indexThe catastrophic launch of the President’s signature piece of legislation, health care reform, has virtually forced foreign policy off the front page of most major media affiliates.  Unfortunately, problems still remain!

The debacle of an incoherent U.S. foreign policy strategy in 2013, first in Egypt, then in Syria, have made the United States less respected by our enemies and confused our allies around the world.

The media have focused more on the disastrous roll-out of the Affordable Care Act than on foreign policy, but polices by this administration will make 2014 a more unpredictable year.

Harvard University history professor Niall Ferguson commented in 2011 with regard to the president’s Egyptian strategy, “The president’s foreign policy strategy is based more on I am not George Bush then on any coherent strategy”

The president’s strategy in the Middle East, since this comment was made, has been inconsistent, with his administration failing to grasp the complexity of the “Arab Spring”.

You could get a sense that his foreign policy strategy was literally to have the U.S. stand as a bystander to world events, especially during the Green Revolution in Iran in 2009, where he essentially supported the regime as not to upend the nuclear deal he felt he a could achieve and didn’t want instability getting in the way.

The president’s decisions have made the Middle East more volatile and less stable than ever.  The last minute brinksmanship by Russia forced the administration to accept an offhand remark by his Secretary of State on Syria, which Russia eagerly jumped on.  This allowed Russia back as a power broker in the Middle East, for the first time since the mid-70’s.

The disastrous situation the U.S. found itself in in Syria, was all of the presidents own making when he commented in August of 2012, “We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.

We have communicated in no uncertain terms with every player in the region that that’s a red line for us and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons. That would change my calculations significantly.”

Once chemical weapons had been used, the President was advocating the use of military force. Shortly afterward he began to backpedal on his red line stance.  “First of all, I didn’t set a red line; the world set a red line. The world set a red line when governments representing 98 percent of the world’s population said the use of chemical weapons is abhorrent and passed a treaty forbidding their use even when countries are engaged in war.”

In 2013, different international challenges have left our allies confused and embolden our adversaries with the belief that the U.S. influence is waning.

Currently, the administration is negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran in its attempt to prevent Iran from building its own nuclear device, but its failure in its Syria policy, as only perplexed our allies in the region.

By accepting Russia’s help without consulting our long term allies, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf States don’t trust the U.S. as all feel the administration will throw them under the bus for any kind of deal.

The confusing nature of the president’s foreign policy is now being felt in other areas of the world.  Ukraine walked away from completing a major trade agreement with the European Union and is now considering a Russian economic agreement; even after withering threats coming from Moscow.

The U.S. response was muted, as we didn’t want to offend Vladmir Putin, thus the administrations “Russian Reset” virtually threw Poland and The Czech Republic under the bus in order to appease Russia in regard to missile defense.

Allies in Asia, have witnessed U.S. policy in Europe, the Middle East, and now Asia has seen an incoherent strategy with regard to China, as it unilaterally extended its airspace into the territorial waters of Japan and South Korea.

At first, the response was firm, with B-52’s flying through the Chinese claimed airspace without notifying China.   Japan and South Korea followed the U.S. lead, then the U.S. buckled.  When the Japanese informed its civilian air carriers not to comply, the U.S. informed its air carriers to submit.

Again, our allies were stunned and left hanging, wondering will the U.S. be there!  A dangerous precedent is being set by the president, one which could have disastrous ramifications for the nation.

2014 will be a dangerous and an unpredictable year with challenges in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the continued drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

We will see how the administration responds to these challenges in an election year!