The State of the Obama-led World

Last night in his State of the Union address to Congress, President Obama touted everything he has done. On foreign policy, he said : "We’re partnering with nations from South Asia to North Africa to deny safe haven to terrorists who threaten America. In Iraq and Syria, American leadership - including our military power - is stopping ISIL’s advance. Instead of getting dragged into another ground war in the Middle East, we are leading a broad coalition, including Arab nations, to degrade and ultimately destroy this terrorist group. We’re also supporting a moderate opposition in Syria that can help us in this effort, and assisting people everywhere who stand up to the bankrupt ideology of violent extremism. This effort will take time. It will require focus. But we wil succeed." Obama noted : "I believe in a smarter kind of American leadership. We lead best when we combine military power with strong diplomacy; when we leverage our power with coalition building; when we don’t let our fears blind us to the opportunities that this new century presents. That’s exactly what we’re doing right now - and around the globe, it is making a difference." ~~~~~ Your leadership certainly is making a difference, Mr. President. Let's review the "State of the Obama-led World." ~~~~~ Syria’s civil war has killed more than 200,000 people in less than four years, a monitoring group told AFP in December. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP : “We have documented the killing of 202,354 people since March 2011, more than 130,000 of them were combatants. Of the total, 63,074 of those killed were civilians, including 10,377 children. Among the anti-regime fighters, 37,324 were Syrian rebels, while 22,624 were non-Syrian jihadists.” Rahman said the casualties may be closer to 300,000 but some al-Assad regime and ISIS/jihadist areas are off limits to his field monitors. A high percentage of the al-Assad regime’s civilian casualties are victims of torture at one of the regime’s 27 torture centers, documented  by Human Rights Watch. An average of four people die every day in Syria from torture in government-run prisons, according to data from the Violations Documentation Center. Previously compiled data by International Business Times Reports from various monitoring groups put the torture death total for December between 88 and 197. ~~~~~ Moving right along from your hands-off red-line smarter Syria leadership, let's look at Iran. Reuters reports that Iran denied last Saturday that it had reached an agreement with the United States to ship its surplus enriched uranium to Russia under new concessions aimed at clinching a comprehensive nuclear deal with six world powers. The Associated Press, citing diplomats, had reported earlier that Teheran and Washington had tentatively agreed on a formula to ship to Russia much of the material that could potentially lead to manufacture of atomic arms by the Islamic republic. Iran's foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said "no agreement on any nuclear topic" had been reached." ~~~~ Oops, the Iran nuclear deal looks like it hasn't benefited from your hands-off but give-em-everything-they-ask-for smarter leadership. Can Russia help? Well, Russia and Iran announced yesterday that they have signed a military cooperation deal for wider collaboration in personnel training and counter-terrorism activities. It may also resolve the situation concerning the delivery of Russian S300 missiles to Iran, according to Iranian media. Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and his Iranian counterpart Brigadier General Hussein Dehghan, signed the document during a visit by Russia’s top brass to Teheran. Under the new agreement, the broadened cooperation will include military exchanges, increased counter-terrorism cooperation and enhanced intelligence capability. The two countries also agreed that their Navies will use each other’s ports more frequently. The new agreement is aimed at creating a “long-term and multifaceted” military relationship with Iran, Russia's Shoigu said, stressing that “a theoretical basis for cooperation in the military field has been created.” The Iranians believe that "durable impacts on regional peace and security" can be achieved by the deal, Iran's state media outlet FARS reported. “As two neighbors, Iran and Russia have common goals towards political, regional and global issues,” Dehghan said, according to AP. For Iran, the deal to boost military cooperation could also mean support in countering American ambitions in the Middle East, with the two countries to "jointly contribute to a strengthening of international security and regional stability." ~~~~~ Ouch! Looks like your new brand of smarter leadership led Russia and Iran more tightly into each other's arms. How does Iraq feel about this? Iraq's prime minister has once more appealed for greater aid for his beleaguered ground forces, which have yet to score a decisive victory against ISIS after six months of US-led coalition air raids. Pressed, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi praised the coalition's air campaign but said the international community has stalled on commitments to train and equip the ground forces needed to retake major cities. But not to worry -- shiite Iran has answered shiite al-Abadi's call for help and has sent front-line trainers and equipment. However, Iran has not joined the US-led coalition and is not coordinating its efforts with the coalition. The Foreign Policy journal says that Iran is de facto leading the Iraq war against ISIS. ~~~~~ Oh well, sometimes new leadership styles take time to kick in. But, Mr. President, time just ran out in Yemen, which is the base for a large US military presence, including Special Operations groups. Yemeni shiite Houthi rebels are now in control of Yemen's capital and hold the country's president "captive" at his home, his aides said today, calling into question who actually rules the Arab world's poorest nation. Trapped Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi - a top US ally in the war against the largely sunni al-Qaida in Yemen - appears to have run out of options to continue governing the country. The Houthis began a blitz in September, seizing the capital and state institutions. Hadi "cannot leave his house" after Houthi rebels removed his guards and deployed their own fighters there today, one aide said. The Houthi leader, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, warned Hadi yesterday that if he stalls in implementing a UN-brokered deal - which effectively grants them a bigger role - "all options are open." The draft document created by Hadi has proposed a federation of six regions, something the Houthis reject. Part of the problem is Yemen's armed forces, torn between Hadi and his predecessor, deposed president Ali Abdullah Saleh, whom some accuse of orchestrating the Houthis' seizure of Sanaa to speed Hadi's failure. Critics also say the Houthis have the backing of regional Shiite power Iran, a charge the Houthis deny. ~~~~~ Gee, Mr. President, the Middle East has apparently not caught on to the fact that your new smarter leadership is supposed to make a difference in your favor, not in the favor of Iran or ISIS or the Houthis. Have other areas responded better? Well, certainly not Russia in Ukraine. Although you said last night that Russia is on its knees because of your sanctions, the Bear seems to be doing just fine in Ukraine where the Russian-backed rebels continue to terrorize and destroy eastern Ukraine. Ukraine President Poroshenko told the Davos meeting this week that there are 9,000 Russian troops in eastern Ukraine.~~~ And what about China? Japanese air force jets are scrambling at a record pace to counter Chinese fighters intruding into its air space along its southern flank, as well as to counter Russian bombers and spy planes probing its northern defenses, the Defence Ministry said this week. Chinese fighter flights have increased in and around the energy-rich East China Sea. In the nine months ending December 31, Japanese fighters scrambled 744 times, 32% more than the same period the previous year, the ministry said. Encounters with Chinese aircraft, which accounted for half the nine month total, jumped to 164 in the final quarter of 2014, the most since 1958, when records began. Other Asian neighbors of China report more harassment from Chinese naval vessels in the past year. We won't bother to detail Chinese hacking into US military sites to steal design and engineering for US aircraft and naval ships. ~~~~~ I suppose it would be mean-spirited to mention the Russian spy ship anchored in Havana harbor or the Russian spy planes buzzing America's coasts. ~~~~~ Dear readers, perhaps President Obama will understand it when I say that the best thing about his new smarter leadership style is that it will disappear in 2016 and we can get back to the good old time-proven American world leadership style that actually worked. Sometimes, "smarter" isn't so smart after all.