In President Obama’s global campaign of “smart” diplomacy, with its stress on reaching out, engaging and resetting, the main evidence of anything genuinely “smart” – in the most shallow, modern sense – is the love of electronic and digital gadgetry:
– A “Reset” button for Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (admittedly, not a button actually wired to anything, but the metaphor, at least, is of the digital age).
– DVDs for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (OK, not compatible with British players, but hey, it’s the idea that counts).
– An ipod for the Queen of England.
If this is to be the trend, America can do much better. America is now planning to join the UN’s discredited Human Rights Commission, which spends most of its time, under its fancy $23 million ceiling, condemning Israel and giving a pass to the world’s worst human rights abusers. Maybe America’s delegates should bring along as a gift a sprinkler system to install in that ceiling, programmed to switch on whenever the Council introduces yet another resolution condemning Israel, or hands a pass to the likes of Belarus and Sudan. More on why this would be appropriate, in my column this on Forbes.com , on “Why Not to Join the U.N. Human Rights Council.”
You have a point…. but how surreal and bizzzzzare are THE ONES actions?
Those presents were testimony to the shallowness and lack of culture at the top of America’s present government.
It’s embarrassing but now, undeniable.
Too Funny. Gadgetry and gimmickry seem to be the craven way to go…
Obama did a spectacular belly-flop in Europe but it is being celebrated like an Olympic Gold Medal performance.
I wonder if that trillion dollars (yes, $1,000,000,000,000)for IMF will come out of US taxpayer’s pockets. Since many countries can contribute their quota in pesos, ringgits, etc. you can bet most of those $$$ come from us.
No wonder Europe was smiling!
We all hoped against hope that leadership in D.C. would grow up to become adults, but all we can smell are dirty diapers, from miles away
I guess its dawned on us just where all that “smart power” emanates from. Maybe she meant “sharp” power.
And, as the english say, “that’s a might powerful pong”
Once Israel and Japan
Were treated as friends
But a cold shoulder pervades
What a chill wind portends
A Queen gets a gadget
And a King, a deep bow
“All in”, says the Full House
Against the crumbling Dow
We’ve Reset with Russia
And borrowed Chinese
We beg forgiveness from Islam
They all do as they please
I know where we started
But can’t know where it ends
We’ve turned this ship toward the future
And our backs on our friends
A child knows the numbers
And here’s how they figure
16 million is smaller
And a billion is bigger
Farewell to Jerusalem
Goodbye to Japan
It was nice while it lasted
Here’s the back of our hand.
Obama’s Chamberlainian “smart diplomacy” is as popular as its original version in the 1930′s. Appeasement is always popular until it fails.
There is an interesting example of this in a conversation with Frankie Sturm of the Truman National Security Project over at http://www.mistermoleman.com, including reassuring stuff about “learning to live with an Iranian bomb.”
A while back I joked that, given the adolescent-ness of his gift giving, Obama may soon start handing out mix tapes, just like the teenager he seems to have never stopped being.
Now, with an iPod gift, he is halfway there, as all he needs to do is pre-load it with his personal tune picks.
Oh, and I loved the visual image of the sprinkler system!