Speaking of America ,
there was a time when the think tanks it was dotted with were places where the
occupants did a great deal of actual thinking because they could really think.
And there was a time when illustrious writers attached to a number of
distinguished publications wrote pieces that the world knew will have an impact
on how it is governed because the ideas of those writers carried weight. They
had gravitas.
This is no longer the case because the think tanks have
become holding tanks for conceptions that decompose as soon as they hit the
air. And it is no longer the case because what used to be distinguished
publications have transformed into cheap billboards made available to every
trickster who knows how to make an illegitimate buck – to come and argue that
the system allowing them to do what they do is just fine, and must be
maintained in the name of political freedom and capitalist free enterprise. All
of which is hogwash worthy not of think tanks but septic tanks.
Before we see how we got here from there, let us look at the
result of the transformation. It is an article written by a member of several
contemporary think tanks, William Kristol, under the title: “Putin Acts, Obama
Affirms” and published in the Weekly Standard on March 1, 2014. The author
begins by quoting President Obama who reacted to Russia 's
intervention in Ukraine with
a statement that said the United States
will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs
to Russia .
Kristol takes umbrage with that approach because he sees
that the President has separated himself from action by relying on talking
which is meant by “stand with” according to Kristol. And the President did so
rather than signal that he will act, which he would have done had he
straightforwardly said that the United States
will lead the international community in imposing costs on Russia .
Our author then does something that tells what goes on
inside his own mind. He speculates: “One suspects that Putin isn't worried
about affirmations ... He's seen Bashar al-Assad survive similar affirmations.”
This says that Kristol wants America
to “lead” the world by scaring its leaders. He goes on: “Putin, like Assad
understands actions, not affirmations.” Wow, how did he make that
determination? He does not say.
But what does action as opposed to affirmation mean to
William Kristol? Lucky for us, he tells what that is. He puts it in the form of
a series of questions. He begins by asking if Obama will now “get” the European
nations to begin isolating the Putin regime diplomatically and economically. He
goes on to ask if Obama will “lead our allies” to move the G-8 meeting from
Russia, disinvite Putin and refuse travel abroad to his cronies, as well as expose
their bank accounts in the West. More substantive: “Will Obama expedite the
admission of Georgia to
NATO, move toward a security relationship with Ukraine , and undermine Putin at
home and abroad?” And he ends the series of questions with this: “Or will we be
all talk, no action?”
Given that nothing in what Kristol proposes can be done without the
consent of the “allies,” the question that we must ask is this: What is the
difference between the President saying he will stand with those allies as well
as the rest of the international community; and Kristol wanting him to have
said that he will “lead” and will “get” the allies to do what America says must
be done?
The answer is simple. The Obama way has been the way that was adopted
with great success by all presidents who got things done through quiet
diplomacy, and were able to rally the world around America 's causes. That system broke
down when the White House was occupied by the mindless W. Bush (43) who let the
Jewish organizations do what they have been doing since the beginning of time,
which is to bark and bark and bark. And America lost a little more of its
persuasive bite with each one of those barks.