Jonah Goldberg:
If the humiliation of the Obama administration continues at this rate, by this time next week you should expect to see Secretary of State John Kerry on all fours at the United Nations, getting paddled by the Russian foreign minister and shouting, “Thank you, comrade! May I have another?”
On Monday, President Obama and Vladimir Putin had a meeting at the United Nations. All Putin wanted from it was a photo of the two men huddling together. The Russian president needed to show his people that he’s still a major player on the world stage, a big man driving events. Obama, who spent much of the last year trying to isolate the butcher of Ukraine, gave Putin exactly what he wanted. In wall-to-wall coverage, Russian media celebrated the big man’s diplomatic triumph and his geo-strategic genius.
What was Obama’s price for granting Putin this PR windfall? The leader of the free world made the Russian autocrat listen to another tedious lecture about how Putin doesn’t understand his country’s interests as well as Obama does. No doubt Putin would have preferred to avoid yet another seminar on how the word should work. But if Paris was worth a mass for Henry IV, no doubt Syria (and not just Syria) was worth yet another sonorous tutorial about the moral arc of the universe doing jobs our president won’t.
While Obama droned on about the importance of cooperation and communication, Putin was probably counting the minutes until he could get back to reviewing Syrian targets for his bombers.
It didn’t take long for Putin to reveal what he thinks of Obama’s sermons on the importance of communication. On Wednesday, a three-star Russian general marched into the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and issued a démarche — a fancy diplomatic word for a formal, non-negotiable declaration. The general reportedly instructed U.S. officials that Russia would commence airstrikes within the hour and that American forces had better clear out. In diplomatic terms, it was somewhere between a white-gloved slap in the face and a spit in the eye.
A State Department spokesman later said, “We’ve seen media reporting that has suggested Russian missions have begun.”
There’s a nice irony here in that Obama has often said that he only learned about the failures of his administration — corruption at the IRS, malfeasance at the VA, etc. — from media reports. So perhaps Putin thought this was the way Obama liked to be informed of unfortunate events.
Regardless, Putin’s planes started their bombing runs. Russia claimed they were targeting the Islamic State, but the bombs landed where intended: on U.S.-backed Syrian rebels. Russia’s confidence was well-founded. Upon hearing the news that our allies on the ground were being slaughtered, Kerry met with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov at the U.N. Lavrov, being the more important figure, spoke first at the press conference.
Then, Kerry issued this less-than-blistering denunciation: “I relayed and reiterated the concerns that I expressed in the course of the U.N. Security Council meeting which was led by Russia today: concerns that we have about the nature of the targets, the type of targets, and the need for clarity with respect to them. And it is one thing obviously to be targeting ISIL. We’re concerned, obviously, if that is not what is happening.”
No doubt our friends are reassured by the news that if Russia bombs them, America will immediately respond by expressing our “concerns.”
Obama, the ditherer, must have thought the entire world would just sit still for 18 or more months while he treaded water until the Middle East would be the next president’s problem.
He was wrong.
Our liberal puppy-dog media had played along with his ditherer game over Fast & Furious scandal, over his IRS scandal, over his VA Hospital scandals, over his NLRB scandals.
He must have thought the entire world would too.
Well, he was wrong.
Too bad mugging him with reality will not be enough for him to change his ways.
After Obama, quite possibly it will be impossible to get any government to rely on the US again. As long as the direction of US foreign policy has the capability of going completely to hell every 4 or 8 years, it is risky for anyone to put their faith in the United States. There will always be the risk that another complete, anti-American idiot like Obama could come into office again.
Here is what could happen next, and it would be the final nail in Obama’s foreign policy coffin: I see the possibility that Putin will go to the Iranians and ask them to turn over the US hostages to him and then Putin will release them to the US. As Obama and Kerry have been describing how hard they have been working to gain their release (though they are lying), Putin can show how much more influence and power he has than Obama by just asking for and getting their release.
@Bill: #2
It’s already happening. Some European nations are looking for stronger ties with Russia.
A master stroke would be for Putin to negotiate a deal with Israel. Once he becomes seen as the middle eastern strong man, terrorist attacks against Israel would fall dramatically.
One of the reasons that Russia suffers so few terrorist attacks is that they understand the culture, and know just how important family and clan is there. The Russians don’t just kill the individuals that anger them, they wipe their entire clan out.
Which is an effective way of convincing fanatics to pick a target that won’t hit back, Like the current iteration of the USA.
I predict that Russia will emphatically end the little ISIS problem, and end up with a much higher status in world opinion than we will end up with.
Obama and his minions are destroying us with their “feelings”.
@Petercat: Sure it’s already happening. It has been happening for quite a while, ever since Obama has shown himself to be a weak, indecisive novice at leadership. This is why Iraq would not readily agree to a renegotiated SOFA and Obama not even trying to negotiate only confirmed their assessment of Obama as a weakling that would abandon them.
Now he has abandoned Syrian rebels that he never fulfilled commitments and promises to anyway. Obama has assured that we will be involved in a major war somewhere soon.
ISIS, when confronted with an organized, well-equipped military force, will be easily defeated; US forces would have done it in short order had Obama not pulled them all out. The force that confronts and gives ISIS their first resounding defeat will be the power in the region that calls the shots. So, do bleeding hearts prefer that force be one that colonizes and oppresses, like Russia (USSR-wannabe) or a benevolent power that spends blood and treasure then leaves the benefits to a grateful populace?
Furthermore, the Russian military is getting valuable training and experience. They are testing weapons and making improvements and this will make them more dangerous advisories when (not if) we have to show them they cannot do anything they want (like tell us to get our asses out of a region) anywhere they want. As they defeat ISIS, they will become more confident and more bold and more likely to challenge.
And don’t forget China.
This is how Obama has endangered the US and most of the world. Weakness is dangerous.
It’s just getting harder and harder for his sycophants to keep making excuses for him. His blank resume has finally caught up with him to our detriment.
If there were actually someone with a Midas touch, Obama is the antithesis of it.
@Mully: We call that “stomach hands”. Everything he touches turns to sh!t.
@Bill: #4
Netanyahu just had a meeting with Putin where they discussed a joint strategy over Syria. I don’t know the details yet.
It’s happening.