Thursday, September 3, 2009

Pandering to our Enemies, Punishing our Friends

The Obama administration continues to demonstrate its foreign policy incompetence today, by cutting off aid to Honduras in support of ex-president Zelaya, a friend of every leftist enemy of the U.S. in Latin America. Rather than congratulate Honduras for ousting him, the Obama administration has steadfastly sided with our enemies in the region, using the ridiculous pretext that Honduras has failed "to restore democratic, constitutional rule."

The removal of Zelaya, a would-be Chavez-like strongman, was at least arguably in accord with Honduras' "democratic, constitutional rule," as if that should be any concern of the U.S. at all. What should concern us is whether or not the Honduran government pursues policies favorable to U.S. interests -- something that is (or was until we aligned ourselves against them) much more likely with the current regime than an ally of Chavez such as Zelaya. And since when do we predicate aid on "democratic, constitutional rule"? If that was a significant criteria for foreign aid we'd be giving out a whole lot less of it.

Rather than standing up for U.S. interests and backing the new government of Honduras, or at the very least staying out of Honduran internal affairs, the Obama administration has yet again revealed its willingness to pander to our enemies while taking a tough line against our friends. Obama (and Hillary Clinton) probably think that currying favor with the leftist leaders of Latin America will pay some sort of dividends. It won't. They are no doubt just laughing at American weakness, and our unwillingness to recognize our own interests. 

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