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Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Comments

A.I.

"He really believes that the desire for peace is universal, and that he can bring the Chinese and the Russians and the Iranians around if he just convinces them that peace is what he really wants." You actually wrote this KB?

With all due respect, you don't know what Obama believes about a given country. My guess is he believes most would not go to war unless provoked by overt attack or a threat to their national interests--those being legitimate reasons for war or at least flexing military muscle. Of course there are other reasons like trying to achieve world or regional dominance or to divert attention from domestic problems--especially those rooted in incompetent and/or corrupt leadership. And some threats of attack or to national interests are more imagined than real.

In any case, you don't start out with a working premise that other nations have a "desire" for war, which would be the opposite of the naivete you accuse Obama of. Believing that is not the opposite of naive, it is synonymous with paranoid.

And by the way, Obama"s "apologies" have not been for America's 200-plus year history. Mostly, they have been for certain actions and policies of certain leaders that began January 20, 2001 and ended eight years later. He is basically saying the PNAC was a bad idea poorly implemented and that Angela Merkel need not fear a second, sneak shoulder rub attack.

KB

A.I. You are right that I cannot know what Obama believes, on this or anything else. His statements give no clue as to what he will really do on any matter. But it does look like he has staked a lot on his "new approach" to the world. In what does that approach consist? Public atonement, reaching out, insulting our allies and being very, very nice to our enemies. Will it work? We now have a simple test: does Obama get significant sanctions on Iran? If not, his foreign policy will look like a failure. That is a lot to risk on a strategy one does not believe in.

And by the way, that certain leader that Obama and you keep blaming for all our troubles, is that the same leader whose policy on indefinite detention the Obama Administration has now reversed itself on and endorsed? Just asking.

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