This essay is going to revisit some of what has been written before, with thanks, in part, to Pat Buchanan’s column of today.
America’s foreign policy, long berated by the ‘loyal opposition’, is now in great disarray. And this is after only two months of Joe Biden, the American President* in charge. Biden and his minions have made a mess of what had been a successful march toward a coherent and effective policy initiated by Donald Trump over his four years in the Oval Office.
What is Biden doing in Afghanistan? America’s ‘longest war’ was supposed to be over, and Trump had announced that our last troops would be pulled out of that woebegone nation by May 1, 2021. Now Biden seems to be hedging on this policy, even to suggesting that we might be in for a much longer time with American troops aiding the Afghan forces. Staying or leaving are two unpleasant options, but if you have read any of my previous posts you know that, in my opinion, any extended stay amounts to insanity on the part of American diplomacy. If we go, the Taliban will again take over; if we stay, more Americans will be in harm’s way.
An effective argument can be made that, if that war-torn country again becomes a hotbed for terrorists, we have the intelligence to spot it and the ability to attack the terrorists by drone or air power without endangering young Americans on the ground. Although no one in Washington will listen to my advice, here it is — GET OUT OF AFGHANISTAN, now!
Biden has also attempted to engage North Korea, with the stated purpose of making the Hermit Kingdom completely nuclear free. However, those attempts have been met with disdain by Kim Jong Un who refused to even meet with our administration, chiding Biden and team, warning us that they will not bow to pressure. We are warned that ‘if it (the U. S.) wants to sleep in peace for the coming four years’ the Americans had better not make a misstep now.
Remember Trump’s successful engagement with that tinpot dictator? We have not lived in peace with him, but the North Koreans scaled back on their testing of missiles and nuclear warheads, something they have claimed they will do again now that Biden is in charge. Where will this end? North Korea threatens U. S. allies in the region, specifically Japan and South Korea, and the American possession of Guam.
China is seen as the major foreign policy challenge to the U. S. in the near future. Just this week, our diplomats met Chinese diplomats in Alaska for face-to-face meeting — and we got a tongue-lashing from the Chinese about our human rights record while glossing over their own shortcomings in this area. Our own representatives had no effective comeback, and even those media types who are propping up Biden realized we had been embarrassed on the world stage. Now it is seen that the U. S. is in the weaker position vis-à-vis China, after Trump had put the U.S. in a stronger position than China, successfully engaging them on trade and other items during his term.
For the first time in memory, a U. S. President has refused to engage with the Israeli leadership in the first days of a new administration. Even Barack Obama, who did not have the best interests of our best ally in the Middle East, called Benjamin Netanyahu early in his term, as did George W. Bush and Donald Trump. In fact, when contact was made by this administration, it was by Vice-President (allegedly) Kamala Harris instead of Biden. This snub of Israel and Biden’s seeming embrace of the Palestinian cause is a reversal of what Trump had done for the Israelis as he moved the American Embassy to their capital city of Jerusalem and recognized the right of Israelis to settle parts of the West Bank.
Also in the Middle East, there are rumblings that the Biden* team wants to reengage with Iran by returning to the deal with that nation for controlling its nuclear program. This was scrapped by Trump, who made the region more stable by brokering the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Muslim nations. Will this policy make the area more favorable to the U. S. or not? Most observers believe that Trump’s policies made peace in the Middle East more likely, as more Muslim countries seem willing to allow Israel to exist and to do business with them, thus calming the oily waters there.
President Trump pulled the U. S. out of the Paris Agreement on climate change, and we went on to more than meet the standards set by that pact on emissions that ‘harmed’ the environment. Biden has reentered the deal, which obligates the Americans to pay third world nations to curb their fossil fuel facilities, which could cost the U. S. taxpayers untold billions of dollars. In addition to crippling our energy capability, nations such as India and China will have years to bring their economies into compliance, years in which they will pollute with their new coal-fired energy.
And then there is Russia. President Trump had placed sanctions on Russia and its leading politicians for their actions in interfering with our elections. In an interview with a news organization, Biden bluntly claimed that Vladimir Putin, Russia’s leader, was a ‘killer’, and had no soul nor conscience. Putin immediately recalled his ambassador to the U. S., making that comment become an international incident which in past years might have precipitated war.
The ineptness shown in the relations between the U. S. and other nations may just be typical of the new administration, but its ham-handed approach to foreign policy will harm relations across the globe. Can the U. S. afford to be the laughingstock of international relations in an era of global trade and the interconnectedness of the world?
Much was made of Donald Trump’s lack of experience in political matters and little knowledge of how to conduct foreign policy. Yet the Biden administration, made up of those who have been in government service for years, in just two short months, has lessened American prestige and reputation across the globe.
One pundit praised our new Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, as ‘competent’. As a patriotic American who wants the U. S. to be put first in our administration’s policies, I want not competence, but brilliance in our diplomats. Bring back Mike Pompeo!