with that is, in this case, he would be a man who led by negative example.
As a bad example."