The ISIS Crisis – and the UN

On the heels of Obama’s indecision, incompetency, and lack of interest regarding the ISIS crisis, the UN is taking action. It is sending 11 investigators to Iran, at a budget of $1.18 million, to examine crimes being committed by Islamic State “militants”. (Note that the linked Reuters report uses “militants” rather than “terrorists”.)

The UN investigators will report back by…March, 2015. That’s over 6 months away, long enough for an unimpeded, rampaging ISIS army to reach the UN building in NY and report personally before the investigation is complete. (With our southern border completely open, that may not be an exaggeration.) One wonders why it takes 6 months to find crimes in Iraq when they are being shown on the news every night.

Once the UN investigation is over, there are sure to be sanctions put in place against ISIS. An embargo of the scarfs hiding ISIS faces can stop beheadings and an embargo on pick-up truck replacement parts can slow them down, but banning them from YouTube or stopping arms shipments is much too inhumane for the UN.

It is hard to believe the UN could be less effective than Obama in dealing with the ISIS crisis, but it will be. The UN continually outdoes itself with ineffectiveness and its inherent bias against Israel automatically makes it sympathetic to Arab terrorists. There will be nothing good coming from the UN, and certainly nothing at all until its investigation is completed…in March.

ISIS, Russia, China, Iran, and Hamas are wreaking havoc around the world because there is an absence of strong leadership on the world stage. That leadership used to be provided by the U.S. president but Obama deliberately rejected it to follow his fantasy vision of the world. Even if he finally wakes to the foolishness of that fantasy, he has lost too much credibility to be handed the reins of leadership.

The world may have to wait until 2016 for a leader to step up. We can only hope it won’t be too late.

David J. Hentosh

Kerry Insults Israel – Again

Secretary of State John Kerry is obviously in over his head dealing with foreign policy and totally frustrated by his failed diplomatic efforts. He now seems to be frantically searching for any success he can find by joining the blame game and insulting Israel. That, at least, will get Palestinians behind him.

Sounding much like Jimmy Carter, Kerry said that if Israel doesn’t make peace soon, it could become an apartheid state. Kerry, like better men before him, can’t get Palestinians interested in making peace so he is taking the easiest and safest road by putting the onus on Israel. Palestinian rockets cannot shake Kerry’s bias.

Israel Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon dared state the obvious when he accused the Obama administration of being weak on Iran and questioned its commitment to Israel. The entire world knows Obama has been weak on Iran and that Israel will be forced to solve that problem by itself. This administration’s diplomacy, however, has been based on empty rhetoric, so honest dialogue is seen as a threat.

Kerry is making matters worse in the Middle East. That’s certainly dangerous enough for Obama to demand his resignation. Don’t hold your breath.

David J. Hentosh

Fear Not – Biden’s Coming

Eastern Europe is now experiencing, up close, the consequences of a weak American president. President Obama, hailed as a breath of fresh air and destined to drag the United States into the “enlightened” world, was expected to be a great “Uniter” using nothing more than touchy-feely rhetoric. The bad guys didn’t buy it.

Obama’s foreign policy has been centered on making friends with bad guys, alienating good guys, and using words as a deterrent. Israel no longer considers us a reliable ally and has accused the United States of projecting weakness internationally. Russia’s deputy prime minister laughed at Obama’s sanctions against 11 people (read that again – 11 people!) resulting almost immediately in Russia annexing Crimea. Iran thumbs its nose at Obama every chance it gets and North Korea is firing rockets provocatively into the Sea of Japan. Obama’s answer to growing aggression in the world has been to make cuts to our military.

To reassure European allies concerned about Russia’s action in Ukraine, Obama is sending vice president Joe Biden, the court jester. How reassuring is that? People laugh at the mere mention of Biden’s name. Unless he arrives with a squadron of fighter jets, a few thousand troops, and a missile defense system, there will be little assurance. It will just be another insult to our allies.

The world will be wrestling with the damage caused by a weak American president for quite some time and, unfortunately, there may be much more on the horizon. The leader of the free world is proving to be no leader. Leading from behind didn’t work in Syria and it is now a joke amusing only Putin. Eastern Europe is not laughing. Perhaps Biden will bring a smile.

David J. Hentosh

A Week Filled With Denial

President Obama lead the way in denial this week, stating that there will be no harm to the economy from Obamacare. This flies in the face of facts that show company lay-offs, freezes on hiring, decreases in full-time employees, and increases in part-time employment due to Obamacare – as well as premium increases.

Obama also brought his denial into the international arena by opening up negotiations with Iran based on obvious lies from the new Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani. This guy promised to stop Iran’s quest for a nuclear weapon – a quest he very recently claimed didn’t even exist. Obama is pretending this is real in the same way he is pretending Syria’s giving up chemical weapons is real.

These denials help Obama keep face and smooth his remaining years in the White House, but they are very dangerous to the entire world. Iran used Obama like a puppet for years, stalling for time to complete manufacture of a nuclear weapon, which is now close at hand. Putin is pulling those same puppet strings, allowing Syria to keep chemical weapons and a lucrative partnership with Russia.

Under Obama’s policies, the United States has lost world influence and grown weaker, but Obama boasted at the UN this week that “the world is safer than it was five years ago” because of his policies. Obama also took credit for helping Putin defuse Syria’s chemical weapon use. Putin erased Obama’s problematic red line and regained previously lost influence in the Middle East through Obama’s bungling, yet, Obama unabashedly pretended it was a personal diplomatic coup.

Of course, the UN is the ideal place for pretense. The UN climate panel just proclaimed that it is “extremely likely” that climate change is man-made, based on a new report it received. Conveniently, the panel ignored everything in the report that pointed otherwise, and there is much that does, such as: No increase in global temperature in the past 15 years; an increase rather than decrease in Antarctic ice; admission of inaccurate models, and many other findings that do not point to man-made global warming.

The best denial of the week, however, goes to Sheikh Saleh bin Saad al-Lohaidan, a Saudi Arabian cleric who defended banning women from driving because it “…could have negative physiological impacts as functional and physiological medical studies show that it automatically affects the ovaries and pushes the pelvis upwards…” This doesn’t sound quite like president Obama, but it does sound a lot like a UN interpretation of a medical report.

David J. Hentosh

Obama’s Foreign Policy Farce Exposed

Reminiscent of a Baghdad Bob performance, White House press secretary Jay Carney told the press on Friday that the violence occurring around the world at US embassies is “…in response not to United States policy, and not to, obviously, the administration or the American people, but it is in response to a video”.

This, of course, has to be the White House position because Obama told us he was “uniquely qualified” to bring stability to America’s relationships in the Muslim world. Many voters were fooled into believing that his charisma, alone, was enough to calm down Muslim fanatics and that his foreign policy of “throw away the stick and speak softly” was the answer. Worse than that, Obama fooled himself into believing it.

After one term of Obama’s foreign policy, the US has not only lost respect around the world, it has lost influence, credibility, and allies. In the Middle East, fear of US reprisal is no longer a concern for violence-prone fanatics who respect nothing but strength. Obama’s willingness to throw Israel, once a strong ally, under the bus is welcomed by most Middle East Arabs, but it is also a sign of weakness. That weakness is blood in the water for terrorist sharks, as is appeasement.

Iran has certainly taken advantage of Obama’s weakness and is fast approaching a viable nuclear weapon. Having arrogantly announced his intent of wiping Israel off the map, Armajinedad openly sneers at Obama and the UN, knowing there is nothing to fear from continuing his efforts. Without the “stick” of the US, the UN is even more useless than it has been. Israel, abandoned by Obama’s foreign policy, fully understands the danger and is on the verge of a military attack which will explode the Middle East.

Obama’s foreign policy farce is now being exposed, as were his other failed policies. He has nothing but to campaign on contraceptives, taxing rich people, abortion rights, gay marriage, and issues that prey on emotions. It would be very dangerous for voters to be fooled again.

David J. Hentosh

Obama’s “Soft” Power Has Failed

From Victor Davis Hanson at NRO

During the Bush administration we were advised about the failure of “hard” power…Obama was to be an antidote to Bush’s Texanism — an Ivy League sophisticate who…would leverage American interests.

…the GSA buffoonery, the Secret Service debauchery, the food-stamp scandal in the capital, Fast and Furious — project the image abroad of Third Worldism. The addition of $5 trillion in new debt…the annual $1 trillion deficits…lecturing others while we borrow for our consumption and redistribution…vast growth in borrowing to fund vast new U.S. entitlements, while we advise the EU to tighten its belt, is comic and seen so in Europe… encouragement to others to pump more oil…while putting our own resources off limits, comes off as cynical and hypocritical. A commander-in-chief, who cannot get political correctness right (Maldives for Malvinas), or thinks Austrians speak an Austrian language, does not radiate international cosmopolitanism, and seems unaware of soft-power niceties, from visiting Germany on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall to avoiding trash talking into open mics with foreign dignitaries to mastering the arts of diplomatic gift-exchange…

We’ve lost financial leverage and respect, our allies do not assume predictability and reliability in U.S. foreign policy, and we do not have a president who projects international experience and culture or a familiarity with diplomatic protocols.

Read it here:  Where is the Soft Power?

DJH

Obama Administration Failure on Iran

The Obama administration has either been blind to Iran’s continuing escalation in aggression or still considers its original (campaign) policy of talking Iran out of stated intentions to be valid. Unable to focus on more than one problem at a time (and even doing that belatedly), the administration’s neglect has allowed Ahmadinejad to strut on the international stage like a serious world leader rather than the thug that he most certainly is.

Intelligence specialist Fred Fleitz writes in the Wall Street Journal that “U.S. intelligence leaders are mired in denial about Iran’s program to develop and build nuclear weapons… (and) unwilling to conduct a proper assessment of the Iranian nuclear issue”. The International Atomic Energy Agency has new information pointing to Iran’s military intentions of its nuclear program. This comes on the heels of Iran’s announcement of plans to build advanced centrifuge machines.

The French Foreign Ministry recently spoke out claiming that the Iranian nuclear program had “no credible civilian application. It also acknowledged that “This is a new violation of six security council resolutions and 10 resolutions by the council of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency”. (France taking a harder line than the US on Iran should keep all awake at night.) The impotency of international efforts to thwart Iran makes it imperative for the US to lead. That has not happened, and Iran now has the advantage.

Iran announced plans to expand its naval warships into the Atlantic as it has already done into the Mediterranean Sea. These warships will be equipped with cruise missiles having a range of 125 miles. Rockets fired at our troops in Iraq have now been shown to be coming from Iran, confirming long-held suspicions about Iran’s involvement with the Iraqi Shiite insurgents. Iran is also claiming to have successfully shot down US drones over its nuclear facilities. The saber is rattling louder and louder.

As the Obama administration focuses on re-election political issues, Iran continues to solidify its threats. Unfortunately, Iran’s intentions are much clearer than Obama’s and we are all in more danger.

David J. Hentosh

Obama Inexperience Rides Again

Obama’s lack of experience in international affairs has produced nothing good for the US. He toured the world, kowtowing and apologizing to nations unsupportive of the US while snubbing or insulting allies. His idealism dictated treating enemies and friends alike regardless of the effect it had on US interests. It produced nothing more than scorn for his political naivety and it weakened US influence around the world.

His leftist distaste for championing democracy caused him to fail to act decisively during the uprising in Iran in 2009. He had no clear message to send and, consequently, was deemed to be weak by Ahmadinejad. Since then, Iran has brazenly rattled its nuclear sword with impunity, knowing Obama will do nothing. Chavez in Venezuela has followed Ahmadinejad’s dictatorial lead, North Korea has become even more belligerent, and Russia and China have determined that Obama is no obstacle to their nefarious affairs.

Obama now seems confused by the events in Egypt and, once again, is displaying an inability to act decisively in America’s interests – or act at all. Perhaps he believes the Muslim Brotherhood’s laughable claim that Islamist rule in Egypt would pose no threat to the West because it would be more democratic and broad-based than President Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorship. Perhaps he just idealistically believes in the goodness of all men (except for conservatives) and is waiting patiently for that goodness to prevail.

The chances for a secular government in Egypt are diminishing rapidly. When there is chaos, those who are organized have the upper hand. Fanatic Islamists have been organizing for years and clearly want to reign in Egypt. Chances for any stabilization in the Middle East are dissolving.

It seems Obama fiddles while Egypt burns. Does experience still seem overrated?

David J. Hentosh