The Obama Administration’s community organizing response to Vladimir Putin’s eastern European aggression continues to stun spectators with its amateurish incompetence. In addition to channeling Neville Chamberlin, and scolding a few Russian Oligarchs through unenforceable sanctions, the State Department has adopted the diplomatic juggernaut of Twitter as the medium for their next useless gesture. Tweeting out a selfie of herself holding a handwritten hashtag, our State Department Spokesperson expressed America’s “support” for Ukraine. Apparently we can’t promise military aid, armaments, or financial aid… But we can send ‘em a tweet!
Like a high-school teenager tweeting support for Justin Bieber, Jen Psaki (the same spokesperson that was unaware China had tested a new missile delivery system) let the world know via social networking that the US State Department is #UnitedForUkraine. Maybe we could dedicate a song on a few local radio shows as our next display of concern over Ukraine’s sovereignty. Or, heck, let’s just put together a play list on iTunes for Ukraine to download… Have we friended them on Facebook yet? Are they in our Google+ circle?
If Putin wasn’t laughing hysterically at America’s Rodney King view of the world before, he certainly is now. It turns out that organizing a world-wide coalition of free nations is a bit more difficult than organizing a few liberal neighborhoods in Chicago; and President Obama is getting a crash course in what the “real world” looks like outside of Liberal academia.
Our World Organizer in Chief took to the news networks to express his parental disproval of Comrade Putin. He sounded a bit more like a liberal college professor scolding George W Bush, than the leader of the world’s most powerful military:
“And because you're bigger and stronger, taking a piece of the country… that is not how international law and international norms are observed in the 21st century.”
Ya wanna bet? Heck, it’s kinda been the norm since the beginning of human history – but I guess since we have a Nobel Laureate as President in the US, everything is different now. Our campaigner in Chief has repeatedly scolded Putin for “ignoring 21st century norms”… as if the Julian calendar had any bearing whatsoever on the aspirations and motivations of despots, tyrants, and dictators. (I’m sure Putin is in the Kremlin, right now, thinking “is this move too 20th Century?”)
“Putin is misreading American Foreign Policy,” Obama continued. Really? Well, let’s see: We did nothing to support our Egyptian allies when the Muslim Brotherhood decided to stage a revolution; we backed terrorists and jihadists in Libya (and took no retaliatory action when those same jihadists murdered our Ambassador); we drew a red line in Syria that we were unprepared to defend; and we have sent out a “hashtag” in response to Russia’s militaristic intimidation of mainland Ukraine… If Putin is under the distinct impression that the US is without a coherent foreign policy, I’d have to say he pretty much has our number.
On the other hand, it is pretty tough to correctly read America’s foreign policy when it is scribbled on the back of Obama’s March Madness bracket.
The real issue is this administration’s tortured sense that everyone in the world thinks (or should think) like we do. Obama’s foreign policy has been conducted with an apparent (and ignorant) belief that the rest of the world is currently pursuing peace and harmony with their neighbors and the “international community”.
The Obama administration seems to think Iran’s grand ayatollahs have called for the annihilation of Israel, because they weren’t hugged enough when they were kids. Our outreach to Jihadists in the Middle East is spurred on by Obama’s childish view that, given a little kindness, Hezbollah would soon be walking hand-in-hand with Jews along the West Bank. And the Left seems to believe that Vladimir Putin can be dissuaded from his Soviet reconstruction by reminding him that it is not currently 1963.
In other words: The Obama Administration is engaged as amateurs against a geopolitical veteran. Contrary to the insulated world of liberal-elite academics, the world does not conduct itself in accordance with the progressive notion of how it should behave. Obama Inc. can pontificate, bloviate, and tweet all the platitudes they want; but in the end, nations willing to use force will be the ones that forge world events in the 21st century.
Hashtags and selfies might be staples of this century, but they’re still pretty ineffective when lobbed at Russian troops.
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