OPINION:
Michelle Obama said America is “just downright mean.” While she said it in regard to domestic policy, this is how President Obama views America’s foreign policy. He is determined to change that. He has been on his “apology tour” and continues to embrace our enemies.
For months, the American government has averted its gaze to the nefarious activity of the Iranian government. As the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism, Iran is a threat one might assume our national policy would be designed to counter. In fact, it is no longer accurate to describe the war in Syria as a conflict between President Bashar Assad’s regime forces and the rebels. It is a war directed and fought by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah with Mr. Assad playing a secondary role.
However, now that the Iranians have engaged in negotiations over their uranium enrichment program and, more significantly, have agreed to deploy their military force against the Islamic State, a declared enemy of the United States, the Obama administration’s position has softened.
This isn’t surprising. Mr. Obama said he would “reset” the American relationship with Russia, despite Russian aggression in Georgia and Ukraine. In fact, notwithstanding the incontrovertible evidence that Russian missiles destroyed a commercial Malaysian airplane this year, the United States issued an immediate diplomatic and formal condemnation and then virtually ignored this matter.
Now we have the startling spectacle of the United States agreeing to diplomatic ties with Cuba. Aside from returning Alan Gross, who was imprisoned in Cuba for the past five years for his activity as an aid worker, there hasn’t been the slightest shift in the totalitarian practices of the Castro-led government. In fact, the willingness of the White House to return three Cuban agents imprisoned in the United States exemplifies the curious action of the Obama administration. The policy shift falls short of lifting the 54-year U.S. embargo against Cuba, but based on what we know about the negotiations, it is only a question of time before that occurs as well.
Surely, this arrangement will boost the Cuban economy and the standing of the Castro brothers; what it gains for the United States is unclear. This is obviously another step in the Obama effort to recalibrate American foreign policy. For many of his detractors, this is another pathway on the road of appeasement. And as many have already suggested, the agreement invites further belligerence against Cuba’s opposition movement. It will certainly embolden the Castro regime to trample on individual rights and continue to disregard democratic principles.
For Mr. Obama, the decision is consistent with his desire to empathize, if not sympathize, with U.S. enemies. By his way of thinking, if we understand the motives of our foes, reduce the pressure we have imposed on them and remove the sanctions, their hostile action vis-a-vis the United States would moderate. Of course, there is virtually no empirical basis for this set of assumptions. In fact, the accommodative stance of the U.S. is usually seen as weakness. But after all, this is presumably a new chapter in our history led by a man who is intent on bringing change here and abroad.
For Iranians who fled the terrorism of the ayatollahs to arrive in the land of the free; for the Russians who have sought sanctuary in Brighton Beach, New York, from the fear imposed by KGB operatives and their successors in Vladimir Putin’s garrisons; and for Cubans who sacrificed life and limb to flee the Castros’ oppression, Mr. Obama’s strategic overtures look like pre-emptive surrender, a curious fatigue in defense of freedom and liberation.
By embracing our enemies, Mr. Obama wants America to be liked by the global community. He is naive to believe this will ever happen. What the world needs is a strong America that is feared and respected by our enemies, not one that is seen as weak and in need of a hug and validation.
• Herbert London is president of the London Center for Policy Research.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.