Does anyone under 55 years old, remember who Neville Chamberlain was? He was the Prime Minister of Great Britain who signed the Munich Agreement with Germany in 1938 that gave the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia in an attempt to satisfy Adolph Hitler. It was "Peace for our time."! Yesterday, Barack Obama started his pursuit of the same philosophy. If he thinks that our enemies will trust him, he has a fundamental misconception of why our enemies, not only hate us, but in general, "hate." (See December 19, 2008 post "The Enemy At Home") He is oblivious to their strategy of seeking someone, just like him, that will buy them time, lower our resolve and prepare us for confusion when they decide to act.
Humility is necessary for our leaders to succeed. Obama's admitting that "We (the United States) sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect" is not humility. It is an obviously true statement, used to distance himself from responsibility, and place blame on political opponents. It is the opposite of humility. Ahmadinejad today welcomed the comments.
I think that everyone is familiar with the shotgun pattern on a target. The middle is dark from the holes and the further away from the center, the fewer the holes. This is also a pattern in the actions of humans. Every nation, every ethnic group, every religion will have those on the fringe that work against the mores of the center. If the center is relatively good, the fringe will relatively depart from that. If the center is not good, the fringe will be worse.
Those like President Obama, who deal with radical Islamic Fundamentalism on an equal par with Western Civilization, are making a miscalculation that will skew attempts at any "reconciliation." It also cannot see that their center, at the very best, acquiesces to the terrorism of all outside the center that will under no circumstances stop its aggression. President Obama needs to reverse course. It is his prerogative to talk to Iran but he needs to understand just what the makeup is and ultimate goals are, of those he approaches.
Humility is necessary for our leaders to succeed. Obama's admitting that "We (the United States) sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect" is not humility. It is an obviously true statement, used to distance himself from responsibility, and place blame on political opponents. It is the opposite of humility. Ahmadinejad today welcomed the comments.
I think that everyone is familiar with the shotgun pattern on a target. The middle is dark from the holes and the further away from the center, the fewer the holes. This is also a pattern in the actions of humans. Every nation, every ethnic group, every religion will have those on the fringe that work against the mores of the center. If the center is relatively good, the fringe will relatively depart from that. If the center is not good, the fringe will be worse.
Those like President Obama, who deal with radical Islamic Fundamentalism on an equal par with Western Civilization, are making a miscalculation that will skew attempts at any "reconciliation." It also cannot see that their center, at the very best, acquiesces to the terrorism of all outside the center that will under no circumstances stop its aggression. President Obama needs to reverse course. It is his prerogative to talk to Iran but he needs to understand just what the makeup is and ultimate goals are, of those he approaches.
