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+         *************************************************************
+         *            Michael R. Burhans - Out Of My Mind            *
+         *                 A Weekly Electronic Column                *
+         *                      March 30, 1994                       *
+         *************************************************************
+
+               The Failure Of A Foreign Policy
+                              Or
+        "Stop it, or we will make more empty threats."
+
+
+
+  Secretary of State Warren Christopher's recent trip to the People's
+Republic of China was the proverbial straw breaking the back of our
+nations foreign policy camel.  It seems he has learned little since
+his tenure in the administration of President Carter.  So far, much
+like then, our Foreign Policy under the Clinton Administration has
+been marked by grandiose plans, hollow threats, and very little
+action.  This is unacceptable.  Such actions, if continued will lead
+to mistrust from our allies, and contempt from our adversaries.  Let
+us examine the record so far.
+
+  Upon taking office the Clinton Foreign policy team was immediately
+met with two major crisis: Somalia and Bosnia.  In Somalia, with the
+best of intentions, he allowed the agenda of United Nations Secretary
+General to override the best interests of the United States.  What
+should have been a simple mission of humanitarian relief, became a
+manhunt for a scapegoat.  Since he was also the most powerful man in
+Somalia, this was very unwise.  American troops were asked to perform
+military strikes with inadequate intelligence and equipment.  When
+they ran into a ambush situation, there was no armor to back them up
+and safely extract them. Consequently many died needlessly, the
+people of the United States were shocked, and we pulled our people
+out.  This makes us look week and foolish in the eyes of the world.
+Such behaviors embolden tyrants and make us lose the respect of our
+allies.
+
+  One of Clinton's strongest points during the campaign for the
+Presidency was that Bush had mishandled the situation in Bosnia, and
+that he would take decisive action there.  One can only wonder how a
+man who laid out exactly what Bush was doing wrong, could possibly
+make exactly the same mistakes!  He was issued warnings, which proved
+empty.  Drawn lines that he allowed to be trespass, and in the end,
+done almost nothing.  The only real action taken so far was the
+shooting down of some old Serbian Jets AFTER they had completed a
+bombing run in the much touted "No-Fly Zone".  Even at this they
+allowed several of the planes to run across and imaginary line and
+return home. This is far from decisive action.  It is nauseate
+reminiscent of our nations "Paper Tiger" days of the late 1970's.
+
+  Then there was Haiti.  After months of loudly proclaiming that we
+were dedicated to placing the democratically elected President back
+in power, we dropped him like he was plague infected.  We threatened
+to send in peacekeeping forces, and when a rag tag bunch of armed
+thugs appeared at the docks, the United States Military turned around
+an sailed away.  If we allow a few untrained bandits to run off our
+military, how can we reasonably expect any nation to respect us?  If
+you are unwilling to use troops you should not send them.  If you
+decide to send them, send them in a level of force that is so
+overwhelming that resistance isn't even considered an option by those
+you are using force against.
+
+  Lastly, there was the travesty of Christopher's trip to the
+People's Republic of China.  Our nation has not suffered such an
+embarrassment on the diplomatic front since the taking of our embassy
+in Iran. He went to China blustering threats of trade cut offs, when
+the US was clearly not willing to actually do so.  The fact is
+China's huge market is desperately needed by the United States
+economy, and both parties know it.  As much as China needs and wants
+trade with us, we need it more. Never make threats from a position of
+weakness.  The Chinese Diplomats held several news conferences where
+they told us exactly where we could get off. The last conference was
+a virtual de- pantsing of Christopher, and the United States
+government.  After this, he slunk home in defeat while the world
+laughed at our weakness. At a time when we need China's influence to
+help in the dangerous situation regarding the North Korean nuclear
+program, first alienating and then angering the Chinese is hardly an
+intelligent strategy.
+
+  President Clinton desperately needs to get new help in his State
+Department. Chrisptopher should resign; if he does not, he should be
+fired.  In a world growing rapidly more intertwined, one cannot
+address domestic concerns without equal attention being paid to
+international relations.  We seem to have gone from a Presidency that
+ignored the domestic agenda and was over concerned with the
+diplomatic scene, to one that is the exact opposite.  Perhaps this
+unbalanced approach, swinging from one to the other with each change
+in party control is the cause of so much of our nations problems.
+The people of our nation need to stand up and demand a rational,
+balanced approach to national government.  If we do not do it soon,
+we may find it is to late to stop our nations decline.
+
+  ************************************************************
+  *(c)1994 Michael R. Burhans\24th Century Society Publishing*
+  *Permission for unaltered reproduction and dissemination is*
+  *granted as long as it is not for profit & with this notice*
+  *    Internet-michael.burhans@f1004.n239.z1.fidonet.org    *
+  ************************************************************