Tag Archives: foreign policy

Russia and the PRC Want Their Safe Spaces

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The two are upset over American Presidential campaign remarks. Zhu Haiquan, speaking for the PRC’s DC embassy:

We hope relevant US politicians will view China in an objective and rational way and refrain from making irresponsible remarks[.]

Yuri Melnik, Press Secretary for Russia’s DC embassy:

It is regretful that the anti-Russian rhetoric has become part of stump speeches for many candidates[.]

Zhu is right, our politicians do need to view the PRC (and Russia, come to that) objectively and rationally. Unfortunately, the Obama administration has left it to the Presidential candidates to do so. Regarding Melnik’s concerns, we do need to be more oppositionally oriented toward Russia, a staunch enemy of the United States and a naked aggressor toward its neighbors. Again, though, the Obama administration has abandoned the task to the candidates.

Strategy and Foreign Policy

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This is how Frank Bruni ended his Saturday op-ed in The New York Times [emphasis in the original]:

I felt sick. For a few hours, even a few days, I’d like to focus on the pain of Parisians and how that magnificent city reclaims any sense of order, any semblance of safety. I’d like not to wonder if Hillary Clinton’s odds of election just ticked upward or downward or if Donald Trump’s chest-thumping bluster suddenly became more seductive.

I’d like not to be told, fewer than 18 hours after the shots rang out, how they demonstrate that Americans must crack down on illegal immigration to our own country. I read that and was galled, and not because of my feelings about immigration, but because of my feelings about the automatic, indiscriminate politicization of tragedy.

The Paris atrocity inflicted by Islamic terrorists (Daesh is claiming responsibility) is but one battle in the long war against terrorists. Yet, in Bruni’s mind, we’re not supposed to assess the inputs to the battle, its outcome, or corrective actions to be taken from that analysis until enough time has passed to satisfy his safe space requirements. Time, incidentally, in which Daesh and/or other terrorist organizations can complete their own analyses and plan future battles.

This is how the Left understands strategy, this is how the Left understands foreign policy. Which is to say, they understand neither.

The Futility of our Secretary of State

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And the motorboat skipper who sits in that chair has another year left in his term….

Now he’s bragging about how progress has been made on ending the civil war in Syria.

Kerry and the other world leaders in Vienna agreed on a timeline for a political transition in Syria that is aimed at ending the country’s civil war.

And

However, key details, including the status of Syrian President Bashar Assad and a determination of which opposition groups are terrorists, remain unresolved.

Oh, yeah. Might be useful to involve the principles in any timeline or settlement.

John Kerry added, in all seriousness,

We do not agree on all of the issues. But we do agree on this: it’s time for the bleeding to stop.

Cool. Of course, that’s never been in dispute: it’s the underlying purpose of the efforts to stop the civil war.

It’s going to be an interminable year.

Troops to Eastern Europe

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Senior US military leaders have proposed sending more forces into Europe on a rotating basis to build up the American presence and are stepping up training exercises to counter potential Russian interference with troop transfers in the event of a crisis with Moscow.

In particular, the proposed moves are into eastern Europe to serve as a more blatant deterrent to Russian President Vladimir Putin. General Mark Milley, US Army Chief of Staff said over the weekend

Aggression left unanswered is likely to lead to more aggression[.]

This has been made manifest by our lack of response to seven years of growing aggression by a variety of our enemies—Russia, the PRC, in the Middle East.

Of course, such a thing takes time and money: basing and exercise agreements have to be reached with the host/receiving nations, the added rotations have to be budgeted and paid for, an administration has to find the will actually to face up to our enemies.

Two of those things, though, need to be gotten started on promptly. The third likely will have to wait on elections. In the meantime, the Russian clock is ticking.