Dubya’s Gift

When it comes to foreign policy, the president-elect owes a debt of gratitude to George W. Bush.

By Daniel W. Drezner | NEWSWEEK
Published Nov 7, 2008

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  • Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 11/12/2008 10:56:34 PM

    I doubt it Dave. Already his foreign policy is on unsure footing. Iran is testfiring its new SAMAN missle,and is preparing the latest generation of the SHAHAB rocket platform which when fully operational[and this is already viewed by defense experts,JANES among them,as a direct result of new Soviet assistance with Tehran], can eventually offer the regime an ICBM that can hit the eastern US seaboard.
    Neatly and secretly sneaking under the American lamestream media radar,Obama re-installs Middle Eastern adviser Robert Malley after sacking him back in May for ''meeting with HAMAS''. HAMAS now says that Malley is meeting with them now,and will later meet with Assad of Syria. How this furthers ''peace''in the region is unknown.
    Venezuela is now allowing Russian ship visits with vessels bearing nuclear weapons.[IVAN THE GREAT being one of the most prominant]. This was confirmed by the US State Dept. in October [unmentioned by NEWSWEAK].This comes on the heels of an RIA NOVOSTI [Moscow] report published in late July of this year that the response to the Polish ''missle shield''will be to place Russian strategic bombers in of all places,Cuba again,Venezuela,and Algeria,fast falling into the new Soviet lap as it did during the Cold War.
    The naive perpensity of the Dave Drezners of the world is that in their seeking to reconcile the US in ''re-establishing our reputation'' it still lay in doing it with all of the wrong nations. At the end, it will do the US less good to ''regain''the trust of the Euros,typically viewed by the media and liberals as ''The World''. The ominous portions of Drezners screed lay not in ''symbolic''overtures such as GTMOs closure,which will open up more pressing,immediate problems,but in the disdain or open hostility evidenced by the Russians,Chinese,and South Americans.[let alone the Iranians]. Obama has his work cut out for him,else we would not be seeing things like this:

    News Channel 10[ABC,Salt Lake City] Nov. 12,2008:''Sales In Backyard Underground Shelters Booming''.

    Guns too,are enjoying their highest sales in a generation.

    Why?

    • Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 11/13/2008 11:53:27 AM

      Errata: ''PETER THE GREAT''[ which is capable of carrying over twenty nuclear warheads,enough to destroy most of the western US].

      • Posted By: jarcher1 @ 11/13/2008 9:30:24 PM

        Sure you're not just making this up? Channel 4 is the ABC affiliate in Salt Lake City and here is a result of a site search:
        Site Search
        No results for backyard shelters. (0.007294 seconds)

  • Posted By: sarahjlwest @ 11/11/2008 2:43:25 PM

    I looked at the Russian reaction to the election in my blog www.internationalrevelations.blogspot.com - specifically on why on that day did Medvedev decide to make the announcement regarding the placement of missiles aimed at NATO states. Russia feels it is able to exercise it's ambitious and antagonistic FP on the basis that it is a reaction to an aggressive US policy towards Russia. In my opinion, Russia would have much rather of had McCain elected as he would have followed the same policies as Bush. The more dovish Obama is an unknown to them ...and if for example Obama decided to not install the missile defence system it would leave Russia without an excuse the execute the aggressive FP they currently are exercising in ex-soviet states. The statement on the election day ensure that Obama can't back out of the missile defence system as he would be seen as sympathetic to Russian demands therefore status quo remains for the russians. For the S Koreans it will be the same thing - the current policy brings them benefits, even if not overt, that they do not want to change.
    Sarah - www.internationalrevelations.blogspot.com

    • Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 11/13/2008 12:03:36 PM

      Obama will be playing whack-a-mole with the Russians. Even withdrawing the Polish missle shield,this will not stop Russia from further ingesting satellite states it feels are ''renegade''for drawing closer to the West. Thus new Georgias are in the offing,and the leaders of Ukraine,Latvia,Lithuania,and Estonia know this. Nor can its tech assistances to the Iranians be ignored or its outreach to the South Americans. Here will be the place where diplomacy runs up against appeasement,running a thin line between the two. Or where brinksmanship overtakes both. NEWSWEAK plays a dangerous game in setting an ''all-is-well'' scenario.

  • Posted By: good conscience @ 11/13/2008 11:09:52 AM

    Who is Daniel Drezner? Your article has a sardonic tone from start to finish. Oh, yes, I'm sure that if questioned you would say that you're just being cautious. I don't advocate linking arms with our foreign neighbors every morning and singing Kumbaya before breakfast. But I think that even the most standoffish of other governments - excluding the ones who had Bush eating out of the palms of their hands - (e.g. the entire Middle East) are rejoicing at the mere fact that we now have someone who is willing to engage in dialogue. Someone who really LISTENS when others speak, because he knows that he might learn something new. Someone who's not so puffed up with his own hubris that he couldn't admit to a mistake if he wanted to. For those doubters out there, something a lot deeper happened on November 4th, and I would invite you to stick around and watch it all unfold.

  • Posted By: Paela @ 11/10/2008 12:14:18 PM

    We are getting a clearer picture of Obama each day. It points to arrogance, weakness, and dishonesty:

    Obama met with Iraq's Maliki in July 2008 and began or tried to negotiate with him BEFORE he was president.

    In July 2008, at the same time the Bush administration was negotiating a still elusive agreement to keep the U.S. military in Iraq, OBAMA TRIED TO CONVINCE IRAQI LEADERS IN PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS THAT THE CURRENT PRESIDENT, GEORGE W. BUSH, SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO ENACT THE DEAL WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL.

    A few weeks before the Nov. 4 election Obama threw conservative reporters off of his plane.

    In October 2008 VP candidate Joe Biden predicted an international crisis would be staged in 2009 to test Obama after he became president, and predicted that people in the U.S. would not like the way Obama handles it. FIRST TIME IN KNOWN HISTORY THAT A VP CANDIDATE HAAS MADE SUCH A PREDICTION ABOUT HIS PRESIDENTIAL RUNNING MATE.

    On Nov. 8, 2008, President-elect Barack Obama's private conversation with Poland's president created an international disagreement, with President Lech Kaczynski saying Obama promised to continue a missile-defense system and the transition office saying the Democrat made no such commitment.

    • Posted By: augustman1955 @ 11/13/2008 8:16:12 AM

      Are you on the same planet as the rest of us rational folk? It has been reported and proven that Mr. Obama DID NOT attempt a negotiation with anyone prior to his landslide victory over what's-his-name. Show me where I can find where the very stable Obama "threw" reporters off his plane. and lastly, where do you get your information from regarding how the American people will respond to Obama's handling of a Joe Biden predicted "test?" Oh yeah, Fox News Now there's a class act.....

  • Posted By: pezled @ 11/09/2008 8:57:30 AM

    I can't help but notice all the namecalling intolerant people on this board. Cute little intolerant labels - republicons and rebiblicans and such. Take a look at yourselves people - you are all holier-than-thou hypocrites. lmao. Really.

    • Posted By: jarcher1 @ 11/09/2008 9:03:21 PM

      At my house, there's zero tolerance of righties. I don't figure I owe any tolerance to cult followers of the politics of personal destruction. Judging from outcomes for McCain/Palin, a lot of people have gotten a belly full of that.

      • Posted By: pezled @ 11/10/2008 7:45:06 AM

        SO you have zero tolerance of "righties" What EXACTLY does that mean?? Do you shoot them poison them, what?? Geez. Grow up. People have different opinions. Nazi's had zero tolerance for Jews too. Whatever.......

        • Posted By: jarcher1 @ 11/10/2008 7:46:39 PM

          Figure out what it means for yourself twerp.

          • Posted By: pezled @ 11/11/2008 6:17:51 AM

            Yeah, so your hiding out in an anonymous blog - that means you're not real brave to start out with - so, I'm guessing you'd choose poison. Okay.

  • Posted By: ru4real6846 @ 11/09/2008 10:35:53 PM

    Barack Obama doesn't owe George Bush nothing. Obama has more brains than Bush would ever have. Bush did NOTHING for this country or foreign trading. Bush did NOTHING for this country or the American people. We are SO GLAD that Bush will be out of office come January. Bush ruined this country and made it for what it is today. Obama is going to make this country worth living in again. Bush took that away from us with all his damn lies. Bush is SAD and of course an ASS!

    • Posted By: pezled @ 11/11/2008 6:16:32 AM

      lmao. You obviously didn't read the article at all. Because if you'd read it, you'd know that the "gift" they say Obama owes Bush for is that he was so bad that ANYONE will look better after him. why comment on something you didn't even read? Or was it just to hard for you read - all those big words..........

  • Posted By: Nonyabizz @ 11/10/2008 10:23:31 AM

    Ummm.... GWB changed tactics after all other actions failed. You don't congratulate some fool for jumping off a bridge just because he happens to survive.

  • Posted By: Nonyabizz @ 11/10/2008 10:22:24 AM

    Ummmm... GWB has changed his tactics because all other actions have failed. You don't congratulate some fool for jumping off a bridge just because he happens to survive.

  • Posted By: pezled @ 11/09/2008 9:01:58 AM

    Dems try to insist that we should all respect gay people who want to marry, even if it is a lifestyle of which we do not approve. Where is the Dems respect for lifestyles of which they do not approve??? hmmmm? your hypocrisy speaks so much louder than your ignorant words, people. lmao

    • Posted By: RO in Reno @ 11/09/2008 10:23:46 AM

      California voted overwhelmingly for a democrat as President, but also voted to NOT allow gay marriage, Gay marrage is not a partisan issue it it a gay lifestyle issue that the majority is opposed to.
      If you want to find an ignorant person go look in the mirror.

      By the way you misspelled puzzeled

      • Posted By: pezled @ 11/10/2008 7:48:40 AM

        By the way, Pezled is my screenname. Like a real name, you can spell it anyway you want. And you mispelled puzzled yourself. wahahahaha!

      • Posted By: tc125231 @ 11/09/2008 10:59:16 AM

        The usual whining from the GOP is that --if anyone restricts their ability to impose their opinions on others --they are being discriminated against.

        But sonny, not being able to burn your neighbor's house is NOT discrimination. It represents public order. If somebody were to restrict your ability to marry, you might have a beef. You are NOT discriminated against because your ability to impose punitive restrictions on people you don't like is diminished. You are not discriminated against, for example, simply because the widespread lynchings of blacks, so common in the 1920s, have been exterminated.

        With that said, for now, I personally am content to let each state make its own rules for marriage.

  • Posted By: LudwigVanBeet @ 11/08/2008 1:20:31 PM

    I miss the Campaigh already. There are not to many Repig's on these sights any more/ They are like Locusts who come out to Devour the Land every four years. I guess it will be another four years until we can pound on the Stupid. They took enough Fat and Pork to their Dung holes to hibernate until feeding time.

    • Posted By: jarcher1 @ 11/09/2008 7:31:17 AM

      Some have signed off, but you will always have the faction that wants to come around and second guess everything and whine about what they don't like. The Republicons as a party are in real trouble, as to holding the coalition forged in the Reagan years together. But whether they are calling themselves RepubliCONs or something else, there will always be that 10% of right wing knuckle draggers around that think their ideas are so powerful, so pure, so clean, so suited for any and every circumstance that everybody must listen to them and their complaints about how and where librul guberment is dragging the country down. So cheer up, you'll get to see them around, they won't hibernate.

      • Posted By: pezled @ 11/09/2008 8:41:16 AM

        ""you will always have the faction that wants to come around and second guess everything and whine about what they don't like."

        Read that several times and see that you are perfectly describing the behaviour of the Democratic party for the past 8 years. lmao.

        • Posted By: jarcher1 @ 11/09/2008 3:17:16 PM

          Its always amazed me that RepubliCONs are very good at seeing their misdeeds as being perpetrated by the opposition whilst they themselves are pure as the driven snow. I think its some sort of denial mechanism, kind of like when the worst of the bluenoses is found to have a closet full of porno. At any rate, I think everyone will see a large difference in how Democrats will handle the situation of being in absolute control. I would expect a lot of Bush-Cheney, RepubliCON Congress critters crap to come out, because you can be sure there will be all kinds of investigations by the current Congress. But I don't expect that RepubliCON people in power, like the right wing Supremes will face unending investigation and a trumped up impeachment like Bill Clinton did. The biggest change I hope to see is a rework of libel laws so that outrageous, transparently false accusations about a political figure is actionable. That will pretty much destroy right wing talk radio and 527's as well as some of the yo-yo's around here because what they say might have to pass muster in a civil court or cost them $$$$$.

          • Posted By: pezled @ 11/10/2008 7:47:39 AM

            ""you will always have the faction that wants to come around and second guess everything and whine about what they don't like."

            Now read your whining again. totally lmao. What an egocentric maniac.

    • Posted By: pezled @ 11/09/2008 8:33:02 AM

      I wondered what all the psychotic dems would do once the election was over. I should have realized they's just keep living in their delusions. lol. Get a life and move forward. The election is over. Get busy fulfilling all those promises you made during the election......if you can.

  • Posted By: advoidleftists @ 11/10/2008 7:45:51 AM

    Obama will probaly appease russia which is on a path of war with other nations. Russia is doing same thing nazi germany did and they are even becoming xenophobic and dictatorship in russia. Russia made friends with american worst enemies and deploy missles at poland border. Russia is the true threat because they dont like we make anti missle system in europe but its okay for dicator russia to sell defense systems close to that nature to enemy nations like iran venezula and many others but its okay when russia sells weapons but if we do it back they bellyache act like a spoiled step child that needs to be punished badly.

  • Posted By: bighappy @ 11/09/2008 7:57:40 PM

    If you help other country and are nice with it, this country will be our friend, write? Wrong. Unless it is Istrael or one of a few EU countries (not all, even France excluded) - you will be consider a weak.Example: Russia, arabs, Latin America. But if you almost chocked some country and then soften your grip (not release!) - this country will respect you and probably will be your dearest friend.. Example: Japan, Serbia, Germany, even the same Russia (before Putin). If you excersize empty threas against some country (like bombong Pakhistan or Iran, which I can not imagine Obama will follow up) - you definitely will nmot gain respect, but quite opposite approach (hidden stick and obvious carrots) was always successfull for USA. Analyze this, and decide how much can we expect from Obama.

  • Posted By: tdn0024 @ 11/08/2008 7:05:16 PM

    vypurr,

    you think reining in freddie and fannie made a difference? The why did private entities like Bear, Lehman, and AIG fail?

    the only difference is that Fannie and Freddie were honest about having govt guarantees, the "capitalists with socialist downside" in the private banking sector still have fools like you thinking they are clean and moral.

    Kudos to Fannie and Freddie for their honesty, and for Dems who supported them. A curse on the Republicans who preached free markets on something so big and risky that it would threaten all of wellbeing when it collapsed, and thus in fact required government support.

    • Posted By: ctruskey @ 11/09/2008 2:27:08 AM

      tdnoo24 you are so wrong. Freddie and Fanny were corrupt and those Dems heading it lied to Congress and the American people and had a lot to do with the housing market heading south. Learn the facts before you speak. The big corporations should not have been baled out and neither should the auto industry. It's un-American so since it is you probably support this.

      • Posted By: jarcher1 @ 11/09/2008 7:20:22 AM

        Yeah, that's the spin the WSJ's editoral staff put out as soon as the mortgage crisis became public knowledge. Know what? I'm considering the source, and the WSJ does seem to be tilted heavily toward business as usual, exonerating private companies, and blaming the Dems. They are the Fox News of finance. I'm not buying this self serving account from them or the RepubliCONs.

        • Posted By: Vypurr @ 11/09/2008 8:56:32 AM

          Spin it anyway you want, but the Fan/Fred collapse was reality, just as the 12 times Bush took legislation to congress to prevent it. McCain also addressed congress about the coming disaster well over a year before it happened.

          http://infidelsarecool.com/2008/09/16/mccain-bush-tried-to-warn-country-about-fannie-and-freddie-dems-called-it-fear-mongering/

          • Posted By: jarcher1 @ 11/09/2008 4:14:02 PM

            Enter Your CommentMr. President, this week Fannie Mae???s regulator reported that the company???s quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were ???illusions deliberately and systematically created??? by the company???s senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.

            The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight???s report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae???s former chief executive officer, OFHEO???s report shows that over half of Mr. Raines??? compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.

            The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator???s examination of the company???s accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.

            *last two paragraphs omitted to meet the maximum page lenght, follow the link above to see.

            You really don't comprehend what you're reading do you? McCain is saying he was concerned about auditing at Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac. That they were bending, perhaps falsifying accounting rules to "meet" earnings targets. IOW they were trying to present themselves as more profitable than they were, something like Dubya's pal Ken Lay. It doesn't say a thing about subprime mortages, it doesn't say subprime mortages are dangerous, it doesn't say anything about subprime mortages bundled into derivatives. What concerns McCain here is that the books are being cooked *internally* to fatten management bonuses, and he wants more regulation of accounting, not mortages. Because you found a bunch of words on a page, it does not necessaryly support the assertion you want it to and this certainly doesn't support the WSJ's editoral page or ctruskey.

    • Posted By: Vypurr @ 11/09/2008 8:37:56 AM

      Of course the collapse of Fan/Fred made a difference!. They held over half of the mortgages in the United States. And yes, it's documented fact the Bush and McCain tried to introduce legislation to stop risky lending practices beginning in 2001, and lying ass Barney Frank kept saying there wasn't anything wrong!

      Fannie and Freddie honest? LMAO! You really are a Dumbass.

  • Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 11/08/2008 3:39:30 AM

    If he did Harley,then why does Obamas hometown Chicago police dept. and the state prison at STATEVILLE rack up more instances of torture and medical neglect than did Abu Ghraib and GTMO?


    www.amnesty.org Amnesty International

    • Posted By: jarcher1 @ 11/09/2008 7:38:39 AM

      Could it be that reporting of abuses in a civilian facility is less controllable than reporting of abuses in a military facility? Hmmmmmm.

      • Posted By: Vypurr @ 11/09/2008 9:06:30 AM

        Lol.... I don't think so....

        • Posted By: jarcher1 @ 11/09/2008 3:51:14 PM

          The source Holmes gives says the US is under reporting torture through semantically redefining what torture is:

          http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR51/061/2006/en/dom-AMR510612006en.html

          So it appears my question goes to the heart of the matter after all. Of course we've all heard Bush-Cheney and their minions duck and bob and weave about this very subject. Further, one begins to wonder just where on the Amnesty site the original comparison is drawn, because it doesn't come up in any searches I conducted. Finally one has to wonder what has moved right wingers to worry about torture and medical neglect in the first place. It never even fazed them before. After all you really can't abuse or neglect low life criminal scum or foreigners now can you? Or are you real men just getting soft and mushy?

  • Posted By: trogers @ 11/09/2008 11:19:47 AM

    We have two large wars to win or to continue or to end or to find some combination of all of the above. We have one overall war on terror which will probably last for decades. We have borrowed money from all over the world to support our lifestyle and our society, and sooner or later they will stop lending to us. We are already in a domestic recession which seems to be getting worse. We watch as our worldwide dominance in technology, business, warfare and culture is slowly but surely eroding into something called globalization. We have a planet that is entering a new and dangerous phase. If some in the scientific community are to be believed we are already past the point of no return and well on our way toward a very unpleasant future. Explain to me why anyone would want to be President under these circumstances? If the new President can merely slow the rate of decline in American prestige and leadership he will be a miracle worker.

  • Posted By: vstillwell @ 11/08/2008 11:59:42 AM

    All you people who defend the modern day Republican Party look around. Just take a long look around. We didn't get here over night. It took eight years of constant work to screw things up this badly. So give yourselves a hand. Good job.

    • Posted By: Vypurr @ 11/08/2008 5:09:31 PM

      Stop blaming the reps for everything. Do you actually believe the dems didn't have their hands in the economic mess we're in? You have Barney Frank and Chis Dodd to thank for blocking Bush and McCain legislation that would have reigned in the Fan/Fred fiasco.

      And good grief, we know you hate the republican party.... you say so on every board!

      The Dems are in, and we'll all see what they can do. Give it rest, why don't you.

      • Posted By: Republican be gone @ 11/08/2008 8:31:25 PM

        Yeah, but anyone who thinks the rebiblicans and democrats deserve equal blame for the current mess is living in fairy land. Freddie and Fannie were more results than causes.

        And then we have the rebibs to thank for torture (what does Jesus think of that, eh?), trampling the constitution and many other, shall I say, sins.

        • Posted By: Vypurr @ 11/09/2008 9:05:51 AM

          The Fan/Fred "results" were "caused" by dems like Frank and Dodd who refused to see the coming train wreck. Who tried to stop risky lending practices and who didn't? Of course the reps have their hand in the mess, but to say dems do not have their finger prints all over this mess also is ludicrous.

    • Posted By: pezled @ 11/09/2008 8:31:07 AM

      umm,,,,two YEARS ago, them dems took over majority control of congress, all the while crowing they were about to make CHANGE. Yep, there's change all right. Banks busted, the economy in a mess - and still the dems are blaming all problems on the republicans. lol. Who will you blame for the next four years??? I am really enjoying this silly show of ignorance.

  • Posted By: ctruskey @ 11/09/2008 2:22:08 AM

    Closing Gitmo is not something we should do just so Obama can make a good impression unless Dan wants all those suspected terriots to move to a jail in his neigborhood and if that happen Dan would be the first to write an article about how wrong it was to close Gitmo!

  • Posted By: ctruskey @ 11/09/2008 2:19:38 AM

    First off Obama must always do what is best for America not the world as Bush did my not going along with treaties Clinton signed on the way out the door that would be bad for the American economy. This doesn't mean you don't comprimise it means you don't give up core American beliefs and needs to please the world. Torture, what is torture, it is a fine line and one we have not crossed no matter what others may say. If we didn't pull the fingernails off someone or drive a nail through their hand or something along these lines we didn't torture anyone. If you consider waterboarding and dogs and lack of sleep and food or making to stand naked for hours or sleep naked on a cold foor toture then most military members who attended SERE training have been tortured. I just wish the liberals or sorry progressives would just stop blaming America first.

  • Posted By: cklose @ 11/08/2008 7:57:47 PM

    I think the likely reason that those surveyed in many parts of the world had "no opinion" about the US Presidential race is that they have more important, more immediate, things to deal with/worry about than an election far away. If you are a Chinese peasant trying hard just to make a living from the land - the US election has little relevance. We may think we are the center of the universe, but ........

  • Posted By: cklose @ 11/08/2008 7:56:48 PM

    I think the likely reason that those surveyed in many parts of the world had "no opinion" about the US Presidential race is that they have more important, more immediate, things to deal with/worry about than an election far away. If you are a Chinese peasant trying hard just to make a living from the land - the US election has little relevance. We may think we are the center of the universe, but ........

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