Obama Foreign Policy
February 3, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Lenin supposedly said that “The capitalists will sell us the rope with which to hang them,” though William Safire was dubious about the authenticity of the quote. (Lenin might have said that the capitalists will “close their eyes to the above-mentioned reality and will thus transform themselves into men who are deaf, dumb and blind.”) Barack Obama isn’t much of a capitalist, and he has nothing so crass in mind
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February 2, 2013 — Steven Hayward
Chuck Hagel’s prevarications in his Senate testimony this week about the prevarications of the Obama Administration’s Iran policy brought to mind one of Churchill’s characterizations of British government policy about disarmament in the early 1930s—what at other times he described more simply as “mush, slush, and gush.” But this 1934 comment comes close to capturing the essence of Obama’s own brand of mush, slush, and gush about Iran: It is
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February 1, 2013 — Scott Johnson
As Paul noted earlier this week, the Senate confirmed John Kerry as Secretary of State Today by a vote of 94-3. Many have noted the record of Kerry’s opinions in American foreign policy is distinguished by its devotion to mischief, error and misjudgment. To take only one small example, Jay Nordlinger documented Kerry’s wayward ways on Latin America in the 2004 National Review article “Back in Sandinista days…,” kindly made
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January 30, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
The chief of Egypt’s military, Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, warned of the possible “collapse of the state” following a fourth night of street fighting in Cairo and other major cities. In that event, the military might very well intervene in an effort to restore stability. Unfortunately, as we pointed out in August of last year, Sissi’s sympathies lie with the Muslim Brotherhood. Indeed, this report by the Washington Post, though it
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January 25, 2013 — Scott Johnson
The Wall Street Journal’s Bret Stephens gave one of the featured speeches at David Horowitz’s Restoration Weekend this past November in the immediate aftermath of the election. He took Gaza as a case study of error, his own and Israel’s, while contemplating the hostilities that erupted in Operation Pillar of Defense. Stephens covers a lot of ground in his remarks and they remain timely. Notes: At around 25 minutes in
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January 24, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Meeting Ayaan Hirsi Ali at the fourth annual Presidential Conference in Jerusalem this past June may have been my personal highlight of the year. I posted videos of my interview with her here and here. She is a true friend of Israel. In her comments Ayaan expressed high hopes for developments in Egypt. Paul Mirengoff discussed Ayaan’s comments in “The short term and the long term in post-Mubarak Egypt.” If
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January 21, 2013 — John Hinderaker
The Washington Post reports today that al Qaeda’s successful attack on the Algerian natural gas plant has greatly boosted al Qaeda’s prestige in Africa. Along the way, the Post notes rather casually: The assailants were well-trained and armed with what appear to have been weapons from the late Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi’s arsenal. The overthrow of Moammar Gaddafi has turned out to be a terrible blunder. It has empowered radical
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January 16, 2013 — Scott Johnson
In the annals of context offered allegedly to explain controversial or offensive remarks, this may take the cake: A congressional delegation led by McCain met with Mohammed Morsi a day after the White House strongly denounced his remarks as “deeply offensive.” Morsi made the comments in a 2010 speech, as a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood before he became president, but they resurfaced recently when aired on an Egyptian TV
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January 13, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Colin Powell appeared on Meet the Press this morning to speak up on behalf of Chuck Hagel. It was an amazing performance. Amazingly disgusting. My daughter Eliana has posted the video at NRO. Please check it out if you missed Powell’s turn at bat for Hagel and Team Obama. Powell both excused Hagel’s disparagement of American supporters of Israel and crudely disparaged Republicans as racist. Eliana explicates Powell’s comments in
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January 11, 2013 — Scott Johnson
If you want a conventional liberal/realist view of Obama’s coalescing second term foreign policy team, you probably can’t do better than to take a look at David Ignatius’s Washington Post column comparing Barack Obama with Dwight Eisenhower. I won’t say anything more about it other than that it has caused me a slight setback in my anger management therapy. For a more realistic assessment of the “realists,” such as they
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January 10, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Has the Obama administration ever met an anti-American ruler it won’t give comfort to? The question arises again from reports that the State Department has extended the hand of good fellowship to Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro. Why? Because with Hugo Chavez soon to depart this world, State sees “an opening” through which it can “engage” hostile Venezuela. Whenever one hears President Obama or the State Department speak of “openings”
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January 7, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
By the standards of the Obama administration, John Brennan, its nominee for CIA director, will not be noteworthy for lack of warm feelings towards the State of Israel. In a normal administration, however, he would stand out for this reason. I discussed Brennan’s views about the Middle East in a February 2010 post called “Israel On Its Own.” Scott had pointed to a speech Brennan gave at an event sponsored
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January 7, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
Presidents define themselves in large measure by the fights they pick, especially if these fights create tension with members of their own party or base. By nominating Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense, President Obama has picked a fight that most would consider unnecessary, and that fight puts him in tension with some Democratic Senators and a portion of his base. He thus defines himself. Not as a president who
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December 30, 2012 — John Hinderaker
Well, why not? They’re one for one so far. Maybe someone will claim the bounty by organizing a group movie review. The AP reports: Al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen has offered to pay tens of thousands of dollars to anyone who kills the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa or an American soldier in the country. An audio produced by the group’s media arm, the al-Malahem Foundation, and posted on militant websites Saturday
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December 28, 2012 — Scott Johnson
Today Vladimir Putin signed the new Russian law that will prevent Americans from adopting Russian children. Taking effect January 1, it halts adoptions in process as well as adoptions whose completion is imminent. The New York Daily News reports that Russia has 740,000 children not in parental custody with 18,000 Russians standing in line to adopt children. The law is aimed at Americans and suffused with anti-American animus as well
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December 27, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Mike Allen of Politico said on Morning Joe today that the trial balloon for a Chuck Hagel nomination as Secretary of Defense “has been popped” and is “really losing a lot of altitude.” Allen attributed Hagel’s woes to the view that no “natural constituency” exists for a Hagel nomination. Actually there is such a constituency. It consists of folks who dislike Israel; who want to keep U.S. and Israeli hands
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December 18, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
The Muslim Brotherhood is a virulently anti-Western Islamist outfit committed to the destruction of Israel. Its history of engaging in and supporting terrorism is beyond dispute. President Obama backs the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. He backed it, for example, when the military tried to stand up against Mohamed Morsi, the Brotherhood man who heads the Egyptian government, and when he made Morsi look like the hero of Hamas’ recent mini-victory
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