Soon after being sworn in as President of the United States in 2009, Barack Obama made the historic speech in Cairo that would launch the Arab Spring the following year. Within weeks of the start of the protests, Egyptian President Mubarak was overthrown with Obama’s encouragement, leading to the takeover by the Muslim Brotherhood ...Obama's foreign policy has been an unmitigated disaster on many fronts, the M.E. refugee situation being the biggest example of the consequences so far. He has telegraphed nothing but weakness to the world and the world's worst actors have taken note: Russia (the Ukraine), Iran (the Godawful nuke deal, for one), China (wait for it!), ... Too bad (for the world) that he still has over a year left as POTUS. But when he's gone, any of the 17 Republican candidates will be a vast improvement.
Peter Foster: Climate policy refugees
The rocky road to the federal election is running parallel to the even rockier road to the (latest) “last chance to save the world” UN climate conference in Paris. In fact, their paths are not so much running parallel as frequently colliding. Both are littered with refugees, in one case real, in the other phantasmagorical.
Profound Climate Concern – which tends to overlap with Harper Derangement Syndrome — has become a key factor in Canadian politics. It lies at the bottom of rabid opposition to further development of the oil sands and pipelines, the proliferation of subsidies for unreliable wind and solar energy, and a hotchpotch of plans to curb emissions via regulation, taxes or trading systems. All mean lost jobs and reduced GDP. Only Stephen Harper has dared to point this out, and has been roundly abused for doing so. ...
While Obama's policy has not been perfect, I don't believe the aggressive policy of his predecessors helped. It is not America's job to police the world and interfering with others even if with good intent often doesn't work. Most people don't like having other countries tell them how to run things and want to be ruled by their own people. Otherwise yes Obama's pull out didn't help, but it was a lose-lose situation. The biggest mistake was the US interfering heavily in the Middle East rather than staying out and letting them solve their own problems. Sure radical Islam is a problem, but better to contain it to the Middle East than anger them enough to expand. It's like stirring up a hornets nest. Sure many of the radicals want to bring Sharia Law to every country and kill all the infidels but by the US attacking them it made recruiting terrorists easier not harder.
ReplyDeleteAs for HDS, I agree a lot on the left are way over the top. There are plenty of things people can criticize Harper for, but calling him a fascists or claiming he has so radically changed Canada it will take 20 years to change back is just over the top. Otherwise lets debate the facts not rhetoric.
Actually as the free world's only credible superpower it has been America's job to police the world. And the free world has been happy for America to do it and even happier for America to foot almost the entire bill (though there are a lot of clueless, whiny ingrates). Since WWII it has been largely America that (forcefully) helped Germany and Japan get back on their economic feet and on the path to freedom and democracy and all of the free world benefited enormously). Simultaneously America has held totalitarian tyrants at bay and paid a heavy price in blood and treasure while Europe, Japan, Canada and the rest of the free world contributed only very nominally (allowing many to afford their generous welfare states).
ReplyDeleteObama consciously and explicitly set about withdrawing America from its role in the world, leaving a large power vacuum. The consequences of that withdrawal were predictable. Malign forces are filling the vacuum with little to fear from America or NATO or (most certainly not) the UN or anyone else. Obama did so apparently because, he claimed (falsely), America itself had been a malign actor in the world. He also claimed, probably to some extent correctly, that Americans were war weary and tired of being the world's policeman. But, as many Americans will point out, the free world's only superpower doesn't get to just stand down, particularly when there are still so many obvious and dangerous threats to contain.
Anonymous at 3:32, As JR has adequately spanked you, I'll just ask you this question. Are you not grateful that Nazism, Japanese imperialism and communism were defeated or held at bay by interventions in which America played a decisive role? Surely you know that Islam is comparable to those fanatical ideologies.
ReplyDeleteI am not doubting US has done some good, but in the third world they've done lots of bad things. The Vietnam War was a mistake and ironically Vietnam today is moving towards a market economy. In Latin America, thousands of innocents were directly or indirectly killed by US intervention be it overthrowing Allende, backing the Contras. Likewise while the first Iraq war was justified, the second one was completely unjustified and I am glad Canada stayed out. In fact even most on the political right in Canada, US, and UK realize it was a mistake to go in there. As for the threat of Islam, how about stay out of the Middle East and let them sort things out while at the same time tightly controlling our immigration from that part of the world. In general US intervention has generally been good in rich countries, but done more harm than good in the third world.
ReplyDelete