Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Obama's Weak Leadership Comes Home to Roost with Russia and America's Arab Allies
Early this morning, after mixed signals yesterday, the RT (Russia Today) media network confirmed a Kremlin announcement that US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet President Vladimir Putin in Sochi today, after talks with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the Ukraine situation, Yemen, Iraq and Syria. Moscow says Kerry's visit to Russia is positive since the troubled relation between Russia and the US can only be improved through political dialogue. Yesterday, the Kremlin had said Putin might not meet with Kerry. Early yesterday evening, Putin spokesman Peskov told a Moscow radio station that no decision had been made about Putin’s participation in the Kerry meeting. “We will let you know if such a meeting takes place," he said, according to government-run news site Sputnik. The Putin - Kerry meeting is now taking place. The Russian Foreign Ministry has said Moscow is ready for the dialogue with Washington, saying Russia is "open for cooperation on the basis of equality, non-interference in international affairs, and taking Russian interests into account without attempts to pressure us." Earlier, the RIA Novosti news agency quoted a Russian diplomatic source as saying that Kerry's arrival was "very symbolic,” since the top US diplomat had canceled visits several times. This will be Kerry's first trip to Russia since the crisis in Ukraine began in November 2013. Lavrov and Kerry met last in March during the Iran nuclear talks in Lausanne, where world leaders were hammering out a final agreement outline on Iran's nuclear program. The key issue between Russia and the US is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula last year. Russia sees it as a necessary step because of an increasing movement toward the West of countries in eastern Europe that were once part of the Soviet Union. Russia views US and EU support for the opening of eastern European economies to increased trade and closer relations with the EU as aggression by non-military means. Ukraine's turn to the West and NATO feeds Russia's fear of losing both influence over a key neighbor, and the possible loss of one of the major ports for its Black Sea fleet. As a result, some argue, Russia had no strategic choice except to invade Crimea, secure its large Sevastopol port, and destabilize Ukraine. Few in the West accept that logic or the idea that it justifies the Russian invasion of a sovereign Ukraine, where more than 6,000 people have been killed since the dispute began. There will be a Kerry - Lavrov news conference later today, where the humanitarian disaster in Syria will probably be addressed. Russia supports the Bashar al-Assad regime, even though al-Assad forces routinely launch brutal attacks on Syrian citizens seeking democratic rule. There may also be questions about the continued negotiations of the P5+1 group with Iran over the status of its nuclear program - where Russia has played an important role despite ongoing tension relating to Ukraine. ~~~~~ While Secretary Kerry narrowly missed being embarrassed diplomatically by a Putin no-show after the State Department had announced their meeting, President Obama was less fortunate. The Obama administration was left red-faced when all but two Gulf State leaders turned down his invitation to visit Camp David this week to discuss the nuclear deal being negotiated between Iran and America. The White House had hoped to use the meeting to calm growing Arab concerns that the US and its Western allies are being duped into giving Iran exactly what it wants, while failing to halt Iran’s nuclear program. Obama's offer of a Camp David meeting was a prestigious invitation, but it was answered by what some experts are calling a subtle, scornful rebuff. Saudi Arabia's King Salman will skip the Arab summit in Washington, but the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait will attend. Oman's prime minister and crown princes from the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia will also attend as their leaders' representatives. The Jerusalem Times today noted that Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said the summit between Arab Gulf leaders and President Obama on Thursday will focus on Iran's "aggressive" moves in the region, as reported by Saudi state news agency SPA. "We see Iranian support for terrorist organizations and facilitating the work of terrorist organizations, so the challenge will be in how to coordinate US-Gulf efforts in order to collectively face these aggressive moves on the part of Iran," al-Jubeir said on Monday, according to SPA. The Arab Gulf nations are displeased by Obama's dealings with Iran -- the emerging nuclear deal, their conclusion that the Obama team has weak negotiating skills in dealing with Iran, and inadequate US security proposals to Gulf Arab nations. The Jerusalem Times says that White House officials privately acknowledge that there are tensions with Saudi Arabia over the emerging Iran nuclear deal that seeks to cap, restrict, monitor and partially roll back Teheran's nuclear work for a limited period in exchange for sanctions relief. Because they see the deal as empowering Iran and its activities across the region, Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Gulf Cooperation Council are seeking concrete security guarantees as protection against Iranian aggression. ~~~~~ Dear readers, the aftermath of President Obama's weak and unfocused foreign policy, especially in the Middle East and with Russia, has taken some time to appear. But, we are now seeing the world turn publicly on Obama to demand that he listen to their concerns and adopt policies that hold together longstanding alliances and relationships. The Gulf States and their leader, Saudi Arabia, don’t trust Obama's Middle East agenda or his ability to effectively negotiate with Iran. Saudi officials deny that King Salman is snubbing President Obama, saying the reason for his absense is that Salman needs to stay home to oversee a humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen, where a Saudi-led alliance is battling shiite Houthi rebels. The US said the Saudi king had spoken by phone to President Obama to voice "his regret at not being able to travel" to the US. The Obama White House is putting the best face possible on what is, at best, a very ambiguous situation. Obama had hoped that the talks at Camp David would reassure Arab allies of US support on a number of issues, including talks with Iran and instability in several Arab states. But, now that the talks will be attended mostly by junior officials at the ministerial level, Obama's opportunity to use personal diplomacy with Gulf State rulers has been diluted. Later today, we may get clues about whether Vladimir Putin has decided to allow the US - Russia relationship to thaw somewhat. And later this week, there will be clues about the real status of the traditional US - Arab Gulf nations alliance. But, even with the best possible outcomes, we must conclude that any changes will have occurred on the terms laid down by Russia and Saudi Arabia, not because of President Obama's leadership.
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Obama has taken our once great country that was sought after because of the truthfulness and honesty in our leadership and trashed it almost to the point of non-repair.
ReplyDeleteThe next president will have a great deal of fence mending and relationship building to do.
Never has so few done so much damage inb such a short period of time.
So, what is Obama doing? What are we doing when our defense budget is so small that our military starts to tell us that we may not be able to carry out all of the requirements put upon it? What are we doing, when a couple of weeks before Russia invades Crimea we announce that we are going to have an Army smaller than at any time since the World War II. What are we doing? What are we doing? What are we signaling when we say that America is no longer ready to stand in the defense of freedom?
DeleteAs Ronald Reagan said … “Peace only comes through strength”
Obama’s dishonesty, cowardice, and lack of character are giving confidence to our enemies and to those who hate us. Our friends and allies realize they cannot trust Obama to stand with them, as Putin moved into Ukraine, China becomes more aggressive in the Pacific, and Iran continues to develop nuclear weapons while we try to make a deal. From the ethnic cleansing of Christians in Iraq by ISIS, to the attacks of Coptic Christians in Egypt, to Putin’s takeover of Crimea, the lack of American influence is making the World a much more dangerous and evil place. The United States of America is no longer a feared adversary or a trusted friend.
ReplyDeletePresident John Fitzgerald Kennedy understood that peace is achieved through strength. President Barack Hussein Obama does not understand the necessity of strength and hides from it. Kennedy stated in a 1962 letter to the American Legion,
“We must be strong so that weakness does not tempt hostile nations into miscalculations.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the threat of a nuclear Iran, and China’s maritime ambitions are just a few of the issues that will make foreign policy a larger issue in the 2016 presidential campaign. As candidates assemble their advisers and get briefed, they should devote some time to considering whether these challenges to US allies and interests are related to a larger phenomenon.
ReplyDeleteIn a recent article for the Journal of Democracy, Robert Kagan traced democracy’s advance and retreat over time, asking whether the triumph or failure of democratic ideals over ideological rivals has to do with “the victory of an idea or the victory of arms?” Since President Obama took office in 2009, Kagan writes, the US, and Europe, have failed to counteract a worldwide decline in democracy. “Insofar as there is energy in the international system,” Kagan writes, “it comes from the great power autocrats.
The problem is one of quality as well as quantity. Shedding the “quasi-democratic camouflage” they donned when liberal values unquestionably held sway, the autocrats now increasingly flout democratic values, argue for the superiority of what amounts to one-party rule, and seek to throw off the constraints of fundamental diplomatic principles. As an example, the invasion of Ukraine which exposed Moscow as a committed enemy of European peace and democratization rather than a would-be strategic partner.
The growing challenge to the democratic ideal by the “big five” authoritarian regimes—China, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela—is the focus of a project on Resurgent Dictatorship. These countries, share a desire to overturn democratic norms. To do so, they are helping each other to refine repressive methods, manipulate the media, and undermine the international organizations set up to safeguard a liberal world order.
It is autocracy, not democracy, that has been the norm in human history,” Kagan writes. Only in recent decades have the democracies, led by the United States, had the power to shape the world.
It’s not at all clear that the US under the direction of President Obama is willing to exert that power, or who of among the rapidly growing presidential field would most compellingly explain the need to do so.
Not only has Obama lost his dignity and the respect of the American people- he has lost it to arguably to the entire world. Neither friend or foe has a pittance of respect or fear of what he says or does.
ReplyDeleteThe United States must be much more aggressive in its global leadership because parts of the world are literally melting down.
The Islamic State is a very serious threat, but ISIS is a symptom of a much wider threat.
The fact is the Middle East and North Africa are literally melting down. If you look at the actions of the Saudis and other coalitions going into Yemen and whatnot, on the one hand that's good. On the other hand it signals a lack of or a concern that America's not doing what we used to do. So in reality it's important we re-establish a level of legitimacy and credibility that we are going to help stabilize that region because we can't ignore it.
And the root cause of thus us the lack of leadership, lack of policy, and lack of knowledge what to do on Obama's part.
Obama is akin to a inexperienced baseball pitcher who is having a awful game and the coach just lets him in the game. Well after Obama first term we all knew he needed pulled from the game and we didn't do it.
Obama undoubtedly is to blame - but we are complicit in his cause.