A Middle East Policy for President Romney
There was virtually no discussion of foreign policy at the Republican National Convention. This was entirely appropriate given the crisis and priority of domestic issues. Yet I haven’t even seen a single article discussing this issue at all, and it is going to be important.
Here is the key factor: Mitt Romney, the Romney-Ryan ticket, and Republican congressional candidates have a variety of choices on foreign policy. Some of them can be bad, and because there are different and complex issues, the line taken will not — and arguably should not — be consistent. And certainly their plans will be lied about. Vice President Joe Biden, whose credentials speak for themselves, claims that President Romney would attack Iran and Syria. I don’t think he would attack either and am glad that he wouldn’t.
But think of what Biden is doing: If you are going to denounce your opponent for possibly attacking Iran some day, doesn’t that mean that President Obama has indeed ruled out “keeping all the options on the table”? And also, the administration doesn’t ever seem to get the point that the issue is not how much it intervenes in Syria, but rather whose side is it on. Right now it is mainly on the side of the Muslim Brotherhood and even the Salafis. Romney doesn’t have to raise the level of intervention at all, just make sure that not one dollar, bullet, or gun goes to radical anti-American Islamists in Syria. And if you aren’t sure, you don’t give them anything.
But what should a Romney administration do? Of course, there are the general principles: make America strong and respected again, support the soldiers, and help friends and make enemies sorry that they are enemies. There must be a defense of legitimate U.S. interests and an end to apologies. Popularity is okay, but respect and trust are far more important. Avoid either isolationism or excessive interventionism and get over the democracy-solves-all naivete. Don’t be chomping at the bit to go to war with Iran as a supposed panacea.
These principles are important, but they don’t necessarily tell us how to do things. An average Arab citizen put it best in private conversation: “We don’t want an American president who acts like an Arab. We want an American president who acts like an American.” The old diplomatic virtues of credibility, protection of national interests, preservation of alliances and promises, recognition of friends and enemies, and so on need to be reinstalled.
The easiest theme is to stop helping anti-American dictators in Venezuela and several other Latin American countries, the Muslim Brotherhood (everywhere, including Hamas as the ruler of the Gaza Strip), and Hizballah, as well as many small terrorist groups and al-Qaeda.
The basic grand strategy for the Middle East should be to form and lead a very broad and very loose — not institutionalized — alignment of forces opposing Islamism. This means showing real leadership to the Europeans; in fact, many European countries are better on this issue than Obama. It also means supporting Israel, of course, but there is a long list of others:
Governments: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain (despite its faults), Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya (we hope Obama can claim credit for that one), Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia (despite its faults), and the United Arab Emirates. You can add some other former Soviet Muslim-majority republics.
Opposition and democratic moderate movements: Iran, Lebanon, Syria (where the United States is supporting the Islamists!), Tunisia, and Turkey (see Syria, above). Let’s also keep in mind the Berbers, Christians, and Kurds in general as communities that overwhelmingly link their survival to fighting revolutionary Islamism. Such ethnic communities can also be found in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
This cooperation to defeat radical Islamism, however it disguises itself, should be the backbone of U.S. policy. It can be implemented in a thousand different ways. Post-victory planning, which better start soon (at least among independent analysts), needs to define these.
There are some Middle East problem countries that require special consideration.
It is time for a withdrawal from Afghanistan and a clever policy of backing — with a mixture of covert, financial, and other assets — those who will fight to keep the Taliban out of power. Afghanistan is not going to be democratic or a nice place. But it must be a place that does not threaten America again.
Yemen is a mess and, like Afghanistan, will continue to be a mess. The U.S. policy should cooperate to the maximum extent with Yemen on fighting terrorism without illusions about the nature of the regime and its willingness to betray the United States at any moment.
Jihad is expensive. Cut the foreign aid flowing to our enemies (Pakistan, Egypt, Syria…) to ZERO and tell them the money saved will go into bullets and missiles if they misbehave or act against our interests.
Once the howls of outrage die down you will see calm, our enemies know we are NOT SERIOUS about stopping them, THAT is the problem with our foreign policy…
Here is 2nd term Obamas foreign policy
1) Establish the Dempsey-Ahmadinejad nonaggression pact (modeled after Molotov- von Ribbentrop)
2) Establish a coalition of the willing- Iran, Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia as an anti-Israel axis
3) Impose confiscatory taxes on anyone making above $100K to support aid to Egypt, Hamas and the Palestinian authority
Of course, the analysis is laying bare the catastrophe wrought by the Radical-in-Chief. It also exposes the utter nonsense, that placing elections as the barometer of all things democratic will usher in western ethos.
In a pig’s eye.
Bush – however well meaning his intentions were – missed the boat on this one.
Google – ‘Adina Kutnicki’ and my blog will pop up. Links are bouncing back.
In any case, read ‘More Hell Unleashed…Smack On Israel’s Southern Border’ (9/4/12),
‘US General Dempsey Strikes Again…Dhimmifying US Interests Re Iran…So ordered By The Islamist-in-Chief’ (9/1/12)
‘EVERY Alarm Bell Is Ringing Tying Barack HUSSEIN Obama To The Muslim Brotherhood Mafia…Huma Abedin At The Tippy Top’ (8/27/12),
and others!
Recall that the idea of installing democracy in the islamic world was Blair’s wet dream. Bush went along for the ride, and eventually got sucked in. It was Bush’s need to get Blair on board that started that abortion.
Shoulda listened to Cheney.
Agreed. The Obama Doctrine of dhimminitude has been devastating to people in the middle east seeking freedom of oppression and has weakened the US as well as made the world far less safe. I think Rubin’s outline for a Romney foreign policy is a good starting place. From your blogs Adina it is clear the Obama doctrine of dhimminitude within the US got (re: your blog on Human Abidin and the Muslim Brotherhood) that is seeping into our society must be called out and stopped as well.
Noralynn, agreed.
The ball got rolling for me, regarding Huma Abedin (but not regarding the Muslim Mafia as a whole), through a chance meeting I had at Columbia U, while attending a SPME conference.
In any case, if you haven’t read http://adinakutnicki.com/2012/06/25/six-degrees-of-separation-48-2/ you may want to.
It puts some perspective on the topic of ‘Humala’.
Human Sacrifice – Pentagon Style.
Is there no other way for the pentagon’s generals to worship the high gods of career and political correctness, and to show their devotion to the most holy, and never to be questioned, doctrine of COIN, than to continue to wantonly squander the lives and limbs of thousands of their own Soldiers and Marines on the alter of their own hubris?
Can not they see their lives and limbs blunder?
Does not one among them ever even wonder?
In defense/foriegn policy Romney’s very first task should be to appoint a Secretary of Defense who will clean house at the G-d damned Pentagon.
The building formally known as the Pentagon has become a G-d damned whore house of servicing Muslims. The Perfumed Pimps there masquerading as Generals have no regard for America and it’s Constitution or their own troops and they are all out sons-of-bitches, traitors, and chronic dhimmis!
Good suggestions – but there may well not be a President Romney because the Republicans nominated a man who many Americans, even those not fans of Obama, cannot feel comfortable with. A man who made his fortune not through honest work and creating something people can use but through finanacial manipulation and tax avoidance. A man who owns several homes and cars and horses at a time when Americans are struggling to get by, the middle class is being eroded and
even many young people graduating from college with skills and a willingness to work cant find jobs.
Have the Obamas earned their wealth through hard productive work? I think not.
You need to do a little more research on Bain Capital, it’s successes and failures. And he made his wealth using is own and his investors money, not mine and yours. Unlike the Obama’s.
Go back to Huffpo.
Uhh, Chava, could you point me to any politician on the Federal level who is not at the very least a millionaire? While we are at it,could you explain to me how even those that weren’t extremely rich when they took office manage to become so before they leave office? And again, could you tell me how many Senators and Congressmen are being accused of if not actually being investigated for tax fraud?
Now Chava, since Romney has already shown us where and how he got his money and told us how much he has paid in taxes and gave to charity, would you mind telling me what your point is?
Chava,
There is a 50% chance that you may be right about who will win the election. However, you obviously know nothing about Bain Capital or the private equity business, except what you have read in liberal blogs, the NYT, and Democrat campaign literature. The vast majority of funds invested by private equity firms is on behalf of corporate and government employee pension funds, with the next biggest source being charitable and educational endowments. Private equity firms only make a lot of money if their clients do well. These clients often insist that the firm’s partners reinvest their fees in the funds’ holdings to keep their interests 100% consistent with those of their clients. The IRS has ruled that these deferred fees are at risk and are eligible for treatment as capital gains or losses.
There are many private equity funds with many different investment styles. Among them, Bain, while not the largest, is considered to be one of the “class acts” by clients and advisors who direct institutional investors. Bain primarily invests in companies that are experiencing growing pains (needing capital and managerial support) and mature but basically sound businesses that are experiencing difficulty due to managerial, competitive, cyclical or other issues that Bain thinks can be addressed with more capital and better management. Not all private equity firms take the same approach, some focus more on financial engineering and using high levels of debt, others try to buy control of severely distressed companies at very low prices and either turn them down or liquidate the assets, others are very good at seeking government (taxpayer) support for the companies they control.
Obama and his cohorts have demonstrated how little they know about business and real world economics. They think that the rest of us are as ignorant as they are and that their lies, exaggerations, and distortions will scare voters away from a candidate who will be less harmful (and probably helpful) to the US economy. Without restoring economic growth there will be no way to pay for a federal santa claus and pie in the sky programs and subsidies. Government can not be the source of that growth and political allocation of capital is by definition inefficient and corrupt. Every time Obama opens his ignorant ideological mouth he further undermines the business confidence needed to restore economic growth.
“The Brotherhood must know that subversion of U.S. allies, promoting terrorism against Israel, and other such activities will be costly.”
If Obama wins re-election, you can forget about this. In fact, I think Obama and Hillary Clinton probably agree with the Muslim Brotherhood on a wide variety of issues, espcially their mutual hatred for Israel. If I were an Israeli, I wouldn’t trust Obama as far as I could spit. I would just pray that Romney wins. But if Romney doesn’t win, you will see a major crisis unfold between Israel and Iran that will probably engulf the entire Middle East, including the United States and maybe even Russia and China. And the sad part is, it didn’t have to come to this. If Obama had just taken a little more interest in the Middle East and supported more pro-wetern factions and countries like Israel, we would probably be looking at a better outcome to a confrontation with Iran. But, for right now, I shudder to think what will happen next year in the Middle East if Obama wins.
In view of the fact that the Democrats have removed from their platform key language supporting Israel’s right to Jerusalem as their capital, Romney should declare at every opportunity his support for Israel and its right to keep Jerusalem. He should also make it clear that if Iran should ever attack Israel we will turn Tehran into a molten glass parking lot.
You can’t reason with the crazy mullahs. You can only make sure they fear us.
Opps! Dems now say it was a big omission. They are going to include God in the platform and they NOW believe Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
Funny how they pander!
An unpopular concept, I hold that straight talk, from an American President, is the best course for resolving the middle east conflicts. Obama has destroyed his credibility in the region, by doing what G. Bush started while blaming him for starting it. President Romney should outline an approach stating:
Much of the middle east problems are beyond America’s ability to correct. Among these are religious hatred, and tribal conflicts. We will guarantee Israel’s existence, but we will take issue with some of their treatment of Arabs. As with most deep conflicts, there has been cruelty on both sides. There is enough land, water, talent, and money in the region for all to live in peace. The base problem is that there is a culture of death within the Arab community. Moderate Arabs do not rule their nations. We will work with each nation, which means we work with devils. It does not mean we ally with their murderous behavior. We seek peace with Iran, but she must know that if she explodes a nuclear weapon on Israel, Iran will cease to exist as a nation. We will remove our military from any nation who works with us for peace. We demand that each nation control their terrorists, but if these demons attack America, we will start combat in that nation. And where our aid, or military goes, we will bring our bibles.
Barry, why should Christians in some parts of the world have it easier than others? When you have Christians in countries that are majority Muslim, how they have it resembles how Christians had it in the Roman Empire before Constantine was Emperor.
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: Look at the pages where FDR shows up in “The Lost Crusade: America in Vietnam” by Chester L. Cooper, and plan to apply that to the area from Marrakesh to North Korea to Indonesia.
For this is more than what the US can accomplish on its own.
Mr. Rubin omits the two key questions about Egypt.
First, what should be the U.S. response to Egypt’s imminent economic collapse and probable mass famine? Egypt imports half its food and is running out of money.
Second, what should be the U.S. response to Islamist violence against Egypt’s large Christian minority? It is quite possible that when the Islamist regime runs out of food, the Christians will be left to starve. Even before that, the mass murder of Christians who refuse to convert to Islam is possible – genocide on the scale of the Nazi holocaust.
The U.S. will have three choices – do nothing (de facto complicity); intervene; or accept millions of refugees. Who likes any of these choices?
Obama has lowered the bar for what Romney must do to exceed the past 4 years to merely ceasing all obama policies. Romney need not promise more than that as an opening bid to give hope to the world for better days. That much is a big step in the right direction. The damage from obama’s blundering may take generations to turn around, but it is the muslims that will pay the highest price for his incompetence.