I originally thought of this post before the Malaysian airliner was shot down over the Ukraine yesterday, but I think it is still relevant, if not more so.
The amateur hour I am talking about is not “The Voice” or “American Idol,” or course. It’s our foreign policy. Two examples from yesterday’s papers.
First, in May President Obama said he would work with Congress to support moderate Syrian rebels. In June, he announced a plan to spend $500 million to help the Syrian rebels. The Wall Street Journal, however, had an article yesterday on what is really happening. Here are some excerpts:
“A Pentagon plan to aid Syrian rebels is emerging as far smaller than advocates hoped, ramping up slowly over an extended period while offering no quick support to moderate fighters, who are losing ground both to the Assad regime and to jihadists.
President Barack Obama promised in May to work with Congress to raise support for the moderates. But critics inside and outside the administration say the limited steps he is taking are too modest to make a difference on the battlefield, reflecting his own and the Pentagon's reluctance to get entrenched in another Middle East conflict.
Military officials told congressional committees in closed-door briefings last week that the $500 million program could be used to train a 2,300-man force – less than the size of a single brigade – over an 18-month period that probably wouldn't begin until next year, said meeting participants. …
But Adm. Winnefeld cautioned that Pentagon planners were ‘still, frankly, working through what are some fairly challenging legal issues, some fairly challenging partner issues,’ and congressional officials said the program was unlikely to get up and running until well into 2015, if ever. …
The list of unanswered questions has left some in the Pentagon – and on Capitol Hill – frustrated by what they see as a lack of initiative by the top brass.
‘I get the sense no one really wants to do it,’ said a defense official.”
Here is the point. If you announce it, do it. If you don’t want to, or can’t, do it, don’t announce it. It’s pretty simple. Do what you say you’re going to do and don’t say it if you aren’t going to do it. If you don’t follow through on what you say, who’s going to believe you in the future? Who’s going to trust you? Who’s going to follow you? The problem is that, even after 5½ years, the Obama White House doesn’t seem to understand this.
Second, President Obama announced some new sanctions on Russia Wednesday. The problem is that the sanctions were unilateral; i.e., it was just the United States doing it. Europe didn’t announce any.* Obviously, multilateral sanctions are better. And they are going to be even more important with the Malaysian airliner getting shot down yesterday over Ukraine.
The problem is that sanctions are going to hurt European businesses more than American businesses. Especially Germany. It’s going to be tough politically for leaders in countries like Germany to go along with us on more sanctions. And what is the Obama administration doing to improve relations with Germany and Chancellor Merkel and to make it easier for Chancellor Merkel to challenge those in Germany who oppose tougher sanctions? Continuing to spy on them even after getting caught listening to Chancellor Merkel’s personal cell phone last year. This is from last week’s issue of The Economist (i.e., before the Malaysian airliner was shot down):
“[A] crucial Western alliance has been damaged. When members of Germany’s anti-spying parliamentary commission meet now, they throw their mobile phones into a box and turn up the music (Grieg’s piano concerto)—for fear of America, not Russia. That is what things have come to.”
I know that bloggers are often accused of being shrill and hyper-partisan and of poisoning our political discourse. But when I see incompetence in the conduct of American foreign policy on this scale at such a critical time, it’s hard to know what else to be.
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* Christi Parsons, “Obama issues new sanctions,” Chicago Tribune, July 17, 2014, page A-15 (print edition).
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