No quid pro quo for scrapping European missile defense shield?
President Barack Obama lost a golden opportunity last week and exhibited surprising naiveté in foreign affairs when he unilaterally agreed to scrap plans for a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe. The president decided to undo the actions of former president George W. Bush, who had continued president Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars" concept by placing a radar station in the Czech Republic and an anti-ballistic missile site in Poland, all on the borders of Russia. The response of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev to Bush's strategic move was to threaten retaliation by having Russian ballistic missiles aimed at NATO countries. The US claimed that the two installations were defensive only, and were intended to shoot down nuclear missiles aimed at Western Europe, Israel and America by Iran, North Korea, or terrorists. The Russians, of course, scoffed at Bush's explanation. Remember how the US under president John Kennedy reacted when the Soviet Union, then headed by Nikita Khrushchev, placed ballistic missiles in Cuba? We threatened war if they were not removed. We also imposed a blockade preventing Soviet ships from entering Cuban waters without first being searched for nuclear missiles. A third world war involving the US and the Soviet Union was avoided when the Soviet Union agreed to withdraw all of its nuclear ballistic missiles from Cuba and the US agreed to withdraw its ballistic missiles from NATO member Turkey. President Obama should have secured a similar quid pro quo from Russia before he terminated the planned missile defense program in Eastern Europe. What do we need from Russia? We want Russia to use its influence with Iran to end Iran's research and development of nuclear weapons. If Iran declines to stop its nuclear weapons program, we want Russia's support for greater sanctions in a resolution to be voted on at the United Nations Security Council. Russia has publicly stated it will oppose such a resolution. The leverage that Obama might have had with Russia was lost when he unilaterally gave Russia what it wanted. More and more like the Taliban?President Barack Obama made a superb statement in France when he said, according to The New York Times, "On the eve of a NATO summit meeting, 'America is changing, but it cannot be America alone that changes.' Answering questions at a town hall meeting in Strasbourg, he said, reported The Times, "The fight against Islamic extremists [is] one that Europe could not afford to leave to the United States alone." He went on, "I think it is important for Europe to understand that even though I'm now president and George Bush is no longer president, al-Qaida is still a threat...al-Qaida is still bent on carrying out terrorist activity." The largest (legal) heist in US history
Not so long ago, Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, joined by Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, proposed a strategy to Congress for dealing with the financial crisis. As I recall, Paulson and Bernanke said the biggest and most immediate problem was liquidity: unless the federal government took action, lending by banks to other banks and to consumers and businesses, which has stopped, would not begin again. In fact, the banks took the money and did not lend it to consumers and businesses, but are purchasing other banks. What an outrage. The largest heist in America's history, only it's legal. Sarah Palin deserves respect
Sarah Palin is a phenomenon. She is plucky and, in a winsome way, in your face. Referring to middle class America as Joe-Six-Pack and to herself as a hockey mom, she debated last week with veteran Senator Joe Biden, who has served in the Senate for 36 years and knows his way around Washington. I have never met Governor Palin. I have known Joe Biden for many years. I really like Joe and share his positions on most issues. I admire Sarah Pain's spunkiness and feel she has not been treated fairly by the media which has tried to make her look foolish and provincial. When she was interviewed by Charles Gibson and asked the question, "Do you agree with the Bush Doctrine?" I thought it unfair. Why? I consider myself to be knowledgeable on foreign affairs and I did not know what the Bush Doctrine referred to until later when it was described as support for preemptive military action. However, that term -- Bush Doctrine -- has also been applied to other policies of the administration. I certainly do believe in the right to take preemptive action to thwart an enemy's attack upon us. Sarah Palin later explained when she learned what the Bush Doctrine stood for, that she did too. Georgia, Russia and Kosovo
War between Russia and Georgia, and an illicit romance between John Edwards and a woman who served on his campaign staff when he ran for president are dominating the headlines and dinner table conversation. First, the war. Responding to Russian provocations, Georgia and its president, Mikheil Saakashvilli, unwisely began to fight, which was just what Russia was hoping for. Two of Georgia's provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, are seeking independence and are being encouraged by Russia and its prime minister, Vladimir Putin. Putin is incensed that Georgia, a state that was formerly part of the Soviet Union, is not only a good friend of the United States -- it provided 2,500 troops to assist us in Iraq, the largest contingent after Great Britain -- it is also seeking to become part of NATO. Obama's mistake
Last week, I wrote of the recent successes of Senator Barack Obama -- his trip abroad to Iraq and Europe and his reception in Germany where 200,000 people came to hear him speak and cheer him. I compared Obama with Julius Caesar, evoking Caesar's boast of "Veni, Vidi, Vici." But Caesar also made his share of mistakes. This week, I'm writing about a gaffe by Senator Obama, in which he appeared to be playing what has come to be known as "the race card." On August 1st The New York Times summed up the situation: "Senator John McCain's campaign accused Senator Barack Obama on Thursday of playing 'the race card,' citing his remarks that Republicans would try to scare voters by pointing out that he 'doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.'" The Times went on to state, "The exchange injected racial politics front and center into the general election campaign for the first time, after it became a subtext in the primary between Mr. Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton." Bush is one of the few who really understands
We are now getting down to the homestretch as we wrap up the Democratic primary and begin the race to the November general election. We will be electing the next president of the United States, and almost everyone expressing an opinion, informed or uninformed, believes the Democratic candidate will be Barack Obama. I am a supporter of Hillary Clinton, but I too believe the odds of her defeating Barack Obama are overwhelmingly against her. It looks as if Senator Obama will prevail in the Democratic primary before or at the Democratic convention. America's health system
On March 12th, a front-page story in The New York Times caught my eye. The headline, "Sex Infections Found in Quarter of Teenage Girls," should make America's blood run cold. The article reported on a nationwide study of "four common sexually transmitted diseases among girls and young women [and] found that at least one in four are infected with at least one of the diseases." The article went on to state that "Nearly half of the African-Americans in the study of teenagers ages 14 to 19 were infected with at least one of the diseases monitored in the study - human papillomavirus (HPV), Chlamydia, genital herpes and trichomoniasis, a common parasite. The 50 percent figure compared with 20 percent of white teenagers." The article stated that each disease "can cause cancer and genital warts." The lead author of the report, Dr. Sara Forhan, extrapolating from the findings, "said 3.2 million teenage women were infected with at least one of the four diseases." |
 |
 
Combined feed for all JPost.com blogs
Top Rated Posts
Tags:Blogroll |
Comments (15)
