Interesting read on Obama's International Strategy

[KillerDog]

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20091...ntent=readmore

I've been saying all along that I don't see much difference between Obama and any other president from Reagan through Bush Jr. I'm intrigued by the article because it agrees with me but sees a greater strategy that has been in place since the 30s. In addition, the strategy cited is one that has been used effectively by EMPIRES during world history.

I especially like the observation that once you become powerful enough to protect yourself, others become scared of your strength and desire to attack you.

[KillerDog]

Woops. I put this in the wrong forum. It should be at the Water Cooler.

[creekster]

Woops. I put this in the wrong forum. It should be at the Water Cooler.

Fixed.

[KillerDog]

Fixed.

Thanks.

[JohnnyLingo]

Very interesting read, K-Dog.

Therefore, Obama has tried to build an anti-Iranian coalition to intimidate Tehran. Given the Russian and Chinese positions, this seems to have failed, and Iran has not been intimidated. That leaves Obama with two possible paths. One is the path followed by Nixon in China: ally with Iran against Russian influence, accepting it as a nuclear power and dealing with it through a combination of political alignment and deterrence. The second option is dealing with Iran militarily.

His choice thus lies between entente or war.

A difficult spot for someone who was elected largely on an anti-war platform.

I don't envy the man.

[KillerDog]

Very interesting read, K-Dog.



A difficult spot for someone who was elected largely on an anti-war platform.

I don't envy the man.

The real problem he is facing is that the US is the biggest and the strongest so it is the easiest target for nationalist or religious extremist rhetoric which can blossom into attacks etc.

[JohnnyLingo]

The real problem he is facing is that the US is the biggest and the strongest so it is the easiest target for nationalist or religious extremist rhetoric which can blossom into attacks etc.

It is an interesting point, especially considering Obama seems to believe America's actions have brought the attacks, hatred and violence upon itself.

Like the author said, elephants can't stop being so big, and smaller creatures can't ignore elephants.

[Goatnapper'96]

It is an interesting point, especially considering Obama seems to believe America's actions have brought the attacks, hatred and violence upon itself.

Like the author said, elephants can't stop being so big, and smaller creatures can't ignore elephants.

I am not convinced he really believes it. I think he believes others believe it and he wants to appear that their concerns are important to him. He is a politician on every level and his sackcloth and ashes repentance for American Exceptionalism approach is nothing more than an international application of Mary Poppins "a spoonfull of sugar makes the medicine go down."

In my opinion he has been wickedly successful getting Pakistan to move on AQ, but I have yet to see him get the frenchies and our other "old Europe" allies(?) to do a damn thing ($$$$) about the war against terror. But he is effortlessly moving our social programs to better fully emulate European social programs so methinks our $$$ will become more and more limited.

[Hallelujah]

Very interesting read, K-Dog.



A difficult spot for someone who was elected largely on an anti-war platform.

I don't envy the man.

I think it humorous. All the suckers who believed Obama now have to face the facts that much of him was talk.......but they were too naive to know better.

Time to walk the walk, Mr. Pres.

It was a great marketing of the presidency. He could probably care less. After 4 years in the WH, he's set for life and so is his family. Not a bad domestic strategy.