What if?…asks Michael Kuttner
Crucial events are more often than not determined by the right leader being in the right place at the right time.
How true this is when one surveys the train wrecks which have already occurred and will occur just down the tracks.
Michael Kuttner
This past week I have been reading about how two previous United States Presidents stood up to the bullying tactics of totalitarian regimes and successfully defeated overt and intended aggression.
The contrast between what happened not so long ago and what is unfolding today with Iran is stark. It provides valuable lessons for anyone interested in learning how to deal with terror states and their bullying behavior. Glaringly obvious is the pathetic performance of today’s US leadership. Unfortunately neither the US nor European political establishments are prepared to acknowledge their total failures and therefore the road upon which they have embarked will only lead to disasters soon enough.
Harry Truman was initially seen as one of the most underrated Presidents but he soon displayed huge doses of common sense and an uncanny ability to discern what needed to be done in order to thwart the ambitions of those who threatened democracy and democratic countries. Not only that but he had no hesitation in calling evil exactly that and not hiding behind politically correct double speak.
The Berlin airlift is a classic example of how standing up to naked bullying succeeded in defeating the designs of the Soviet Union to take over and dominate Germany at the end of World War 2. Faced with a blatant attempt to occupy the whole of Germany and isolate Berlin the Soviets blockaded it thereby hoping to starve the city and the allies into submission. Instead of engaging in fruitless appeasement President Truman led by example and together with the British organized a huge airlift to supply Berlin with essential needs. He warned the Soviets not to interfere with the planes and promised dire consequences if they did so. This resolute display of military forcefulness paid off because at the end of the day the Soviets backed down and their bully tactics failed. What a contrast to today’s weak kneed kowtowing.
The second example of a Presidential will to confront evil intents was when North Korea with Communist Chinese assistance decided to embark on a campaign to destroy South Korea and its newborn democratic way of life. Truman swung into action. Unlike the present incumbent of the White House, Truman realized right from the beginning that sucking up to brutal dictatorships and oppressors of human rights would only bring in its wake more of the same. He instinctively knew that rewarding aggressors with billions of dollars and pieces of paper promising everlasting love and trust was not going to save South Korea nor would it prevent recurrent duplicity in the future. He was fortunate in that the United Nations in the early 1950’s had not yet been hijacked by a majority of morally corrupt dictatorships and anti democratic nations.
Realising that jaw jaw, as Churchill described negotiations, was not going to bring about a cessation of aggression against its neighbor, the US President swiftly put together an international force led by the US and sanctioned by the UN, to put an end to North Korea’s terror.
North Korea could have been totally defeated but in yet another historic error which would breed future mayhem, they were allowed to sue for an uneasy armistice which exists to this day. At least South Korea was saved from Communist tyranny by the decisive action of Harry Truman.
The third example of resolute Presidential action occurred during the Cuban Missile crisis when the Soviets intended to station missile bases in Cuba which threatened mainland USA. With a fleet of Soviet warships and merchant vessels approaching Cuba and photos revealing work being undertaken to accommodate them, President Kennedy warned the Soviets of dire consequences. Ignoring US demands because they believed Kennedy to be a weak person, the Soviet fleet approached the Cuban coast. Kennedy put in place a naval blockade and warned the Soviets that their fleet would be intercepted and turned back by force if necessary. At the last moment, realizing that Kennedy was serious, the Soviet flotilla turned around and retreated. Russian missiles were never installed on Cuban soil. The only reason that the Soviets blinked first was because of the determined intention by the USA to thwart by force if necessary the plan to threaten the American continent.
Obama loves to compare himself to Kennedy but that is as far removed from reality as his other delusional hallucinations. Can anyone in their right mind even start to compare the present incumbent of the White House with the likes of Truman and Kennedy?
Bill Clinton who is often touted as some sort of political genius set the precedent to today’s Iranian farce by negotiating with North Korea and then trumpeting his amazing achievements at defanging their nuclear ambitions. Signing yet another worthless piece of paper and claiming diplomatic victory, all he managed to achieve was a massive disaster. North Korea, thanks to Clinton’s inept appeasement is today the world’s largest exporter of missile and nuclear technology to rogue nations. Their continued and unhindered development of nuclear capability is a direct consequence of the same sort of naïve policies being advanced by Obama and Kerry.
Just as critics in Clinton’s time were derided and accused of being war mongers for daring to question and challenge obviously fatally flawed agreements so today we have a repeat performance. One does not have to be a political genius to predict similar disastrous results as the current White House dream team promote an equally poisonous and useless plan of action.
Obama complains that only Israel opposes his sell out to the Mullahs and we are meddling in something which is a domestic US affair. He is wrong on both counts. Other Arab countries are also fearful of the toxic consequences of this sell out because they know only too well that an Iran flush with funds and contemptuous of US impotency will soon cause trouble in the region. They are not speaking out loudly because they do not want to be publicly seen as being on the same side as Israel which in itself speaks volumes about hypocrisy and double standards. History has taught us that remaining silent in the face of threats to our lives is a fatal disease which unfortunately many still suffer from.
As for meddling in US affairs that is a specious assertion. Iran first of all threatens the lives of all Israelis. Once they have disposed of the Zionist entity as they call us, they will focus their attention further afield such as Europe and the USA. Therefore our vocal warnings are more than justified. Meddling in someone else’s internal affairs is something the State Department is well versed in as we witness every time there is an Israeli election.
What if the current President and Secretary of State had been in charge at the time of the Berlin crisis? What if they had been there when North Korea tried to destroy democratic South Korea? What if they had been in charge when the Soviets covertly tried to establish missile bases in Cuba and had their fleets steaming towards that country with missiles?
Beyond a shadow of a doubt they would have trodden the well-worn and failed path of appeasement. West Germany would have been conquered by the Soviet Union, South Korea would have ceased to exist and mainland US would be within spitting distance of Soviet missiles. We are fortunate that at those crucial times determined leadership averted such scenarios.
No such luck however prevails today. We are faced by delusionary weak leadership which is determined to ignore every red line, whether it is chemical weapons in Syria, terrorism in general or nuclear genocidal ambitions in Iran.
The ultimate proof, as if any is really needed, of the delusionary policies being pursued today, is exemplified by a statement made by John Kerry this week. He proclaimed: “if we reject the Iran deal, the world will lose faith in US leadership.” Except for those who do not want to acknowledge reality, all countries which counted on US backup and are now menaced by the Iranian march to the bomb, lost faith in any US leadership a long time ago.
A quote by Albert Einstein sums up the situation brilliantly:
“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.
I agree with Paul Winter’s expressed view and would add that in my opinion Barack Obama is clearly not delusional. He knew exactly what he was doing from day one, that is, working feverishly to put in place policies to bring about Israel’s destruction. He clearly said to Medvedev prior to his 2nd term re-election: “Wait till the elections are over and see what I will do to Israel” and asked that this be relayed to Putin.
Again, prior to his re-election for a 2nd term and fearing what an Israeli military strike on Iran would do to his re-election campaign, he disclosed to the world the secret Israeli air base at Azerbaijan from where the IAF would launch strikes to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities. As a consequence the Azerbaijanian option is now off the table.
With the current agreement with Iran a fait accompli, he has made it clear that the US military would come to Iran’s assistance should it be attacked by one or a combination of forces. Of course, only a fool would not see that this was a clear warning to Israel to back off. Even prior to the Iranian nuclear deal, he warned Netanyahu that any attempted Israeli strike against Iran where IAF fighters crossed Iraki airspace he would order US fighters shoot them down.
These are not the actions of someone delusional but the actions of someone who knows exactly what he is doing and to this end, he has the support of those morons of the Diaspora, American Jews.
Michael, all the above info is no doubt known to you, but as a conservative commentator, you persist in referring to Obama as one of the many just weak and delusional leaders. Weak he is, but when are you ever going to call a spade a spade and refer to Obama for what he is, a Muslim hell bent to see Israel’s destruction.
This “President” has Muslim Brotherhood members in his administration and the internet version of his Birth Certificate has font types from a 1960s typewriter and that of a current day computer. Forensic examiners have said it is a forgery clearly showing he was not born in the USA as the Constitution requires and was therefore clearly ineligible to even run for office. Fortunately for him a gullible brain dead American electorate (including 80% of American Jews) still voted him in. This “President” entered the USA as an Indonesian foreign exchange student by the name of Barry Soetoro whose ID card was stamped in the Religion Box as “Islam” and whose background was Marxist, clearly making him anti-Western as Paul has already stated.
When will Jews in general stop deluding themselves about the current occupier of the Oval Office?
When will they cease treating him with the respect he clearly does not deserve?
Michael, you are right, but like most, attribute disastrous US policies to “delusionary weak leadership”.
When you consider Obama’s withdrawal from Iraq and letting it fall apart, his failure to give enough troops to his generals to make a success of a surge in Arghanistan all the while conducting talks with the Taliban, his cosying up to Erdogan and his support for Moslem Brotherhood Morsi, his sucking up to Khamenei in 2011 followed by his leaking of Israeli plans to attack Iran via Azerbaijan in 2012, his failure to act decisively in Libya, his lack of resolve against Iran’s Syrian client, his failure to take any actions against Boko Haram or el Shabaab and his half hearted efforts against ISIL one pattern emerges.
Another pattern emerges when one notes his lack of resolve in Ukraine, his peace deal with Cuba before it democratises, his alienation of Egypt and Saudi Arabia plus Israel. combined with his empowerment of Iran and playing the dual loyalty of card against any US Jew who opposes his sell-out on top of his criticism of Israel for defending itself and holding up weapon transfers in the middle of a war.
The two patterns tell me that Obama and his courtiers are anti-West islamophilic supporters of revolutionary islam and should be called out as such.