Washington Post: global democracy ‘receding’ under Obama
Mar. 3, 2014 11:50am Eddie Scarry
The editorial board at the Washington Post hasn’t been a forgiving one on President Obama‘s foreign policy positions. According to the paper, Obama “failed” on Egypt, he was “weak” on Syria and showed “an extraordinary lack of leadership” in that country.
Turning up the heat, the Post editorializes Monday on the conflict between Ukraine and Russia:
FOR FIVE YEARS, President Obama has led a foreign policy based more on how he thinks the world should operate than on reality. It was a world in which “the tide of war is receding” and the United States could, without much risk, radically reduce the size of its armed forces. Other leaders, in this vision, would behave rationally and in the interest of their people and the world. Invasions, brute force, great-power games and shifting alliances — these were things of the past. Secretary of State John F. Kerry displayed this mindset on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday when he said, of Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, “It’s a 19th century act in the 21st century.”
That’s a nice thought, and we all know what he means. …
But it’s also true that, as long as some leaders play by what Mr. Kerry dismisses as 19th-century rules, the United States can’t pretend that the only game is in another arena altogether. Military strength, trustworthiness as an ally, staying power in difficult corners of the world such as Afghanistan — these still matter, much as we might wish they did not. While the United States has been retrenching, the tide of democracy in the world, which once seemed inexorable, has been receding. In the long run, that’s harmful to U.S. national security, too
http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2014/03/03/washington-post-global-democracy-receding-under-obama/
