As I look back over five years of Obama’s dilettante diplomacy, two words come to mind when describing his foreign policy: Dumpster fire.
The biggest blaze is currently in Egypt where the Islamist president that Obama supported has been ousted and it looks like the beginning of a civil war. Mohammed Morsi had been given an ultimatum by the military and he said he would die in office before resigning.
Morsi’s misrule of Egypt included the persecution and execution of Christians, the collapse of the tourism industry, a government on the verge of bankruptcy, and a crackdown on democracy-promoting organizations.
None of these conditions existed before Obama helped force former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak out of office. Instead of using the over $1 billion in foreign aid the U.S. gives the country as leverage for improving conditions in Egypt, Obama hands the money over with no strings attached.
Next door in Syria, Obama is planning to train and arm the rebels fighting Bashar Assad. These rebels are notable for beheading a Catholic priest last week and burning Christian churches and attacking Christians, which appears to be a theme among Obama aid recipients.
Libya is another war-torn state that had the dubious benefit of Obama’s “leading from behind.” There our ambassador was murdered as part of the festivities in connection with a 9/11 anniversary celebration in Benghazi. Almost a year later the murderers are still free and Obama’s pledge to bring them to justice is as hollow as his foreign policy.
Obama’s appointment of John Kerry as secretary of state was good news and bad news. The good news was the pompous, posturing Kerry was out of the Senate. The bad news was he’s now secretary of state.
Kerry is doubling down on the diplomacy of futility by attempting to perform CPR on the “peace process” in Israel. But the fact is there will be no peace or process in the Middle East until the Arabs are willing to recognize the existence of Israel as the Jewish homeland. The controversy over settlements and the partition of Jerusalem is simply a distraction from this central fact.
Turkey boasts one of Obama’s best friends as president, Recep Erdogan. Under his rule Turkey has gone from a reliable Western ally to an Islamist authoritarian state that goes out of its way to pick fights with our only real ally in the Middle East: Israel. (Come to think of it, Obama goes out of his way to pick fights with Israel, too.)
As bad as this is, it does not compare to Obama’s incompetence and cowardice in dealing with Iran. This republic of mullahs will soon have an atomic bomb, because Obama has dithered away the last five years.
This development puts Israel at risk in the short term, us at risk in the long term, and will ignite an atomic arms race in the Middle East.
It’s a dumpster fire that is only a bit more fuel and a bit more heat from being a nation-consuming conflagration.
Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan. He is president of The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Read more reports from Michael Reagan — Click Here Now.