OPINION: Friend Or Foe

By Roger Madon

There are two components to every question concerning foreign policy when it comes to whether this country should intervene:  Does the country have nuclear weapons and is it our ally?

From the moment Barack Obama entered upon the political scene right into his presidency he fiercely criticized George W. Bush’s foreign policy in regard to Afghanistan and Iraq, arguing that these interventions were unnecessarily pre-emptive.  

However when it came to the Libyan conflict he did not hesitate to have America intervene in its civil war while failing to explain why we were not also intervening in what can only be considered the civil wars of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Jordon.  

The answer is simple.  These 4 countries are allies.  For example, one could easily ask why hadn’t we intervened in the Russia-Chechnya civil war or for that matter the uprisings in China?  Better yet why did President Obama slink away from confronting Iran during last year’s June uprising?  Russia and China are hardly our allies but Russia and China have nuclear weapons.  As for our enemy Iran, it may already have them.

So now we know that Barack Obama has finally learned what George W. Bush seemed to have known all along:  Don’t pick on somebody your own size.  Do you think President Obama might say I am sorry George?

Don’t bet on it.