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Joe Biden must have bought his diplomat license at Sears
Posted by civil truth on February 22nd, 2009
Funny that this never got mentioned during the campaign last fall, and even now it’s the BBC that’s brought this event to light.
BBC reporter Ian Pannell, discussing the Nosedive in Afghan-US relations, traces the current woes back to a visit last year by Joe Biden to Afghanistan, during which he had a private meeting with Hamid Karzai. Employing the British talent for understatement, Mr. Pannell commented:
A well-placed source describes Mr Biden, exasperated at not getting “straight answers” on drugs and corruption, launching into a verbal tirade and storming out of the meeting.
In a country where honour and decorum are second only to God and country, this was less than tactful.
Curiously, when then Sen. Biden spoke to the Council on Foreign Relations shortly after his return, he somehow neglected to mention this incident.
Had a Bush administration official committed such an offense, the media would have been filled with denunciation of cowboy diplomacy and interviews with academic “experts” decrying the official’s “appalling” ignorance of and disrespect for the cultural mores of Afghan society,
But since the offense came from the other side of the partisan divide, the press of course simply looked away and hurried along to its next criticism of the Bush administration. Instead, all we heard about during the election campaign was how President Obama was going to restore America’s standing around the world. Only a year later are the events of that meeting starting to reach the public – and the source is British, not American media.
Things have continued to deteriorate since then despite the Obama administration’s skillful behind-the-scenes diplomacy.
On the campaign trail and more recently in confirmation hearings, senior members of President Barack Obama’s team have questioned the effectiveness and honesty of Hamid Karzai’s government.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s written statement to Congress during her confirmation hearing called Afghanistan a “narco-state” that was “plagued by limited capacity and widespread corruption”. She may have been wise enough not to use the phrase in her public testimony but by the time it was reported on the front page of the newspapers in Kabul, it did not really make much difference…
Then there was a recent article in the New York Times. Quoting anonymous “senior administration officials”, it said Washington planned to take a tougher-line with Kabul and that Hamid Karzai was now regarded as “a potential impediment to American goals” in the country.
Mr. Parnell notes that Hamid Karzai is an avid reader of the Western press and is known to be highly sensitive to criticisms they may have of him. Although he has not responded, it is certainly no surprise that he is now under considerable pressure.
Oops, did I say “skillful”? I meant “elephant in a china shop”.
Ironically, the fruit of these efforts may be to push Mr. Karzai into negotiations with Russia for support. Mr Parnell writes:
President Karzai has been holding a series of meetings with former Mujahedeen commanders in the past few weeks amid suggestions that he is trying to align the country with Russia. That has certainly been his public stance. As well as a deliberately leaked “letter of understanding” with Moscow, President Karzai publicly warned America that unless it supplied the military hardware he wanted, he would look to other countries for support.
No-one was in a moment’s doubt who this meant. The Russian ambassador, Zamir Kabulov, an old Afghan hand, was seen strutting around parliament last week. He has warned that the US and NATO are repeating the same mistakes of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. As he was posted to the Soviet Embassy at the time, his opinion is worth considering.
Indeed, we have come to a fine pass when the leaders of Russia get so perturbed at our lurch to the left that they have to warn us we’ve gone off the road. First Putin cautioning us about the dangers of excessive state intervention, and now the Russian ambassador tells us we’re repeating the errors that Soviet Union made in Afghanistan.
But have no fear, President Obama is working hard to reestablish our standing abroad. “Standing” as in “doormat”.
For today’s spelling lesson, our word is D-I-E-M.
President Karzai will be glad to lead the class, as he knows all too well who Ngo Dinh Diem was and his fate at the hands of his American friends.
And Hamid Karzai knows damn well that he is not going to make the same mistake.
Don’t you just love Hope and Change…
February 22nd, 2009 at 5:06 pm
And Obama learns what it’s all about: The real world of politics and international decorum. I so miss President Bush- who was indeed a cowboy- which is exactly what we needed. The world didn’t like the truth- in fact it went out of it’s way to hide it, bash it, destroy it…but it always comes back to bite the lying in their asses.
No better ass than Biden’s.
February 22nd, 2009 at 6:02 pm
The truth is that for all their complaining about Bush for domestic consumption, world leaders respected and admired Bush for his constancy in foreign policy and willingness to stand against the world’s bullies. And indeed, the bullies were theones who quailed (see Libya, Russia), despite all the handwringing from craven liberals who said it couldn’t be done. GW was doing their dirty work that these leaders knew needed to be done but which they didn’t have the balls to do themselves because they’d have to cross their anti-American interest groups who would be the first to face the sword of Sharia (or extortion by the Russian bear) if the Americans bailed.
So now these leaders are getting scared at what Obama and his administration are saying and doing, because they know that he’s opening the gates to the barbarians. They’re getting a glimpse of the post-American world that their rhetoric has been demanding, and they’re feeling buyer’s remorse.
Interestingly, I read short while back that the British press is probably the most hostile media group to Obama these days, because they’re starting to see what’s coming down the pike. Thus, I don’t think it an accident that it’s a British paper that’s come up with this story.
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:41 am
If Karzai were to succeed there’s no way The Holy One could take full credit, and that, of course, is what he (and liberals in general) is all about. Forget the substance, forget the good of the people, forget the good of the country: if he doesn’t get credit it doesn’t count and is, in fact, counterproductive.
No wonder Russia and every tinhorn two-bit Islamic jerk-off was salivating at the prospect of an Obama victory in November. That made them all powerball winners in the world of subjugation politics.