mirror of
https://github.com/nhammer514/textfiles-politics.git
synced 2024-12-30 09:46:18 -05:00
99 lines
5.5 KiB
Plaintext
99 lines
5.5 KiB
Plaintext
*************************************************************
|
|
* 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 *
|
|
************************************************************
|