Not for the least of which, it's my strong suit. :D

Granted, there are issues that are that simple but very few in the realm of foreign policy.

Not really. When you get right down to it, things are usually very black and white.

It's only the diplomats and the politicians who like to inject "nuance" into the issues..

For example, the monitoring of foreign leaders communications.

Bad. No matter how you slice it, it's bad. It's bad and it's wrong..

See??

Black and white. No shades of gray whatsoever... :D

Michale
104

Sorry ... guess I was having a moment ... of clear-headed thinking ... heh.

It's just that in your world, where your way of looking at things is the rational way, it is too easy to see things in a very distorted way ... so much so that what is perceived is actually contrary to the facts - not your facts or my facts but THE facts.

We don't get the opportunity to discuss US foreign policy around here quite as much as I would like but I'm going to take every opportunity to persuade you of the hazards of seeing too many things in a black and white, right and wrong sort of way. Granted, there are issues that are that simple but very few in the realm of foreign policy.

:D

A free news stand.

The New Yorker posts some articles in their entirety, maybe they'll pull down the barriers a few days out. To burnish their prestige a bit more.

It's really a good piece, with examples showing how both right and left view Federal Government to have failed. Yet both sides talk about the Constitution the way fundamentalists talk about the Bible.

Jefferson wanted the Constitution to sundown at 19 years.

What's a..... "library"???

:p

Michale

While I *DO* want to read it, I just don't want to read it THAT bad... :D

Michale

ANNALS OF LAWOUR BROKEN CONSTITUTIONEveryone agrees that government isn’t working. Are the founders to blame?
BY JEFFREY TOOBIN
DECEMBER 9, 2013
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/12/09/131209fa_fact_toobin

Apparently, Toobin is ALSO a time traveler.... :D

Michale

Annals of Law
Our Broken Constitution
Everyone agrees that government isn’t working. Are the founders to blame?
by Jeffrey Toobin December 9, 2013

Find a copy, read it. Toobin's at his best in print.

:D

Michale

Well, if you change "shallow" to "simple", I would agree with you wholeheartedly..

In my world, things are very black and white, right and wrong..

Sadly, there appears to be no room for a rational, substantive discussion with you about these matters. And, I simply don't have time for this nonsense.

Actually, my way IS the more rational...

None of this politically correct or "shades of gray" crap...

Just the facts, Ma'am.... :D

Michale

You have a very shallow perspective on foreign policy, I'm afraid to say.

Sadly, there appears to be no room for a rational, substantive discussion with you about these matters. And, I simply don't have time for this nonsense.

Obama has never met an ally he didn't want to throw under the bus....

Michale

Perhaps you have another name for it?

Obama et al was rip-roaring to tell China to stuff it..

They even flew FON exercises THRU China's new ADIZ, effectively giving The People's Air Force the finger..

THEN, Obama advises civilian airlines to obey China's rules and reversed course.

"It wasn't the declaration of the ADIZ that actually was destabilizing," said Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, America's highest-ranking military officer. "It was their assertion that they would cause all aircraft entering the ADIZ to report regardless of whether they were intending to enter into the sovereign airspace of China. And that is destabilizing."

That's a change from just a few days ago, when U.S. Vice President Joe Biden demanded that China take back its declaration of the zone. And it's another demonstration that China's recent decisions have forced the United States to tread carefully. On Wednesday, Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing for more than five hours, according to a senior administration official. In brief public remarks midway through the marathon session, Biden didn't mention the air defense zone at all.

Now, you might call it something different, but it's CLEARLY kissing China's arse...

You might even say there is good reason to do it and you might be right.

But it's STILL kissing China's arse...

Michale

The point is that no one is kissing anybody else's ass.

So, in my view, delayed sanctions amount to trading off marginally more effective economic pressure for marginally more difficult negotiations.

Some threats are better delivered privately, and think this is one of them. All the benefits of the delayed sanction gambit would have been achieved by keeping the threat private, with far lower downside risk. In fact, the threat may already have been delivered privately, probably was delivered in some form, and we just don't know about it. If so, little effect one way or the other.

None of this strikes me as a game changer, but I generally prefer simplicity to complexity in negotiations. Overall rating, Meh. Given senate egos, probably inevitable, and almost certainly anticipated by the State Department.

Once again, you take a fact and come to a conclusion that is way out in Left Field..

The fact that China has an ADIZ is not the issue.

The fact that China just INCREASED it's ADIZ to take it into SOVEREIGN JAPANESE TERRITORY....

THAT is the issue here...

To put it into a more readily understandable context, it would be as if Russia extended it's ADIZ to cover all of Alaska or Mexico extended it's ADIZ to cover Southern California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas...

It's illegal and it's not right..

But apparently Japan now joins Israel under the Obama Bus...

To paraphrase Sheriff Brody, "We're gonna need a bigger bus"....

By the way, please tell me you were kidding when you say you thought, at one time - at any time! - that foreign policy was Obama's strong suit!

Up until Egypt and Benghazi, yea... I thought Obama had it together when it came to foreign policy..

At least by comparison to his domestic policy which well and truly sucks..

Michale

We're going to have to start calling you the King of Misinformation.

Or is it just that your analytical skills are a bit lacking when it comes to US foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific, or what I like to call the Indo-Pacific region?

Do you think that China is the only one in that neighbourhood with an ADIZ? Hardly! And, they even overlap! Would you like to guess which country I'm talking about?

Now, China is the only one going so far as to demand that aircraft passing through this zone identify themselves and their itinerary. That is not acceptable.

By the way, please tell me you were kidding when you say you thought, at one time - at any time! - that foreign policy was Obama's strong suit!

Obama kisses Chinese Ass....
http://killerapps.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/12/04/team_obama_changes_course_appears_to_accept_china_air_defense_zone

:^/

Hard to believe that, at one time, everyone (myself included) thought Obama's STRONG suit was foreign policy...

Michale

The fact that the White House is afraid of showing "bad faith" to the Go To Country for world terrorism is just one more indication that Obama is truly whacked...

As I said in the previous commentary, I think this plan is a good idea..

But the White House and the Left won't go for it.

Because it gives the GOP a huge win.. Especially in 6 months down the road when the new sanctions WILL kick in...

Because I can guarantee ya'all one thing..

Iran is not negotiating in good faith.

Iran is using the North Korea path to becoming a nuclear power.

Michale

Some more than others. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif. is advocating tactical nukes. No word if he plans to ride one down, Major Kong style.