I don’t think the so-called outreach to Russia — a state which has been much of the problem rather than any part of a solution with Iran — will help curb Iran’s nuclear ambition in the slightest. Iran will still try to cause trouble in Iraq and Afghanistan, and will acquire an atomic bomb soon unless it is stopped. And I don’t think Islamists inside the U.S. care a whit that Barack Obama is now president, except when noting their perception of a relaxation in our anti-terror efforts. And I especially don’t think China or Japan cares who is the American president, but will increasingly begin to call in geopolitical chits in exchange for financing our gargantuan and growing debt. In other words, some pretty tough actors are unimpressed by utopian hope and change, and are presently in the process of sizing us up to learn what are the new rules, if any.
And if our outreach — talking to Chávez while snubbing Uribe and the Hondurans, a muffled response to the extradition of the Lockerbie terrorist to Libya, and talking with/sending videos to the Iranian regime — is supposed to pay dividends, I can’t imagine what they might be. Based on the recent unhinged performances at the U.N., I think it is easy to conclude that the anti-Americanism of Ahmadinejad, Chávez, and Qaddafi is some sort of brain disorder.