Cotton Candy

My grandfather had a term for cotton candy at the carnival … “gap and get nothing.” In case you haven’t noticed in this blog, I am not a fan of the Clinton's, particularly Hillary Clinton ... who is, to me, nothing more than cotton candy … non-nutritional pap designed to appeal to the impulse buyer … but clearly not good for one’s health.

I have previously done a serious appraisal of Hillary’s term as Secretary of State and have come up nearly empty … see: Ship of State Disasters. But now, in preparation for a possible run for the presidency in 2016, she is beginning to slyly critique the very failed policies she helped put in place … particularly in the Middle East and toward Russia.

In retrospect, even the Democrat establishment seems hard pressed to list her actual good deeds when she was at the reins in Foggy Bottom … other than she traveled a lot … see: Hillary's Accomplishments. But they still idolize her and want her as their leader.

But now even the pink Duchess herself can’t find the words to list her winners while she was Secretary of State … other than meaningless blather … see: Capitol City Project. If she actually runs to replace our feckless leader in 2016, she best sit down with her extensive and well-paid posse and make up some fibs to put in her pre-election book … which will have a compelling title but which few will read … and to answer such an obvious question.

For, in reality, Hillary Clinton is clearly gap and get nothing …

Egg on Our Face

The picture in the following New York Times story says it all. Our feckless Secretary of State, John Kerry, rattles the non-saber … warning Russia that there just might be some possible consequences, maybe, if it doesn’t  get out of Crimea by Monday while his equivalent from Russia, Sergey Lavrov, piffles at Kerry’s blunted bluster … see: NY Times Story.  Meanwhile Russia moves troops into Eastern Ukraine ahead of today’s Crimean illegal referendum … see: Another NY Times Story while our President Obama urges Congress to tighten rules about overtime pay … see: Fox News Story. Overtime pay!?

Can we look any sillier on the international stage? We not only have egg on our face … we have an entire breakfast … a sausage egg McMuffin, orange juice, coffee …all dribbling down our chins and onto our Hello Kitty bibs.

What do all those high-priced buffoons in the White House and at Foggy Bottom do all day?  Couldn’t we have had a stair-step strategy pre-planned for just such a obvious move by Russia?  We have a wide range of possible actions we might have taken in response to this Russian invasion of a neighboring country.  But all we do is talk … talk which only emphasizes that any military action on anyone’s part is off the table.  We can’t now freeze Russian assets for that money has long fled the West.  But what about putting an anti-ballistic missile shield in Eastern Europe?  What about letting other Eastern European nations join NATO?  What about some serious consequences in Russia’s client state of Syria? And we had and have many many more options. Where are they?

One can’t help but speculate that all this U.S. incompetence may not be purposeful on our dear leader's part …

Afterward: For more equivalent (but better put) analysis on this situation see: The Diplomad's Comments.

After Afterward: When I originally wrote this blog entry I suggested that Poland and the Czech Republic be admitted to NATO.  My bad! As it turns out, they are already members (along with Hungary) since 1999. So are the Baltic States ... see: Nato Membership ... which makes things a little dicey if Russia goes after one of them.

Tabula Rasa

Attendees at the Democrat National Committee convention were asked on camera to list Hillary Clinton’s accomplishments while she served as Secretary of State.  Not surprisingly, despite enthusiastic support for her presidential candidacy, not a single person could bring one specific accomplishment to mind … watch the video here to see how politics always seems to trump policy: CNS News Video.

I personally don’t think that Hillary had a totally blank slate in her tenure at Foggy Bottom and during her many days hop-scotching the world.  If asked this same question, I would have pointed to the fact that Myanmar (Burma) made a few hesitant steps toward greater freedom with a nudge from her … see the last bullet in this blog: Ship of State Disasters.  However, as also noted in this blog entry, she also made a mishmash of most other things she touched then (including, as we have witnessed from recent events in the Crimea, her “reset” with Russia.)

Does this diminish her in the eyes of the most? I suspect you, dear reader, are among “the most,” you tell me …

Ship-of-State Disasters

The Titanic

My previous speculation about Hillary Clinton running as a VP candidate along with Obama against the Romney/Ryan ticket might have led some to believe that I was a fan of Hillary’s. I am not … and never have been.  As I had previously indicated, I believe that she is nothing more than a political poseur … lacking in any real foreign policy vision or implementation skills.  Let me count the ways that I think that she has set this country back years, perhaps decades since she took her Foggy Bottom office:

- Her “reset” with Russia has seen Putin re-emerge as the belligerent bully he really is.  (George W. Bush had this one wrong too.)  Russia has opposed almost every one of America’s foreign policy initiatives regarding Iran, Syria and North Korea.  It (and he) is clearly not our friend but, increasingly our adversary.  Her silly attempt at cozying up with the Russian Bear has been met with repeated rebuffs.

- Her unthinking support of the Arab Spring has seen the Muslim Brotherhood take over Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and now probably Syria.  Let’s not forget that her State Department re-established diplomatic relations with Syria only a few months before what is effectively a civil war broke out there.  Whether her misreading of what has been going on there is a result of her aide, Huma Abedin (Anthony Weiner’s wife), whispering in her ear is debatable … or her long-standing tilt toward the Palestinians.  But she really has botched things up there but good.

- The policy she has pursued toward Iran has been a demonstrable utter failure.  We have diddled and dawdled with supposed “sanctions” to the point where an atomic weapon capability in Iran appears only months away.  Iran’s Ahmadinejad is now hooking up with Egypt, his considerable friends in Iraq, and even elements in Saudi Arabia to present Israel the gravest of threats.  Yes, Syria seems to be escaping his grasp but, seeing how we bungled these other Middle East uprisings, I’m fairly confident we will screw up Syria too.

- Hillary’s and Barack Obama’s treatment of Israel has been nothing short of shameful.  We have been disdainful, untrustworthy, and naively dismissive toward it, our only true friend in the Middle East.  If and when this tinder box ignites, I (and many others) place it fully on Hillary’s shoulders.

- In South and Central America, Hillary’s and Obama’s deference toward Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and the Castro’s of Cuba has emboldened other nations there to drift even further left … Brazil, Argentina, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia … all are sounding more and more despotic and socialistic.  I can not think of a single diplomatic success story emanating out of this area of the world during Hillary’s tenure.

- Despite Hillary’s recent swing through Africa, very little progress there has resulted from our State-Department’s policies … which appear vague and wavering.  Africa, in general, is in such a state of disrepair that small initiatives and innovative diplomacy should have yielded great rewards. Where have we been?

- Hillary’s singular visible diplomatic success seems to have been in the Far East – Myanmar (Burma).  Supposedly through her efforts, this country is slowly emerging into the 21st century.  It has freed opposition leader, Suu Kyi, after 21 years of isolation and house arrest to take her seat in Parliament … and begun to introduce gradually democratic freedoms.  However, elsewhere, in this area of the world (China, Indonesia, Japan, Viet Nam, etc.) we seem to exhibit no clear diplomatic weltanschauung.

So, although I understand the tendency of many Americans to moon over our former first lady, I believe that a careful viewing of her tenure as Secretary of State will show her to be a titanic failure.

Afterthought:  Let us not forget that Hillary's State Department recommended against the building of the Keystone Excel pipeline from Canada.

Hill and Dale

Let's look beyond this far-eastern fire drill of the Republican primary ... to this fall when the election is in full swing.  Many believe that, if the GOP has gotten its act together by then, The Barry might well have to switch horses and put Hillary Clinton on his ticket as his Veep ... retiring Biden to that stud farm called the State Department.  This move would be to bolster his re-election chances with "the devil you know" popularity of Hillary ... attracting those voters who believe she was denied her crown last time around.

Now, apart from the fact that she has bluntly stated multiple times that she is done with politics, Hillary might well be tempted with such an offer ... as it could present a greased slide into the White House in 2016.  And, besides, to my continued amazement, most media pundits believe that she has done a bang-up job at Foggy Bottom.  So, I think a quick review of her record there is now in order:

- The State Department recently put the kibosh on the Keystone pipeline from Canada (see: Falling Keystone)
- We reopened our embassy in Syria last spring just in time to watch Assad slaughter his people.  We may now be embarrassed into reclosing it (see: The Cable Story)
- We totally botched the Egyptian uprisings last spring (see: The Gong Show)
- We sat on our hands when the Iranian street rose up against their oppressive regime in 2009
- Our troop pullout from Iraq has been a clumsy mess, leaving this country to slip back into secular warfare
- Our relations with Pakistan are at the breaking point
- Iran is about ready to produce its first atomic weapon and the United States has stated no coherent strategy to deal with this contingency
- In general, we appeared to be bystanders in the Arab spring
- We seem to be quite timid when dealing with China and its many military and economic threats
- The Euro-zone bogey man is afoot and the United States is hiding under the covers

Need I go on any further?  (There's lots more.)  Yes, one could say that most of these failings are Obama-inspired, but where was Hillary when these decisions were made?  Yes, she has been good at the optics ... willing to travel to these hot spots, pose for pictures, and utter some platitudes, but she has not put forward any overarching policies of her own to deal with the world's turmoil.  ("Reset" is hardly an overarching strategy ... I don't even know what it means.) To me, she appears to shrink from these challenges.  And, God forbid, Biden tries to fill her shoes.  He clearly would screw things up even more ... even if the "San Francisco Giants" win the Super Bowl.

Blowin’ in the Wind

Do you sometimes feel that the U.S. foreign policy is at loose ends? Do you get the impression that world events are happening without any prescience on the part of the pundits in Foggy Bottom or the White House? Has the U.S. accomplished anything on the international stage recently? It’s like watching a play where the actors are wandering around not knowing their lines or reading off of different scripts. Our "reset" foreign policy appears to have been stage-managed by Samuel Beckett. Viz:

- The high-priority Israeli peace talks have spun down to nothingness.
- North Korea is flexing its belligerence with silly and dangerous abandon.
- China has just completed its victory lap with White House catering.
- WikiLeaks released hundreds of thousands of State Dept. cables ... embarrassing many world leaders.
- Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Jordan are on the brink of civil war.
- Iran has successfully stifled the democracy-inspired riots of last year.
- Syria has annexed Lebanon … and, as a reward, the U.S. just reestablished diplomatic relations with them.
- Iraq seems to have deteriorated back into a Hatfield/McCoy shootout between the Sunnis and the Shiites.
- The European Union is holding its currency, the Euro, together with chewing gum.
- The President has made many gaffs and breaches of protocol in direct dealings with U.S. allies.
- Afghanistan, the “necessary war,” is grinding on with little real hope of success.
- Venezuela is rapidly becoming the North Korea of Latin America.
- Mexico (at least the northern part) seems to be run by the drug lords and the coyotes.

But, to me, the much more hair-raising thought is: what if all this is not just bumbling incompetence on our part … but rather crafty competence? Nah! … ?