BUSH'S FAILED EURO-DIPLOMACY

A few readers of this blog have expressed to me their HOPE & BELIEF that Bush has probably been tougher on the euro-weenies "behind closed doors" on his recent trip to Old Europe, than he appeared to be in public; (in public Bush appeared obsequious and weak; MORE HERE).

The belief that Bush talked tough behind closed doors is nothing more than WISHFUL THINKING. And even if it were true, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT. And as Bush is fond of saying about himself: I AM A RESULTS GUY!

Has Russia canceled it's arms sales to Venezuela? NO! To Syria? NO! Has Putin canceled the missile sale to Syria? NO! Has Putin canceled the nuke technology sales to Iran? NO! Have France or Germany or Spain or Turkey or NATO really stepped up to the plate and begun to do what they should do in Iraq? No, no, no, no, no and no!!!!!

SO: even IF Bush is "talking tough behind closed doors," it is NOT having any positive effect out here in the real world., because out here, there have been ZERO ZILCH NADA NIL positive results, so far.

Therefore I stand by my assessment of the public record of this trip: it was a TOTAL FAILURE; Bush has come off as a weenie, as a loser with his hat in his hand as he brown-nosed the WORST pinko appeasing schmucks in all of Old Europe - AND HE HAS NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT!

This does NOT bode well.

In addition, some readers have written to me that my critique of Bush on Lebanon is too harsh, because we have to stay "behind the scenes" in Lebanon, too - because if their "Orange Revolution" looks like it has our support, then it would be "BAD PR."

This bad-reasoning perpetuates the "ugly America is a Zionist tool" BS and plays right into nasty false stereotypes WHICH WE SHOULD BE DISPELLING, NOT PLAYING INTO!

It's actually long passed the time for the Muslims of the world to accept that we have been their best allies for decades: saving Kuwait - TWICE (from Saddam); saving Afghanistan - TWICE (from the USSR and the Taliban); saving Egypt with aid (Egypyt is our second largest aid recipient); saving Somalia; and for decades allied to Pakistan against India; saving the Kosovars from Serbian genocide, and by defending for decades the Arabian Peninsula. It's HIGH TIME that all Muslim to be as pro-USA as Karzai and Sistani and the good half of the House of Saud. And that includes Jumblatt and the rest of the Lebanese nationalists - and ALL the Palestinians. It's time they woke up and smelled REALITY: forming democracies and allying themselves to America are their best way for a better future.

By "playing down" our aid to the "Orange Revolution" in Lebanon, Bush is perpetuating the misconceived anti-Americanism in that part of the world.

This would be a ANOTHER "tip of the hat" to "realpolitik" by Bush, and a virtual renunciation of everything Bush's foreign policy has come to stand for since 9/11. Again: it seems more like Powell and Scowcroft than Bush and Rice, and it's evidence that Bush is weakening his foreign policy in order to curry favor with the very leaders who have been - and remain - his and the Free World's ADVERSARIES: Chirac, Schroder, and Putin.

I think that this pandering is pathetic.

Do you need more proof that Bush is misplaying his strong hand: REAGAN WOULD NOT HAVE DONE IT THIS WAY. Bush seems like he's repudiating the policies he'd been defending up-to-now - from withering criticism - just as these policies are succeeding!!!

This is bizarre, stupid, hypocritical, and COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE. Why is he doing it?

I think to make Rice look good to our euroweenie foes as she starts her new assignment. And I think it's a bad bad BAD move.

IF...(in the coming 8 weeks) Bush wins unanimous UNSCR's which authorize military attacks against Syria and Iran - IF they fail to play ball with previous international agreements, (and if Russia now puts BIG PRESSURE on North Korea) then I will admit that I am now being too critical, and that Bush and Rice were right and shrewd.

Anything short of that would mean that I am right, and that Bush had SQUANDERED a major chance to bear down hard on the euro-weenies and get Old Europe to ante-up NOW.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Denis Boyles - who covers euroweenieland and euro-weenie media for the NRO - is also critical of Bush's trip.

ADDENDUM: Bush must soon appoint a UN Ambassador. If he appoints a "neocon" - (like Kirkpatrick or Moynihan) - then he will be signalling the world that his core policies haven't changed. If he appopints a career State Department type, then it will signal that Bush is capitualiating to the "realists" - perhaps because he is exhausted and ready to coast from here on out, perhaps prefering to take on domestic challenges.

BOTTOM-LINE: defeat in Iraq - and Iran and Syria and North Korea - lurks around the corner; if Bush continues to appease our pseudo-allies in Old Europe, then defeat is MORE likely to happen, not less. We need INCREASED resolve and devotion to the priciple of confronting and defeating evil, NOT a greater willingness to moderate our tactics to appease vestigial pseudo-allies who have neither the will or the means to be effective/REAL wartime allies.

Two weeks ago I would have NEVER thought Bush capable of abandoning the Bush Doctrine - especially NOT coming on the heels of its greatest victories. But his recent pandering in euroweenieland has made me very VERY concerned.