http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/10/opinion/obamas-understated-foreign-policy-gains.html?_r=0 This will cause some patriot heads to explode. Just imagine : Foreign policy as not killing foreigners? Damn. Who'da thunk?
400 US surface-to-air missiles were 'STOLEN' from Libya during the Benghazi attack and are 'now in the hands of Al Qaeda', claims whistleblower. Of course ISIS Loves Obama. They have 400 advanced American Surface to Air Missiles because of him. Suitable for knocking down US Drones, fighter planes and transports. Great foreign policy!
Blind optimism does that to people, for example: The U.S(or rather Obama and stooges(Kerry, Clinton) were actively staging for military action against Syria and the rest of the world refuted our naked imbecile-in-chief. Showing how incompetent he was, Kerry pronounces a deal that 'he doesn't think Syria' would go for, and Bashir rushes to sign the dotted line, knowing all to well we couldn't complain. You think I forgot that incompetence? We were Kerry's stupidity from a wider regional war, he saved us from Obama's "authority" to go ahead in full-fledged disaster. It was anything but foreign policy success. Especially considering his original goals, have we forgotten? To topple Assad. Whether he's replaced with a truly democratic government or whether the people we armed are questionable or whether we had the INTL./National legitimacy to do so are valid questions that for the moment, let's sweep aside. He wanted Assad gone, he'll now have to live with Assad, with Putin backing him. From both an Obama perspective and a NATL. perspective, the conduct in Syria was impeachable. Has Putin given up on East Ukraine? Perhaps, but Ukraine was a bonus. For Putin, securing Crimea was of the utmost objective. That Putin decided to pull back isn't a Western Victory, at least not in of itself. Putin's definitely seeking to lower those sanctions and if we have any sense of leadership in the West, we'd tie any removal of sanctions to the guaranteed security of Ukraine. Without such a guarantee, if we're blindly satisfied with this temporary withdrawal it would be "peace in our time" V 2.0 On Iran, this is one area the lame duck President has done a pretty good job of. He ignored calls by Netanyahu and the Christian Right to see the truth: Iran is a rational actor in the region. For over a century, the Persian Empire has remained neutral. The same cannot be said for Israel and its refusal to sign the NPT and the Chemical Weapons resolution(the same resolution that Obama cited for his Syria action) Why can't Israel sign these universally agreed treaties but Iran can? Why aren't we pressuring Israel more? Given Israel's spy programs in the U.S, can we trust Israel? I'd argue that trust has thrust us in the middle of the M.E and that trust has lost its credibility.
Obama's 'successes' in Syria and Iran both were due to Putin brokering the deals. The US then turned around and sponsored a coup in Ukraine in a brazen attempt to prod the Russian Bear into reacting foolishly. Before getting yourself too excited over a fluff piece, try disabusing yourself of some ignorance. This might help to get you started. http://www.globalresearch.ca/neocons-ukraine-syria-iran-gambit/5374770
LOL, first the NYT article was hilarious, but to top it off with your idea that obama's foreign policy is not killing foreigners sent me ROFL. Remind me, who said "I'm really good at killing people"? I remember, it was obama referring to drone strikes against foreign people. Drone strikes are still going on. Who destroyed 40 years of relative peace in Northern Africa and the Middle East and left Egypt and Libya in virtual civil wars? Who drew red lines (pink lines?) all over the world and then let them get trampled on, letting the world's warmongers know that they would get a free hand from the US? obama isn't actually pulling the trigger, but he is responsible for the wars and has the blood of all those people on his hands. And the first great example in the NYT article is "Nine months ago, President Obama eschewed military means to punish Syria for its use of chemical weapons and instead negotiated an agreement to remove them. " What a load of BS, obama was all set to roll into Syria and kill left and right (remember, he's good at killing people - as if obama has ever had to go in harms way and kill someone, what a total a@@) but was stopped by the great uproar of the American people. But like a typical brainwashing program, the NYT spews out its propaganda and good little progs suck it in blindly.
It's been an erratic and inconsistent foreign policy at best...but really who's hasn't? Perhaps not Reagan who's anticommie policy was consistent to the point of arming any genocidal maniac or terrorists who opposed communism
Can anyone name one country in the world were our relations are actually better than before Obama came to office? I can't think of a single one, scratch that Iran is happy we gave them plenty of time to finish off their nuke program. A poor trade for all the countries in which our relations have cooled. Now to look at places not so happy with us: Israel, Germany, Poland, the UK, Russia, Libya, Canada, Egypt, and more but I think the point is made...
Sorry, I went with the more highlighted cases, I can continue to add on if you'd like. Bahrain, they just expelled a US diplomat for meddling in their affairs and discrimination. India is pretty miffed as well, which was further exasperated when the US strip searched one of their citizens attached to their embassy over some tax issue... Down to 205 already!
There is a big difference between an incident and a deterioration in relations between two countries. In the case of Germany and India there has been definite observable damage. But to make a blanket statement like you did would require behind the scenes in depth knowledge of world events that I would suggest no one on the planet has
How isn't there observable damage in any of the countries I've listed? Plus a vast majority of countries are actually maintaining the status quo, and that's not the metric that will be used to judge Obama's overall foreign policy...
What policy is that? The drone policy? Oh wait some of those victims were American Citizens. So a foreign policy killing our own citizens is OK with you and the NYtimes.
8 countries is not the vast majority. And I am not sure how Russia even makes the list. relations with them were at their lowest in August 2008 When George W got a rare chance to have a one on one with Putin and tell him some home truths about his country's behavior.
It doesn't take a vast majority to determine if a foreign policy is positive or negative. If you hold the status quo with the vast majority, even up to 99% but lose your greatest ally your foreign policy would be a failure if you didn't gain equal or greater influence. In this case we have lost more influence than we have gained, which makes the overall foreign policy a failure... GW Bush didn't push Putin to the brink of war, Obama did, and when Obama asked for help, who came running to his aid? Add in Crimea and its even worse...
Sure stick that story http://www.foxnews.com/story/2008/0...rgia-pledges-to-prevent-russia-from-creating/
