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Jewish World Review March 5, 2009 / 9 Adar 5769 A dangerous naivete in foreign policy By Kevin Ferris
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | In June, John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was writing about candidate Barack Obama's "naive and dangerous approach to foreign policy." So far, on the Mideast, North Korea, and other issues, President Obama and his team haven't dispelled that impression. "This is a critical time for the United States in foreign policy and national security," Bolton said Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. "And it's already evident that the challenges we face may be more than this administration can handle." Granted, it's early. Bolton acknowledged in an interview before the conference that all new administrations have to settle in, switching from campaign mode to governing. And that process is under way. In Canada, Obama more or less admitted that all the bluster about NAFTA last year was a sop to Democratic primary voters. In the war on terror, antiwar rhetoric has given way to reality. Gone is the 16-month timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. The closing of Guantanamo is now so complex it must be studied. Torture is out, but aggressive interrogation techniques? Maybe. And the CIA detention centers overseas are closed, well, except for the temporary ones. But the CIA doesn't build permanent bases overseas, Bolton pointed out at CPAC. But don't be fooled about where Obama stands, Bolton said. "Being inconsistent or deceptive is not the same as being a moderate." In other areas, Bolton said he believed the Obama team had shown an alarming mix of ideology, naivete and inexperience. Start with the emphasis on negotiations in the Mideast, from Iran's nuclear program to the appointment of George Mitchell as the Israeli-Palestinian envoy. Talks can work in most cases, Bolton said, but not in all. And the focus must be clear. "Appointing an envoy to the Mideast at this point, when you don't know what you want to come out of it, shows a blind faith in negotiations," Bolton said in the interview. "It shows faith in a process, not in substance. And it's substance that will make a difference." On Hillary Rodham Clinton's recent trip to Asia, Bolton sees a secretary of state who hasn't switched from campaigning to policy-making. "That should've started before she got on the plane to leave the country," Bolton said. Bolton criticized Clinton's call to revive the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program - just as he was critical of those talks during the Bush administration, her shout out to the wisdom of Bill Clinton's approach to North Korea, her failure to cite Pyongyang's nuclear-proliferation efforts in the Mideast and the administration's apparent willingness to allow North Korea a "peaceful" nuclear program. Recent missile tests suggest the intentions of a North Korea or Iran are anything but peaceful. "They are not motivated by an abstract interest in astrophysics," Bolton said at CPAC. "They are delivery systems for nuclear weapons." The U.N. conference on racism planned for April also raises warning flags, Bolton said before Thursday's speech. The United States walked out of the first gathering in Durban, South Africa, in September 2001. It had been billed as "a landmark in the struggle to eradicate all forms of racism," but produced an anti-Israel manifesto. The Bush administration had refused to join preparatory sessions for the second conference. Bolton was at the State Department in 2001, attending staff meetings where it was made clear that Durban was "headed for a train wreck." Bolton recalled, "It was apparent that Secretary (Colin) Powell didn't like walking out, but we couldn't legitimize that document." Last month, Obama sent a team to the preliminary sessions, hoping to "change the direction" of the conference. But the administration was already backing off, according to reports Friday. "This is a humiliating position for the United States to be in," Bolton said. "You either sign onto a document that's unacceptable or pull back out again. This will cause more damage to the new administration than they realize. ... Showing weakness and inexperience is never a good thing." And unlike the challenges that then-Vice President-elect Joe Biden predicted for the new administration, this one did not come from foreign leaders. This wound was "entirely self-inflicted," Bolton said. These challenges and others - from Russia to China to U.N. efforts that harm U.S. sovereignty - all add to Bolton's belief that the United States has in Obama its most radical president. "That's the bad news," he told CPAC. "The good news is, if we get our act together, he is a one-term president." Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
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Kevin Ferris is commentary page editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
© 2008, Philadelphia Inquirer Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
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