Reblogged from: Prophecy Update
'It's hard to imagine a worse outcome for U.S. than where we are now'
The
year 2013 was one of foreign policy blunders and miscalculations that
left America's standing in the world diminished, the Russians on the
rise and the Middle East in greater turmoil, former U.S. Ambassador to
the United Nations John Bolton told WND.
One
of the biggest events in the Middle East was the collapse of the Muslim
Brotherhood government of Mohamed Morsi in Egypt. After days and weeks
of massive protests throughout the country, the military gave Morsi an
ultimatum to leave. He refused, and the military took power. Bolton
praised the move and noted the U.S. condemnation of the military's
actions once puts this administration on the wrong side of the debate.
"As
we come to the end of the year, we have the Egyptian military back in
power, which is essentially where we were at the beginning of the Arab
Spring," Bolton said. "Yet, because of the administration's inept
handling of events in Egypt, we have now succeeded in alienating every
major element of Egyptian society."
"The
military [service members] don't trust the Obama administration," he
said. "They think they're pro-Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood
doesn't trust the administration. The pro-Western, pro-democracy
protesters just pull their hair out when they think about how the
administration has handled this. The consequence is we're now at our
lowest influence in Egypt in decades. The Russians are now back in
trying to sell weapons, which they haven't been in 40 years. So, it's
hard to imagine a worse outcome for the United States than where we are
now."
Another
major foreign policy showdown came in September over Syria. After the
international community concluded that President Bashar al-Assad used
chemical weapons against his own people, President Obama attempted to
convince allies and Congress that military action was necessary. Neither
was interested. The political and diplomatic showdown was averted when
Secretary of State John Kerry suggested Syria could avoid military
strikes by giving up all chemical weapons. Kerry immediately said that
would never happen, but Russia seized on the comment and eventually
worked out a deal for Assad to stay in power in exchange for turning
over his chemical stockpiles.
"This
is another situation where the United States has absolutely failed to
achieve its objectives. The president said his objective was removing
the Assad regime from power. That obviously hasn't happened. If
anything, momentum is now in the direction of the regime. The president
said that if he saw the use of chemical weapons, that would be a red
line that would prompt American intervention. Chemical weapons were
used. There was no American intervention," Bolton said.
"Whether
you agree with the administration's policies or not, what they have
done has let the United States again in a much weaker position."
Late
in the year, the U.S. touted a temporary, six-month deal to ease
economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for Iran taking steps to
prove it has no intention of developing nuclear weapons. The short-term
agreement is designed to set the stage for a permanent deal early next
year.
"Since
the beginning of the Obama administration, the president has believed
he could find a way to deal diplomatically with Iran's nuclear weapons
program, contrary to the reality that Iran's been after deliverable
nuclear weapons for over 20 years. It's one of their highest national
security goals. Notwithstanding that reality, President Obama thought he
could cut a deal with them," Bolton said.
"Iran
got what it wanted. It protected its nuclear program. At the same time
it got some relief - exact quantity unknown - but it got some relief
from the economic sanctions. The United States came away with
essentially nothing," he said.
In
each of these diplomatic matters, Russia played a key role and Bolton
said they are just some of the signs that Russian aggression is on the
rise. Not only does he see Russia more influential now than at any time
in the past four decades, but he warns of Vladimir Putin's attempts to
reconstitute the old Soviet Union.
In
2014, Bolton expects all of these issues to create more headaches for
the United States in addition to the threat posed by renewed aggression
by China in its sphere of influence.
"This
is the consequence of an inattentive, weak administration," he said.
"American interests are going by the boards. Other countries see this
weakness and lack of attention and they recalibrate their policies
accordingly to take advantage of it. So I'm afraid we're in for pretty
heavy sailing here over the next three years."
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your comment is appreciated and helps me in choosing various subjects for my posts. Thank you. Ce blogger apprécie vos commentaires qui l´aident à choisir de nouveaux thèmes.. Seus comentarios são bemvindos e ajudam este blogger na escolha de uma variedade de temas.