Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton presented a ‘Reset’ Button to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in March 2009, not long after the Obama Presidency was launched. On September 17th, the week before the G-20 talks in Pittsburgh, President Obama announced that the missile defense shield plans for Poland and the Czech Republic had been dropped. Why not, Secretary Clinton had presented the Russian reset and that galvanized friendship.
Since then President Medvedev returned the Presidency to Vladimir Putin who graciously took over the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and reports indicate that 7,000 Ukrainians have also been killed. Russia continues shipping petroleum products to European countries and seems to be taking trade sanctions in stride. We should be reminded that in August 2008, Russia started a war with Georgia but withdrew by October when President Sarkozy of France intervened. In that hostility, almost 200,000 Georgians were displaced while about 20,000 remain dislocated as of 2014.
After promising to make important changes in their trade policies, China became a member of the 161 member World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. Standards regarding pricing, tariffs, etc. were met and products began gushing from Chinese factories like snow in a Wyoming blizzard. Over the past few years, their economy has enjoyed annual increases of output by as much as 10% elevating the Chinese economy to 2nd place in the world. (Top 5 = US, China, Japan, Germany, UK) China also holds $1.271 trillion in US Treasury Securities (debt) as of June, 2015.
Their economy has lost some traction over the last year or so and they have reduced the value of their currency (yuan) to lower the price of their production to accelerate exports. China is creating islands on reefs in the South China Sea one of which features a 10,000’ runway that could accommodate military aircraft of all sizes. Some of the dredging and construction is going on in waters claimed by several other Asian countries.
The Iran nuclear deal keeps looking worse for all parties except Iran. The AP reported on August 19th that the IAEA had a special ‘deal’ with Iran that even their inspectors would be prohibited from looking at certain nuclear sites and would make inspections only of photographs taken by Iranian representatives. This development is in addition to a prior report that Russia would be providing the S-300 air-defense system to Teheran. In April Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei boasted that the US “can’t do a damn thing” militarily to Iran. Also in April, Iran announced agreements with Russia and China to build additional nuclear reactors.
Our negotiators didn’t have the fidelity to demand the release of three US prisoners and information on Robert Levinson who disappeared on March 9, 2007 from Iran’s Kish Island.
Diplomatic relations have been restored with Cuba, apparently unconditionally. Political prisoners will remain incarcerated presumably. US citizens that owned property in Cuba will probably receive no restitution. US tourists will be smoking Cuban cigars but won’t be treated to prison tours or photos of the bloody Castro revolution of 1950’s.
Here’s the trend; we abandon our friends in Central Europe by scrapping the air-dense missile system in Poland and The Czech Republic. Russia invades their neighbors. China becomes the #2 world industrial power and uses their largesse to build military airstrips in contested waters of the South China Sea. Iran releases no US prisoners and their leader shouts ‘death to America’ but Mr. Obama wants Congress to endorse an agreement of null negotiations. Cuba agrees to provide hotel rooms and accommodations to US tourists.
This is the President that can’t say the words ‘Islamic terrorism.’ This is the President whose lackey at the State Department suggested we should try to find jobs for the ISIS fighters after the beheadings in Libya and the deaths in Copenhagen and Paris. This is the President that called ISIS the JV team. This is the President that boasted the effectiveness of our strategy in Yemen; four months later ISIS pulled off the Paris assassinations….from Yemen. This is probably the best we can expect from a neighborhood organizer and rookie National Security advisors Susan Rice and Benjamin Rhodes. We need some adult supervision; NOW.
– Dick Baynton
