The Axis of Evil has tested Obama...and he has failed
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Sep 29,2011
http://floppingaces.net/2011/09/29/you-flick-my-ear-i-punch-you-in-the-reader-post/
The recent release of the two hikers who have been held by Iran brought the two of them briefly back into the news cycle. Sadly other larger events such as the economy have kept them out of the forefront, but there is one piece of this that has gone almost unnoticed. There are two other events that ran somewhat hand in hand with this incident:
§ Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer were arrested in July of 2009 while hiking along the Iraqi/Iranian border. Last year both were sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage in a closed hearing. Upon release they stand by their assertion that they never were spies and were imprisoned simply because they are Americans. Both were freed just ahead of Ahmidenijad speaking before the United Nations.
§ In March of 2009 two American journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling were arrested in North Korea for illegal entry and sentenced to twelve years of hard labor. Only a visit by former President Clinton and some apologies on his part was able to gain a pardon and release for the two.
§ In December 2009 USAID worker Alan Gross was jailed for setting up Internet and satellite connections for Cuban citizens. In March 2011 Gross was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Former governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson attempted to visit gross, and was treated none too kindly by his Cuban hosts.
Look at the time frame for the three of these events. The Iranian and North Korean kidnappings all occurred shortly after President Obama took office, and the Cuban one came shortly after it was clear that there would be no consequences to imprisoning American citizens. Of course, that was exactly the point of these three actions.
Each one of these was done to test our president – not quite the “Gird your loins” moment that Vice President Biden promised us on the campaign trail, but more like a probe. These countries wanted to measure how much mischief each could perform, and these were starting points.
Iran wanted to be sure that they could continue with their “peaceful” nuclear program in um… peace. They knew that there would be no consequence to the regime’s rigging their national elections. When the people of Iran were dying in the streets the best that the White House could muster was passionate indifference. Nuclear weapons program can continue as scheduled.
Over in Korea, the Korean War never actually ended – the 38th parallel was only the site of the cease-fire, not an actual peace treaty. North Korea continues its weapons exporting mischief and every so often commits another open act of war against South Korea. North Korea only released their hostages after sufficiently humiliating the US with former President Clinton’s grovelling apology.
And Cuba has been content with just being Cuba – they seem to be hoping to align themselves with Venezuela as the dominant powers in the hemisphere in the post-American world. Bill Richardson’s appearance was not considered a deep enough bow to give them the humiliation of America that felt would make freeing Gross worth their while.
How should the president have handled these incidents? I don’t have the answers. As I like to tell the charges on my tour groups, if I did have the answers I’d probably have a high paying job in the White House myself. But just like not disciplining a child for minor offenses leading to worse behavior, the same happens among nations. All out war would not be the best solution to any of these, but a little bit of creativity could be used.
A nation has to protect it’s citizens. At the risk of going into into a Hobbes/Lockian tangent, how much obligation should any person feel toward a nation when its leaders are unwilling to protect them? For that matter, what is it like to be a citizen of Arizona when the government not only refuses to protect you, but sues your state when it tries to enforce the laws that your federal government won’t?
I actually do have one idea for getting the president’s attention. Does anyone know of a way that we can convince Obama that North Korea, Cuba, and Iran are supporting the Tea Party? |
