She was German and had a big job with a New York advertising agency, and fate tossed us together over cocktails. Her father had been in Hitler's army on the Russian front. She told me her mother had received a letter from him in the summer of 1940 in which he said, "I'm delighted to hear that France has joined us!"
Even poor students of history know that France "joined" Germany is rather like the rape victim joins the love life of the rapist. She thought her father's interpretation was hilarious. I thought it was hilarious. Obama might have believed him!
Get the sequence. A Russian general shows up and knocks on the door of the American Embassy in Baghdad. He reports that Russia is going to start airstrikes in Syria against those trying to oust Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and that America has one hour to get out of the way.
I've praised the American who filled out a government form and in that space where it clearly stated, "Do Not Write in This Space" he took a pen and wrote in that very space, "I'll write where I damn well please!" That gentleman does not work for the American Embassy in Baghdad. Nor, one suspects, anywhere in the Obama administration. So, instead of letting Russia know we'll fly where and when we damn well please, we heard our president declare that America will partner with anybody, even Russia and Iran, to destroy ISIS.
So, Obama is delighted that Russia and Iran have joined us!
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Which hurts worse? To witness Russia, who got thrown out of the Middle East in 1973 by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, make a stunning comeback with one knock on our embassy door, or to live under an American government that greets defeat with the single most outrageous spin of reality in memory? Nobody listens to this White House expecting a Winston Churchill, who once told the British people, "The news from France tonight is very bad." Neither were we expecting, however, a president stupid enough to try to pretend a humiliation this vast was actually a kind of victory. The White House line is that this whole shaboodle is proof of "Russian weakness"!
When an adversary spits in your face it's a sign of many things, but weakness is not one of them. The mere manner in which America was ordered to get out of the way tells the important part of the story. A matrimonial attorney I know often uses the phrase "calculated to incense" when a husband or wife treats a spouse in a manner deliberately designed to show disrespect. It takes discipline to settle for word-choosing when you feel more like phrase-making. But America's former Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker put it neatly on Fox News last Sunday when he said Russia played a poor hand brilliantly while we folded with a hand that could have been pretty good.
Let's understand how the White House explains the sudden reshaping of the Middle East as Russian weakness. Russia and Iran support the Assad dictatorship in Syria. America supports a group of non-jihadist anti-Assad rebels. America opposes ISIS and other jihadist rebels. Russia opposes all anti-Assad rebels. Russia, while pretending to be against ISIS, opposes and has launched airstrikes against any and all those who oppose Assad. And that little hip-wiggle propelled Obama to welcome Russia and Iran to "our side"! It gets worse. Obama expansively boasted that the Russian coalition consists of solely Russia and Iran while we have 60 in our coalition!
Charles Krauthammer nailed it by conjuring the image of two pro-American rebels in Syria hit by a Russian airstrike. "What are we going to do?" moans one, digging himself out of the rubble. "What do you mean, 'What are we going to do?'" asks the other. "We have Belgium on our side!"
So, with America deftly maneuvered out of the way, here comes Russia hammering a few ISIS areas to make it look good, but making no secret of its true aim, the destruction of all rebels opposing Assad, including those we support! This Russian deception reminds us of the tourist in an African restaurant who asked the waiter what the proportions were in the elephant-and-rabbit stew. "Fifty-fifty," replied the waiter. "One elephant and one rabbit!"
For safety's sake, would you prefer to be to be in the camp of Russia and Iran with their boots on the ground and their jets in the air, or with the 60 "Belgiums" in the faculty lounge with their names affixed to a high-sounding resolution obviously crafted so as to help Secretary John Kerry win the Nobel Peace Prize?
Some people derive inspiration from the Bible or other philosophical texts. Whoever gave Josh Earnest his "Russian weakness" script must have drawn inspiration from the Norwegian sportswriter who had the ignominious task of covering a dual ski-meet between Norway and neighboring Sweden. Norway, rugged with great mountains, is a breeding ground for great skiers. Sweden is relatively flat and not nearly as likely to produce champion skiers as Norway. Alas, the winner was a Swede. And so was the runner-up. And so was the skier who finished third. And how did the Norwegian newspaper's headline read?
"It Took Three Swedes to Beat One Norwegian!"
Media wishing to interview Barry Farber, please contact [email protected].
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