Thursday, October 13, 2016

Hollande Takes the Measure of Obama

Here’s a little perspective offered up by the socialist president of France, Francois Hollande. The subject is Barack Obama, citizen of the world. According to the French president, Obama is directly responsible for crises that are happening today in Syria and even in the Ukraine.

Credit where credit is due; debit where debit is owed.

You see, Obama drew a line in the sand over the Syrian use of chemical weapons. He laid down a marker. Of course, Syria ignored him. Then, Obama did nothing. The world understood that the American president was weak and feckless, and was not good to his word.

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday:

Mr. Hollande, in his toughest critique yet of Mr. Obama’s foreign policy, said the decision not to retaliate against the Syrian government in 2013 for using chemical weapons encouraged Russia’s military expansion into Ukraine and Syria.

“This signal was interpreted as weakness from the international community,” Mr. Hollande said. “That’s what provoked the crisis in Ukraine, the illegal annexation of Crimea, and what’s happening in Syria right now.”

2 comments:

Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...

That's right: signaling weakness. Obama never got past the idea of negotiation as anything beyond a poetry exchange.

Sam L. said...

He is weak, unless his enemy is a Republican. Then it's total war.