President Obama has unilaterally given away another big pot in the poker game of world hegemony. He has shown our hand to many of the other players and, as is his all-too-frequent wont, gotten nothing in return. See NY Times Article. He now boasts that the U.S would not use nuclear weapons in a number of situations where, in the past, our enemies were wary of how we would react ... and were therefore constrained. Now these other players have been gifted many more degrees of freedom in there strategic planning. Why Obama pulls these bone-headed moves can perhaps be explained by his over-weaning ego. He may indeed believe in his demigod invincibility: "What if I give up some minor game advantage, since I know that my vision of a world utopia is ordained by my birthright?"Or, can it be that he is just plain stupid?
I had an afterthought on this subject. As I remember it, our nuclear arsenal was also meant to be the equalizer between our (and Nato's) rather modest standing army and the hoards of Russian and Chinese combatants. In other words, we threatened our use of nuclear weapons if WWIII were to breakout with massive invasions of free-world nations by these bad actors (or North Korea.)
ReplyDeleteSuch an event would not have to involve offensive nuclear weapons on the part of Russia or China, but we had kept open the option to use them defensively. No more if Obama has his dovish and devilish ways.
The hegemony has moved from the cathedral to the bazaar.
ReplyDeleteIt's no longer a poker table with invited players buying in. It's no longer about grim men in suits and uniforms in bunkers carrying secret codes and red phones.
It's three card Monty game on an ever-changing street corner run by jihadists. It's a rogue with a nuclear weapon backpack in a subway station on NYC or London, or Beijing, or Moscow that we all fear.