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Obama's Hammer and Bush's Nails (Trouw, The Netherlands)

 

"Who's going to contradict Obama when he says that even the greatest army in the world isn't the solution to everything? ... 'Just because we have the best hammer doesn't mean every problem is a nail.' ... That's good news for those who only see the mistakes of U.S. action over the past 60 years, but such people must also answer this: what other country can stop the even bigger culprits?"

 

By Stevo Akkerman

 

Translated By Marion Pini

 

June 3, 2014

 

The Netherlands - Trouw - Original Article (Dutch)

A graduating West Point cadet listens to President Obama's commencement address, which was likely the most dovish presidential enunciation of U.S. foreign policy in decades.

 

WHITE HOUSE VIDEO: President Obama Speaks to West Point Graduates, May 28, 00:45:18RealVideo

It's often said that generals are always fighting the last war instead of the current one, but they aren't the only ones. Politicians do it too. Everyone does it. Such is the way the world stumbles from one mishap to the next, getting itself ever more prepared for the past, but never able to withstand the present.

 

Take Barack Obama, for example. The president gave a speech last week on his foreign policy which was billed as a "big moment": we were all to be presented with an almighty reversal of vengeance. If so, it was at most true only when compared to George W. Bush, who has been gone for six years.

 

In front of cadets at the West Point Military Academy, Obama argued that armed foreign adventures are often counter-productive. Quite correct. It was logical that he was eager to dwell on the end of missions that Bush had begun: "You are the first group since 9/11 who probably will not need to fight in Iraq or Afghanistan."

 

Hammer and Nail

 

And who's going to contradict Obama when he says that even the greatest army in the world isn't the solution to everything?

 

"Just because we have the best hammer doesn't mean every problem is a nail."

 

Nice! But when the president added that he sees terrorism as the leading international threat, and barely said anything about the nasty comeback of 19th century nationalism (Russia and China being the most striking examples), he fell flat.

 

It seems he's can't stop himself stabbing away at the Bush doctrine, with the result that his vision is clouded to the newer security issues. If it wasn't, he would have put far more emphasis on the U.S. military as a counterweight to the territorial greed of Moscow and Beijing.

 

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It wouldn't have helped Ukraine, but this point is significant for stability in Europe. Anxiety prevails in the east, particularly the Baltic States and Poland, where because of NATO membership, they are entitled to military protection. These countries want to know if they can count on the United States (NATO is nothing without the U.S., which the Balts and Poles know full well). The same is true for countries in the South China Sea who have signed military treaties with Washington. Are U.S. promises worth anything?

 

Tired of the world

 

That they aren't sure isn't surprising. Not only because Obama has left his “red lines” where they were, but because he operates in a climate of American disengagement. In a long essay in The New Republic, Robert Kagan outlines the historical background of this development: how the reluctant Americans were forced to enter the WWII because of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and how that trauma laid the foundation for their continued involvement in the world. How other traumas replaced it: Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. And now how Americans are not only tired of the struggle, they are tired of the world. Kagan cites polls showing that more than half of Americans say that the U.S. shouldn't interfere with the fate of other countries.

 

That's good news for those who only see the mistakes of U.S. action over the past 60 years, but such people must also answer this: what other country can stop the even bigger culprits?

 

 

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Posted By Worldmeets.US June 3, 2014 6:39am