History Redux

The old adage that history repeats itself was proven this week. President Obama recently sent a letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. According to the New York Times, the letter contains an offer from Mr. Obama to stop deployment of our missile defense shield in exchange for help from the Russians in stopping Iran's nuclear weapons program. President Obama's overtures to the Russian President we greeted with with disdain. Mr. Medvedev said that "Haggling, however, was "not productive..."

Just like when a young American President met with Soviet General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna in June of 1961, the current young American President is preserved as weak by his Russian counterpart. Thanks to the meeting between President Kennedy and Mr. Khrushchev, the Russians were emboldened by the weakness of the new President to the point that they deployed nuclear missiles in Cuba, well within striking distance of the US mainland.

In his six weeks in office, President Obama has showed the world weakness at every opportunity:

o He continued with his ridiculous commitment to talk to Iran;

o He gave an interview to an Arabic television network during which he basically apologises for the War on Terror;

o He announces the closing of terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay without any plan for what to do with the detainees;

o He orders the release of the Islamist who was responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole and the deaths of 17 US sailors;

o He refuses to recognize the War on Terror as a War;

o He called for a moratorium on new weapons systems;

o He allowed Pakistan to install Sharia Law in the SWAT Valley; and

o He offers the Russians what amounts to a quid pro quo.

As Ronald Reagan observed, the best way to ensure peace is through strength. Mr. Obama must realize the world is filled with dangerous people who cannot be influenced by flowery rhetoric. If he continues to fail to show American strength and resolve to our enemies and allies alike, the world will, once again, not be a safe place for democracy. Peace through strength brought an end to the Cold War. As history shows us, weakness never ensures peace.