Interesting article. From what I know, there’s nothing inaccurate there. The only thing I would say in Ukraine’s defence is that they’re dealing with the costs of a civil war, which is a huge drain on their finances. They’re also being hit by Russia vastly increased energy prices, and energy being cut off completely in some cases, in retaliation for joining the EU customs union rather than the Russian one. (Russia wouldn’t let them join both; I don’t know if the EU took the same position.) And I suspect that corruption isn’t actually getting worse, it’s awareness of corruption that’s getting worse.

Excellent piece Ken. It’s hard to know who is worse in the Ukraine, but you’d never see a MSM report in the US that didn’t just harp on the dangers of Russian aggression and ignore the misdeeds of the other side. Political correctness I guess. Just like it’s not politically correct to blame Israel for the slaughter of Palestinians, or the US/UK for the slaughter of Iraqis. Or the ongoing Saudi Arabian slaughter of Houthis with US weapons. Not politically correct to criticize our allies, no matter how vicious.

Heather, this is an interesting update on the Ukraine.

http://egbertowillies.com/2016/01/08/reality-peeks-ukraine

Hi j.a.m. Sorry it’s taken me so long to respond.

Just as Obama isn’t responsible for France, the Ayatollah of Iran is not responsible for what happens in Syria. Assad is. It is true that it is Iranian (and Russian) leadership that has enabled him, but they couldn’t have done that without his cooperation. They are each responsible for their own actions.

Obama informing us Assad is on his way out is irrelevant. That’s either an incorrect prediction or a prediction that hasn’t happened yet. Unless you want us to return to the days when the US assassinated foreign leaders, there’s not really that much Obama can do about it. If Syria operated like a normal democracy, he’s be gone. It doesn’t, and he’s still there. Assad actually has a lot of support within Syria – much more than Saddam Hussein, for example, ever had. He’s an appalling leader who has murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people, but many of those same people are more fearful of the alternative. Shi’a, Christians, and Sunni Muslims who prefer a secular government are all sticking with Assad. Most people on the West don’t realize that he actually has a fair bit of support in his own country. This can be seen by the fact that there have been almost no defections from his side since the civil war started.

I don’t think you can say that Obama doesn’t think peace and security are important. He’s been more involved in the ME than any other Western leader. As I’ve already said, he has done a really bad job of communicating what he’s doing there, and why he’s doing it. That’s on him. I think he’s finally realized this, and is trying to change.

I saw a (very poorly conducted) interview with the Iraqi ambassador to the US on Fox a few says ago. The ambassador said they had learned from their mistakes, one of which was refusing to give the US a SoFA. He was of the opinion that neither side wanted the US in Iraq, and were not amenable to an agreement. It seems that my opinion that the US couldn’t have got a SoFA even if they’d tried harder is correct.

I don’t think it’s about being loved or feared. It’s about building relationships, and Obama has failed to build relationships both within his own party and with Republicans. He clearly has the ability, as most leading Republicans admit they like him personally. He hasn’t worked on that. He clearly doesn’t like doing the schmooze thing (and who can blame him) but he should have made the effort to do more of it. He relies on Joe Biden to do a lot of that, but he’s had other issues to deal with in his personal life and there’s been no one to pick up the slack.

Thank you Heather. That is very generous of you. My daughter and family are still here, but I’ll try to work my comments into better shaper in the next few days. But I can’t figure out how to email you. Could you send me your address? Thanks, and Happy New Year.

On the other hand, the NYT reports (12/28) that Obama now has Special Ops forces on the ground in 85 countries, doing Lord knows what (presumably installing solar panels and kidnapping polluters).

I do see it somewhat differently. Agreed, Obama is not directly responsible for terrorist attacks that occur outside the USA. However, he is responsible for directing the resources, capabilities and influence that the American people have placed at his disposal to mitigate the global terrorist threat, especially against allies (most especially our oldest ally).

Assad operates under the aegis of Iran, so if he’s responsible, the Ayatollah is more responsible, and he’s now Obama’s best buddy (mate, if you prefer). Besides, Obama informed us years ago that Assad was on his way out. In any case, the need for refugee camps is a symptom, not the problem.

There are three basic things that most of the GOP candidates would do differently out of the gate: [1] Act like peace and security are important priorities; [2] Stop saying we have the right strategy when there is no evidence of that, and make it clear that the strategy will be calibrated as needed; and [3] For Pete’s sake, stop announcing at every opportunity what you’re NOT going to do.

Do you think that Obama’s weakness and passivity have not emboldened Putin? That seems a stretch. What would have happened if Obama had not thrown Iraq under the bus? Perhaps the situation today would not be any better. But no one can seriously say it would be worse.

As for the fact that Obama faced an opposition party after his first half-term: It all comes down to leadership. To get anything done you must either be loved or feared. You have to be willing to get your hands dirty. You may have to hold your nose. And the buck stops with you. It is not apparent that Obama ever learned these basic life lessons.

Woman:
1. Hillary Clinton
2. Malala Yousafzai

Men:
1. Barack Obama
2=. Pope Francis, Donald Trump

See more here: http://www.gallup.com/poll/187922/clinton-admired-woman-record-20th-time.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_content=morelink&utm_campaign=syndication

Paxton. Because you’ve put all your opinions in the comments, probably not that many people will read them. If you want to write a proper article about Sam’s podcast, I’ll post it. E-mail it to me.

I would, of course, state up front that these are your opinions not mine. 🙂

1. Preventing terrorist attacks on French soil is not Obama’s responsibility.

2. There have been a lot of terrorist plots intercepted on US soil. The one’s that haven’t been are lone wolf types that are notoriously difficult to prevent. One that should have been prevented is the Fort Hood shooter. There was a lot of evidence Major Hasan was going off the rails. However, I blame army culture for that, not the Obama administration. There is an argument that the FBI doesn’t have enough money (which I’m not sure I buy, but it’s there), but that’s down to the Republican Congress, not Obama either.

3. Many people in the US have an idea that the US president is far more powerful than he really is. They think “Leader of the Free World” means he can control everything around the world. He can’t. The responsibility for the Syrian refugee crisis is Assad’s. It was fairly obvious is was going to happen, and there are things that could have been done to at least ameliorate it, such as put a lot more money into the refugee camps. However, USians already think that they give too much money on foreign aid, and again the appropriation would have to get through a Republican congress. Incidentally, USians are also wrong about how much foreign aid they give. It’s only a fraction of what they think it is.

4. Everything the GOP candidates are saying is almost exactly what Obama’s is already doing. Obama is actually doing more than any other country in the Middle East. His big problem is he has failed to communicate his strategy. I agree that’s because he’s not really that interested in it. It’s not his passion, and that shows. No GOP candidate however, has been able to come up with a coherent strategy that would work. Only two or three have demonstrated that they even understand the situation.

5. Obama isn’t responsible for Putin’s behaviour either. It was GWB that said he looked into Putin’s eyes and trusted him. Obama’s actions have at least made it obvious that he doesn’t trust Putin. He has engaged with the Russians and had a good relationship with Medvedev when he was president. Medvedev did lots of good stuff, such as tackling a lot of the corruption. Then in 2012, Putin pulled a swifty and was president again, even though he’d already served two terms, and the situation was what it was before, with a corrupt, ex-KBG thug in charge.

6. The terror networks are expanding because there is political space for them. In Iraq there are multiple reasons. One of them is that Obama didn’t keep any troops in Iraq at the end of the war. However, then PM al-Maliki refused to sign a SoFA. Republicans argue that Obama could have made him, and I agree that Obama wasn’t much interested in pursuing it because he believes that the Iraqis should be responsible for their own country and it’s not up to the US to run the place ad infinitum. I’m pretty sure he couldn’t have got the SoFA if he’d tried to insist, and a loss would have looked diplomatically much worse than walking away with the moral high ground of not interfering in the running of another country. It at least kept diplomatic relations good. However, it was the Shi’a Iranians who were pulling Shi’a al-Maliki’s strings and insisting that they could give him all the help he needed. As a result both the Kurds and Sunnis were progressively shut out of government more and more. The Kurds had their own leaders to turn to. The Sunnis had no one except terrorist groups.

7. Obama is far more interested in environmental issues, it’s true. However, climate change is an extremely important issue, and the fact that the Republicans not only deny it, but often don’t even admit it’s a real problem is a problem. As Obama says, they are the only major political group in the world that takes this stance, and they are what has delayed the planet coming to an agreement for so long. They are the reason the Paris agreement is less than perfect. Things that everyone wanted to put in there couldn’t be because it was essential for Obama to be able to get it through the Republican Congress.