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pjohns
03-04-2014, 01:48 AM
The Washington Post--which, for the record, leans center-left--recently lambasted the Obama administration's naivete, as concerning foreign policy.

Here is a bit of what it said, in an editorial:


FOR FIVE YEARS, President Obama has led a foreign policy based more on how he thinks the world should operate than on reality. It was a world in which “the tide of war is receding” and the United States could, without much risk, radically reduce the size of its armed forces. Other leaders, in this vision, would behave rationally and in the interest of their people and the world. Invasions, brute force, great-power games and shifting alliances — these were things of the past. Secretary of State John F. Kerry displayed this mindset on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday when he said, of Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, “It’s a 19th century act in the 21st century.”

That’s a nice thought, and we all know what he means. A country’s standing is no longer measured in throw-weight or battalions. The world is too interconnected to break into blocs. A small country that plugs into cyberspace can deliver more prosperity to its people (think Singapore or Estonia) than a giant with natural resources and standing armies.

Unfortunately, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not received the memo on 21st-century behavior. Neither has China’s president, Xi Jinping, who is engaging in gunboat diplomacy against Japan and the weaker nations of Southeast Asia. Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is waging a very 20th-century war against his own people, sending helicopters to drop exploding barrels full of screws, nails and other shrapnel onto apartment buildings where families cower in basements. These men will not be deterred by the disapproval of their peers, the weight of world opinion or even disinvestment by Silicon Valley companies. They are concerned primarily with maintaining their holds on power.

And the link to the entire editorial: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/president-obamas-foreign-policy-is-based-on-fantasy/2014/03/02/c7854436-a238-11e3-a5fa-55f0c77bf39c_story.html

zelmo1234
03-04-2014, 06:24 AM
Does this really surprise anyone?

This is what appeasement has always done. Obama wanted to be loved, just like all liberals. So he announced to the world that the USA would be fading into the background.


Leaders of China and Russia heard this loud and clear. And they know while Obama is in office they have nothing to fear from the USA

Peter1469
03-04-2014, 06:26 AM
The Washington Post is essentially part of the media wing of the Democratic National Committee. They are really going off the reservation with this criticism.

zelmo1234
03-04-2014, 07:11 AM
The Washington Post is essentially part of the media wing of the Democratic National Committee. They are really going off the reservation with this criticism.

This Presidents failures are starting to get in the way of the Agenda.

Liberals will protect the Agenda above all else! And they are starting to see the next 40 years in the Desert as far as getting the agenda moved forward.

Might be time to toss Obama under the buss and try and save the agenda!

Ransom
03-04-2014, 08:21 AM
The Washington Post is essentially part of the media wing of the Democratic National Committee. They are really going off the reservation with this criticism.

Excuse me Pete. That opinion piece is our debate in here. It's off the reservation where you are concerned as well. Criticism of our lack of leadership abroad gets the same responses....the same exact responses from you, Sir. You immediately deflect to 'boots on the ground' criticisms mentioned in this piece. It is you and others calling for withdraws from Afghanistan, it is you and others trying to explain that Syria isn't a national interest for us, that chaos there somehow....makes us safer(that gem of stupidity to this day not elaborated on or explained), it is you Pete...and Common.....and Maine......and nearly everyone else on these boards save for Bob, who often repeat that it is high time America's global footprint indeed shrink, that our leadership wasn't leadership but imperialism...and that it's 'about time' we come home and nation build right here. That piece by the Post addresses your positions as much as they do Obama's. Correct? Be careful now Pete, I will set your nonsense on fire if you start your denial games, your record in here can be linked to.

Ransom
03-04-2014, 08:25 AM
This Presidents failures are starting to get in the way of the Agenda.

Liberals will protect the Agenda above all else! And they are starting to see the next 40 years in the Desert as far as getting the agenda moved forward.

Might be time to toss Obama under the buss and try and save the agenda!

You make a good point. But, we'll have to see about 2014 elections. If Dims get their ass kicked( not a prediction, I have no idea how elections will go), you may see the Dim Party start to eat their own. They've no foundation, once proven fraudsters and swindlers......they've nothing to fall back on. It was never hope and change. This man so far in over his head, it's so obvious.

Cigar
03-04-2014, 08:41 AM
You know what's always missing from these so-called foreign policy criticisms from experts who never had to make a decision harder than cream or sugar ... SPECIFICS? What EXACTLY are they expecting America to do ... EXACTLY ... be SPECIFIC

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani called the Putin knee-jerk decisions "Leadership" and would like to see more action like that. Well ... that explains the huge growth in Arlington National Cemetery over the last decade ... "Leadership" :rollseyes:

Hey you Dumb Shit Giuliani, that's exactly why President Obama was Elected Twice ... Back-2-Back ... to keep idiots like you away from the Call for War.

Common
03-04-2014, 08:42 AM
Excuse me Pete. That opinion piece is our debate in here. It's off the reservation where you are concerned as well. Criticism of our lack of leadership abroad gets the same responses....the same exact responses from you, Sir. You immediately deflect to 'boots on the ground' criticisms mentioned in this piece. It is you and others calling for withdraws from Afghanistan, it is you and others trying to explain that Syria isn't a national interest for us, that chaos there somehow....makes us safer(that gem of stupidity to this day not elaborated on or explained), it is you Pete...and Common.....and Maine......and nearly everyone else on these boards save for Bob, who often repeat that it is high time America's global footprint indeed shrink, that our leadership wasn't leadership but imperialism...and that it's 'about time' we come home and nation build right here. That piece by the Post addresses your positions as much as they do Obama's. Correct? Be careful now Pete, I will set your nonsense on fire if you start your denial games, your record in here can be linked to.

What did we gain in Iraq, what would we gain In Syria, what did we gain from libya, what did we gain from Korea except decades of paying through the nose to protect them and making south korea an economic powerhouse that produces and sells more stuff to us than we do to anyone else.

Your damn right we need a smaller footprint and all the global bullshitters need a bigger one. America has been paying with or youth and middleclass tax dollars for decades to make the rich richer.

We have not benefitted from running to countries to protect our big business interests around the world. Its guys like you that want to keep sending our troops and spending our future and you dont even know why you want to.

patrickt
03-04-2014, 08:44 AM
Simply aligning yourself with anyone who hates the U.S. is not a workable foreign policy. President Obama was elected as an incompetent and has proven himself up to the job.

Cigar
03-04-2014, 09:00 AM
Got it ... no Specifics, just typical hate rhetoric. :laugh:

Codename Section
03-04-2014, 10:06 AM
Why should we do anything about this? Do we own the world? Did Crimea even ask for our help?

Chris
03-04-2014, 10:18 AM
You know what's always missing from these so-called foreign policy criticisms from experts who never had to make a decision harder than cream or sugar ... SPECIFICS? What EXACTLY are they expecting America to do ... EXACTLY ... be SPECIFIC

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani called the Putin knee-jerk decisions "Leadership" and would like to see more action like that. Well ... that explains the huge growth in Arlington National Cemetery over the last decade ... "Leadership" :rollseyes:

Hey you Dumb Shit Giuliani, that's exactly why President Obama was Elected Twice ... Back-2-Back ... to keep idiots like you away from the Call for War.



The criticism seems to make that very point quite clearly, we need a president who doesn't look at the world through rose-tinted glasses but looks at it realistically.

To me rose-tinted glasses lead Obama to swing between isolationism and imperialism never once considering nonintervention as a middle ground.

Chris
03-04-2014, 10:19 AM
Why should we do anything about this? Do we own the world? Did Crimea even ask for our help?



Europe has more interests at stake, let it act.

Captain Obvious
03-04-2014, 12:32 PM
Why should we do anything about this? Do we own the world? Did Crimea even ask for our help?

http://www.thedayafter.com.br/images/democracy_will_come_to_you.jpg?296

Paperback Writer
03-04-2014, 12:33 PM
http://www.thedayafter.com.br/images/democracy_will_come_to_you.jpg?296



Exactly. Drop some more freedom on 'em!

Peter1469
03-04-2014, 03:06 PM
You didn't comprehend my post.


Excuse me Pete. That opinion piece is our debate in here. It's off the reservation where you are concerned as well. Criticism of our lack of leadership abroad gets the same responses....the same exact responses from you, Sir. You immediately deflect to 'boots on the ground' criticisms mentioned in this piece. It is you and others calling for withdraws from Afghanistan, it is you and others trying to explain that Syria isn't a national interest for us, that chaos there somehow....makes us safer(that gem of stupidity to this day not elaborated on or explained), it is you Pete...and Common.....and Maine......and nearly everyone else on these boards save for Bob, who often repeat that it is high time America's global footprint indeed shrink, that our leadership wasn't leadership but imperialism...and that it's 'about time' we come home and nation build right here. That piece by the Post addresses your positions as much as they do Obama's. Correct? Be careful now Pete, I will set your nonsense on fire if you start your denial games, your record in here can be linked to.

Mainecoons
03-04-2014, 03:14 PM
Pat Buchanan has it right.

http://cnsnews.com/commentary/patrick-j-buchanan/tune-out-war-party

Ransom
03-04-2014, 04:48 PM
You didn't comprehend my post.

What nonsense. I can go back to you asserting to Codename Section that should I have it my way, his devil dogs would be inserted around the globe. I have your assertion repeated that the current reality in Syria isn't a national security threat to the US despite linked to testimony by our highest officials(who you further asserted were merely trying to acquire funding for their departments). You've argued on several occasions that is was high time our global footprint shrink, that it was much better to leave regional powers....such as Turkey or Russia...or Israel to handle matters on their own.

The Washington Post put your arguments on a skillet Pete....I'm merely pointing it out.

Peter1469
03-04-2014, 05:43 PM
You still missed it. :shocked:


What nonsense. I can go back to you asserting to Codename Section that should I have it my way, his devil dogs would be inserted around the globe. I have your assertion repeated that the current reality in Syria isn't a national security threat to the US despite linked to testimony by our highest officials(who you further asserted were merely trying to acquire funding for their departments). You've argued on several occasions that is was high time our global footprint shrink, that it was much better to leave regional powers....such as Turkey or Russia...or Israel to handle matters on their own.

The Washington Post put your arguments on a skillet Pete....I'm merely pointing it out.

Chris
03-04-2014, 06:20 PM
Exactly. Drop some more freedom on 'em!


http://i.snag.gy/isR8v.jpg

Chris
03-04-2014, 06:22 PM
Pat Buchanan has it right.

http://cnsnews.com/commentary/patrick-j-buchanan/tune-out-war-party


Interesting piece, for Buchanan. And the result of all the doing nothing, Russia collapsed.

pjohns
03-04-2014, 08:33 PM
But as for the hawkish howls, to have Ukraine and Georgia brought into NATO, that would give these nations, deep inside Russia's space, the kind of war guarantees the Kaiser gave Austria in 1914 and the Brits gave the Polish colonels in March 1939.

Those war guarantees led to two world wars, which historians may yet conclude were the death blows of Western civilization.

Actually, several former Warsaw Pact members (who are close, geographically, to Russia) are now NATO members. These include the Czech Republic and Slovakia (formerly just one country: Czechoslovakia); Poland; Germany (which includes the former East Germany); Bulgaria; Hungary; and Romania--in addition to the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which had been a part of the former Soviet Union.

Ransom
03-04-2014, 10:01 PM
You still missed it. :shocked:

I must have Pete. I also don't expect you to elaborate. You never do.

Peter1469
03-04-2014, 10:27 PM
I must have Pete. I also don't expect you to elaborate. You never do. True. I don't have the patience to be a teacher. Except maybe with martial arts, but I don't think that you would like that type of lesson.

Ransom
03-05-2014, 10:31 AM
True. I don't have the patience to be a teacher. Except maybe with martial arts, but I don't think that you would like that type of lesson.

I don't think patience is the issue as martial arts often requires such. I don't think you have the knowledge. Thus, entertaining for me. But the article does touch on much of what you've discussed in here. It touches on tactics used by those who immediately respond with "you just want boots on the ground." It includes your denials, your naive status regarding events abroad. I've shown you articles from the Washington Post that take issue with your positions. I've linked to the 5 top security officials in this country speaking the exact anti-thesis of what you're trying to spout in here.......you're not handing out the lessons, Pete. They're being handed out to you.

Turkey exampled as a regional power to be relied on. Nuclear weapons to prevent wmd proliferation by terrorists in Syria. Wanting an 'operational hub' left in Southeast Asia should we withdraw from SK. Trying to explain that the chaos in Syria actually makes the US safer...and your little accent of a threat above isn't necessary either Pete. I don't really have time for martial arts lessons, they get in the way of time at the range. Carry permit I think the preferable way to go.:wink:

Ransom
03-05-2014, 10:33 AM
Same goes for you, Cornwallis, I see you thanking his silliness.

Paperback Writer
03-05-2014, 10:51 AM
Same goes for you, Cornwallis, I see you thanking his silliness.

What goes for me? You wrote a lot of rubbish that no one intends to read. There's a lesson for ya.:laugh:

Ransom
03-05-2014, 11:17 AM
What goes for me? You wrote a lot of rubbish that no one intends to read. There's a lesson for ya.:laugh:

That's it. I'm calling Cetshwayo right now, Cornwallis.

Paperback Writer
03-05-2014, 11:18 AM
That's it. I'm calling Cetshwayo right now, Cornwallis.

Did you say something?

Ransom
03-05-2014, 11:21 AM
Was Zululand a "3rd world country" when you raped it, Cornwallis?

Paperback Writer
03-05-2014, 11:26 AM
Was Zululand a "3rd world country" when you raped it, Cornwallis?

You mad, gangsta?

http://estergoldberg.typepad.com/.a/6a0105349ca980970c0120a656b1fa970b-320wi

Ransom
03-05-2014, 11:34 AM
I think it enraged the Zulus. For after searching for the Zulus and dividing his forces to do so, Chelmsford was nearly wiped out to the man. Perhaps the greatest defeat by a world power by a third world nation. I mean our Custer and Little Big Horn have relevance and get a vote....but you paid for your foolishness and carelessness when invading the Zulus, Corn. Took one on the chin there.

Paperback Writer
03-05-2014, 11:41 AM
I think it enraged the Zulus. For after searching for the Zulus and dividing his forces to do so, Chelmsford was nearly wiped out to the man. Perhaps the greatest defeat by a world power by a third world nation. I mean our Custer and Little Big Horn have relevance and get a vote....but you paid for your foolishness and carelessness when invading the Zulus, Corn. Took one on the chin there.


You realise, you must, that the Anglo-Zulu war was in 1879 and that we no longer live in the Victorian Age, or no? I can't really tell with Americans. Sometimes you believe the most foolish of things.

This was our last colonial effort

https://www.augustana.edu/Images/Hong_Kong_Symphony_of_Light.jpg


Let's match it up with yours


http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Iraq-war-images.jpg


I'm sure they are thanking you for all your help bringing freedom to them so...hard. :laugh:

Captain Obvious
03-05-2014, 12:27 PM
You mad, gangsta?

http://estergoldberg.typepad.com/.a/6a0105349ca980970c0120a656b1fa970b-320wi

He's just trolling for a reaction and you gave it to him.

Paperback Writer
03-05-2014, 12:32 PM
He's just trolling for a reaction and you gave it to him.

I don't ignore trolls. What fun is there in that? I'd ignore the whole forum save Chris.