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* Michael R. Burhans - Out Of My Mind *
* A Weekly Electronic Column *
* March 30, 1994 *
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The Failure Of A Foreign Policy
Or
"Stop it, or we will make more empty threats."
Secretary of State Warren Christopher's recent trip to the People's
Republic of China was the proverbial straw breaking the back of our
nations foreign policy camel. It seems he has learned little since
his tenure in the administration of President Carter. So far, much
like then, our Foreign Policy under the Clinton Administration has
been marked by grandiose plans, hollow threats, and very little
action. This is unacceptable. Such actions, if continued will lead
to mistrust from our allies, and contempt from our adversaries. Let
us examine the record so far.
Upon taking office the Clinton Foreign policy team was immediately
met with two major crisis: Somalia and Bosnia. In Somalia, with the
best of intentions, he allowed the agenda of United Nations Secretary
General to override the best interests of the United States. What
should have been a simple mission of humanitarian relief, became a
manhunt for a scapegoat. Since he was also the most powerful man in
Somalia, this was very unwise. American troops were asked to perform
military strikes with inadequate intelligence and equipment. When
they ran into a ambush situation, there was no armor to back them up
and safely extract them. Consequently many died needlessly, the
people of the United States were shocked, and we pulled our people
out. This makes us look week and foolish in the eyes of the world.
Such behaviors embolden tyrants and make us lose the respect of our
allies.
One of Clinton's strongest points during the campaign for the
Presidency was that Bush had mishandled the situation in Bosnia, and
that he would take decisive action there. One can only wonder how a
man who laid out exactly what Bush was doing wrong, could possibly
make exactly the same mistakes! He was issued warnings, which proved
empty. Drawn lines that he allowed to be trespass, and in the end,
done almost nothing. The only real action taken so far was the
shooting down of some old Serbian Jets AFTER they had completed a
bombing run in the much touted "No-Fly Zone". Even at this they
allowed several of the planes to run across and imaginary line and
return home. This is far from decisive action. It is nauseate
reminiscent of our nations "Paper Tiger" days of the late 1970's.
Then there was Haiti. After months of loudly proclaiming that we
were dedicated to placing the democratically elected President back
in power, we dropped him like he was plague infected. We threatened
to send in peacekeeping forces, and when a rag tag bunch of armed
thugs appeared at the docks, the United States Military turned around
an sailed away. If we allow a few untrained bandits to run off our
military, how can we reasonably expect any nation to respect us? If
you are unwilling to use troops you should not send them. If you
decide to send them, send them in a level of force that is so
overwhelming that resistance isn't even considered an option by those
you are using force against.
Lastly, there was the travesty of Christopher's trip to the
People's Republic of China. Our nation has not suffered such an
embarrassment on the diplomatic front since the taking of our embassy
in Iran. He went to China blustering threats of trade cut offs, when
the US was clearly not willing to actually do so. The fact is
China's huge market is desperately needed by the United States
economy, and both parties know it. As much as China needs and wants
trade with us, we need it more. Never make threats from a position of
weakness. The Chinese Diplomats held several news conferences where
they told us exactly where we could get off. The last conference was
a virtual de- pantsing of Christopher, and the United States
government. After this, he slunk home in defeat while the world
laughed at our weakness. At a time when we need China's influence to
help in the dangerous situation regarding the North Korean nuclear
program, first alienating and then angering the Chinese is hardly an
intelligent strategy.
President Clinton desperately needs to get new help in his State
Department. Chrisptopher should resign; if he does not, he should be
fired. In a world growing rapidly more intertwined, one cannot
address domestic concerns without equal attention being paid to
international relations. We seem to have gone from a Presidency that
ignored the domestic agenda and was over concerned with the
diplomatic scene, to one that is the exact opposite. Perhaps this
unbalanced approach, swinging from one to the other with each change
in party control is the cause of so much of our nations problems.
The people of our nation need to stand up and demand a rational,
balanced approach to national government. If we do not do it soon,
we may find it is to late to stop our nations decline.
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*(c)1994 Michael R. Burhans\24th Century Society Publishing*
*Permission for unaltered reproduction and dissemination is*
*granted as long as it is not for profit & with this notice*
* Internet-michael.burhans@f1004.n239.z1.fidonet.org *
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