The steely eyed rulers in Tehran and Pyongyang are supposed to swoon and reach back to our outstretched hand, buy the world a Coke, and all that Up! Up! With People feel-good notions of winning the hearts and minds of our enemies.
Well, the Iranians have indeed unclenched their fist--well, one finger anyway:
"American materialist politicians, whenever they are beaten by logic, immediately resort to their weapons like cowboys," Ahmadinejad said in a speech before a crowd of several thousand in northwestern Iran.
"Mr. Obama, you are a newcomer (to politics). Wait until your sweat dries and get some experience. Be careful not to read just any paper put in front of you or repeat any statement recommended," Ahmadinejad said in the speech, aired live on state TV.
Ahmadinejad said Obama "is under the pressure of capitalists and the Zionists" and vowed Iran would not be pushed around. "(American officials) bigger than you, more bullying than you, couldn't do a damn thing, let alone you," he said, addressing Obama.
And the Iranians keep rolling along:
Iran unveiled a third generation of domestically built centrifuges Friday as the country pushes ahead with plans to accelerate a uranium enrichment program that has alarmed world powers fearful of the nuclear program's aims.
Well what about the North Koreans? Surely the starving wretched over there (well, not the rulers personally, of course, but surely they get sad faces when they think about their poor people) will be more willing to extend their hands to President Obama.
Apparently not:
North Korea has denounced President Barack Obama's nuclear policy as "hostile," and is vowing to keep building and expanding its arsenal of atomic weapons.
First, at best North Korea has nuclear demolition devices movable by truck. They've likely not weaponized anything that can be fired or dropped. But they are going that way.
More to the point, I've said it before and I'll say it again: we can't placate the North Koreans. If we signed a peace treaty with the Pillsbury Nuke Boy, promised him gagillons in cash (that's a real budgetary term these days here, I think), and send Madeleine Albright to dance with him until dawn, Kim Jon-Il would think it was all a ruse and still believe we're continuing our 50+ years of preparing to invade North Korea.
Besides, the way we screw our friends these days, why would any rogue want to switch from being a wooed enemy to being a spurned friend? Has anyone in the White House even thought through the flaw of their basic logic of their policy of screwing friends and reaching out to enemies?
Ajami concludes in this article:
The shadow of American power is receding; the rogues are emboldened. The world has a way of calling the bluff of leaders and nations summoned to difficult endeavors. Would that our biggest source of worry in that arc of trouble was the intemperate outburst of our ally in Kabul.
Strap in boys and girls, this could get rough.
