You had to be in the State Department during the run up to the just-concluded Summit of the Americas (SOA). You could cut the smugness and condescension with a knife. Obamaistas were boasting about how the SOA would be a triumph as Cuba was not going to be raised, and drugs would not be a major issue. Fail.
Deja vu. They were equally as giddy after the April 2009 SOA in Trinidad in which, they claimed ad nauseam, that President Obama had "wowed" the Latin Americans, and that our policy in Latin America was now on a sound footing after the "bad " Bush. I was working in our delegation to the Organization of American States (OAS) and heading for Honduras for the June 2009 39th GA of the OAS. The feeling throughout the Administration was that Obama, thanks to his "third world" background, his breaking of racial barriers, and his willingness to apologize for the United States had Latin American leaders swooning at his every word. We were assured by the Secretary and her acolytes that thanks to Obama's "rock star" performance, not only would the OAS General Assembly go swimmingly, but so would our relations with the Hemisphere.
Not.
The administration refused to believe persistent information we had that the host of the GA, the soon-to-be deposed Manuel Zelaya of Honduras, was going to double-cross us and insist on Cuba being admitted to the OAS. We had a raucous GA in which we were betrayed by Honduras, Brazil, and Argentina, who threw in with Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Ecuador in pushing for Cuba. We were able to stop it only because of tough negotiating into the wee wee hours by career officers, and the invaluable assistance of the Chilean Foreign Minister. The following two years in the OAS were a constant anti-American slug-fest; nobody respected or feared Barack Obama. Clearly, the "wow" factor had a very short life.
The SOA that just ended in the amazingly beautiful city of Cartagena was a disaster. (Note: If you get the chance, go to Cartagena. It is a stunning city with a terrific history and architecture, and some great people. In fact, if you get a chance, go to Colombia, a wonderful country that has re-invented itself with a lot of hard work by some very brave men and women.) It was a disaster, and not because of the Secret Service prostitution scandal. On the contrary, that scandal is a godsend as it overshadows how poorly Obama and Clinton did in Cartagena on the substance. This SOA showed, once again, how out of touch the Obamaistas are with Latin America and the Caribbean, and their persistent disregard of Canada, by far our most important foreign relation in the world, and an invaluable ally in the OAS and the Hemisphere. The Obamaistas live in Fantasyland, and do not allow reality to disturb their E-Ticket ride.
We got hammered on Cuba, and drugs, and nearly all the others have made it known that this will be the last SOA without Castro's Cuba in attendance. (One wonders if Obama asked the Latin Americans to wait for his re-election when he will have more "flexibility" on Cuba.) Even our traditional ally Colombia, under President Santos, put significant distance between himself and us. Santos clearly feels he owes nothing to Obama, after Obama stiff-armed Colombia on the Free Trade Agreement for three years, and signaled weakness vis-a-vis Castro, Chavez and his ALBA gangsters (see my previous posting on Latin America.) There was no joint declaration, not even some diplomatic pablum, at the end of the SOA.
The US was essentially a non-factor at the SOA, a process we invented and once used effectively to promote free trade, capitalism, and democracy. No more. Now it is just another forum to beat up on the USA--and that is very easy with the Obama-Clinton team.
Okay, the Obama administration is out of touch. But, what is it precisely that Obama did that caused the problems at SOA? Would a different President have gotten a different result? What would they have done differently and what would the result be?
ReplyDeleteThanks
You're back! And just as forthright as ever, I'm happy to see. Foreign policy sure has fallen on hard times, hasn't it? I ran out of smart diplomacy jokes a couple of years ago. Looking forward to following along with you here.
ReplyDelete"I was working in our delegation to the Organization of American States (OAS) and was heading for Honduras for the June 2009 39th GA of the OAS, and the feeling throughout the Administration was that Obama, thanks to his "third world" background, his breaking of racial barriers, and his willingness to apologize for the United States had Latin American leaders swooning at his every word. We were assured by the Secretary and her acolytes that thanks to Obama's "rock star" performance, not only would the OAS General Assembly go swimmingly, but so would our relations with the Hemisphere."
ReplyDeleteYeah-yeah, sure-sure...a "slam-dunk" every time. The Obongo foreign policy team are the "Harlem Globetrotters" of dealing with the foreign devils.
Just out of curiosity, how many people spouting this triumphalist nonsense actually believe it, thus being incurable
O-bots, and how many are just singing the Party line?
Heck...obviously the foreigners aren't drinking the Kool-Aid.
At a certain point, even the Japanese public in World War II noticed that he same US ships had been declared to have been sunk for the 5th or 6th time in yet another glorious victory for the Imperial Japanese Navy that took place ever closer to their home islands.
The pivot, when it comes among those who are merely dancing to the political pipers' tune, will be breathtaking as "The One" will morph into "That Clueless Boob!"..."That Darker Carter".
Bilgeman
The Obongo foreign policy team are the "Harlem Globetrotters" of dealing with the foreign devils.
DeleteWhat foreign devils? You must know better than someone who has only watched State from afar, but it seems to this observer that the bluing of State over many years, along with the successful election of Obama and Pelosi-Reid's Congress, Progressivism was going lead us to a humane(TM) declaration of peace and amity with the People's Broken Paradise of Cuba. All they needed was just a few more years of placating Cuban-Americans and not prematurely riling redneck anti-communists while legislating more important domestic graft and transformation.
My take is that the last Congressional election and a contentious upcoming one have only temporarily forestalled progress toward the reconciliacion grande, and that Obama and his team of apologists will ever think of our traditional enemies as angels.
"...it seems to this observer that the bluing of State over many years, along with the successful election of Obama and Pelosi-Reid's Congress, Progressivism was going lead us to a humane(TM) declaration of peace and amity with the People's Broken Paradise of Cuba."
DeleteDo you mean to imply that it hasn't already? We had that "Arab Spring" thing...starting in Tunisia,(of all places, a little backwater like Tunisia...the land that DeGaulle forgot). And now we have the Muslim Brotherhood in power in Egypt and Allah Only Knows What in Libya, while Hillary's chum Assad is hanging tough in Syria,(with tens of thousands of Iranian QUDS Force "advisers" no doubt).
Things are MUCH BETTER now!
Cuba and Venezuela will come around, as soon as both Castro brothers and the Chavez creature breathe their last and head off to the Great Big Socialist Torment Collective in Hell.
"My take is that the last Congressional election and a contentious upcoming one have only temporarily forestalled progress toward the reconciliacion grande, and that Obama and his team of apologists will ever think of our traditional enemies as angels."
It seems that as long as they detest Christian males with White skin, they are our Dear Leader's, (and the UberFrauFuhrer's), allies.
Bilgeman
Yes to everything you say, altho', While I happen to be a white woman, were I a Latino transexual American patriot, I'd STILL be degraded by the visceral antipathy this administration displays toward our country. Damaging America abroad hurts everyone of its people, the O's and Progs' racialist and "multiculti" motivations, notwithstanding.
DeleteI think the re-radicalization of the Islamic Crescent will be this President's seminal* foreign policy achievement (not accident)-- in his heart. It goes to his roots, his father, childhood in a Muslim country, anti-colonialist education, community activism, Wright's angry church, racial and classist perspective, his interest in globalism and geopolitical realignment/ redistribution to counter American hegemony and, of course, his worship of Diversity (which in this case, means anti-christian, anti-Jew, anti-EuroAmerican, and anti-western civ: and so Islam.)
Perhaps the effective tilting of this hemisphere toward Communistic, anti-US economic and military blocs will be his second crowning foreign policy achievement; the unilateral disarmament of US arsenals, third; and, last, exponentially increasing our "indebtedness" to China.
Of course, the President and his crew have plenty of like-minded reformers, OK-- transformers, in the post-modern transnationalist and not at all modern Socialist New Deal Democrat Party. As for the electorate's part, it's hard to say. Sometimes I think there's a sub-conscious streak in the American psyche that finds it boring and maybe embarrassing to be on top, and hence the self-handicapping domestically and overseas. Is there a UN Council on Intra-State Freudian Conflict Resolution we could get some exoribantly priced and ineffectual help from?
(* "seminal" meaning, we're screwed :-{ )
Great to see you back and blogging! Not key in the overall scheme of things, but Obama's gaffe in supporting Argentina's claim to "the Maldives" was a classic, stabbing the hated British in the back and irritating the Argies.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think the future of Cuba will be?
ReplyDeleteAt USC, there's a world famous Ophthalmologist. And, this is the story he told at Cal Tech, where he was invited to speak. And, someone put a tape recorder on her desk. So, I got to type this up.
Back in 1991, when the USSR collapsed. It pulled out of Cuba. Except for the USA, lots of people traveled to Cuba while the russians were there. AND, you could be an American who got into Cuba, by first flying to Toronto. Canada, would not stamp your passport that you were going to be flying to Havana. Instead? They gave travelers separate pieces of paper.
Just in case you were wondering what happened to the Cuban cigar market; it's been thriving.
While, catastrophe hit when the russians left! 60,000 BLIND PEOPLE were hospitalized in Havana! And, the USA was being accused of purposely blinding the cubans, by releasing a virus through Guantanamo.
Americans never heard about this incident!
But the CIA went to a doctor's convention in Florida. And, this doctor was approached on the beach. And, "told" he had to go to Cuba, pulling together 99 other scientists. As Castro was desperate to solve this problem.
Well, the doctor turned to the CIA agent and said "since I'm an American, I can't just go and fly to Cuba." (Don't worry, he was told.)
Then, the doctor said "my department's chairman won't let me go." And, he was told the department chairman already heard from our government. And, the doctor was going.
Flying out of Miami, what surprised this doctor was the INTERNATIONAL PRESS that had shown up at the airport! So many Cubans, too! With flowers.
Yes, he met Castro! And, yes, a total of 100 eye doctors were on this flight. And, when they landed they were brought to Havana's hospital. Where they saw 60,000 blind people. BLIND IN BOTH EYES!
Well, start with a basic fact: Viruses don't attack TWO EYES. Or TWO kidneys. Or TWO OF ANYTHING. Plus, men who were blinded had women who could see out of their eyes very well.
Viruses have a habit of killing the young and the very old. Here? Lots of young men. On average? No more than 30 years of age.
So, the first thought was to blame the Cubans for making lousy rum. NOPE. Wrong conclusion. The Cubans know how to make perfectly fine rum.
And, yes. This doctor talked directly to Castro! And, he had to tell Castro the Americans weren't involved in spreading a virus. But, instead, this blindness was the result of a vitamin deficiency. That affected a nerve that runs from everyone's eyeballs to their brains. The nerve has a smaller diameter than a strand of hair!
Part II
ReplyDeleteThe Cubans were starving because when the russians left, also gone was their food supplies. Not so much as one chicken a month was available in the diet. And, Castro had turned fields over to tobacco. So, greens weren't being grown in enough quantity to feed his population.
The cure was a shot of B-12. Where you had to drop your pants. And, it was administered into everyone's ass.
"The good thing about dictatorships" ... said this doctor ... was the fact that when this was explained to Castro, he said EVERYONE IS GOING TO GET THE VITAMIN SHOT. It made the difference.
Though the vision in the center of the eye would always remain as a "black dot" ... it doesn't impede your vision.
The problem was solved.
And, the story? NEVER TOLD IN THE AMERICAN PRESS!
Told, though, by the doctor who was sent. (Who also tells a funny story of purposely picking an assistant who was absolutely gorgeous!) And, when they got to their hotel rooms, he knew the rooms were tapped. This lady said she was thirsty. So? The doctor talked to the wall in a loud voice, on how they'd like some beverages. And, shortly there was a knock on the door. And, beverages arrived.
Now, what's next for Cuba? There are strong Cuban roots in Miami, because it was the MIDDLE CLASS that ran for their lives. The middle class built Southern Florida. (And, you can include the drug trade. Since real smuggling began around 1967. As the Cubans gained a toe hold.)
Up ahead the Italian Mafia will not be going back to Havana!
Heck, big business tossed the Italian Mafia out of Las Vegas!
The Cuban "mafia" on the other hand, has a shot at the White House with Marco Rubio.
While nobody knows what the future may bring.
When I was young, and growing up in the 1940's, Henry Miller and Philip Wylie were still alive. I laughed my way through Miller's "The Air Conditioned Nightmare." And, I read everything written by Wylie. Only to see now that we've lost our wonderful authors. Because they no longer are making any dents on today's book market.
ReplyDeletePhilip Wylie (and his brother) spent time in Europe and Russia. I think both were spies for the American government. And, Wylie's brother was killed while traveling on a train out of the "USSR."
The Innocent Ambassadors. One of the best books I've ever read.