Obama, Biden Pushing a 'New World Order'

At Breitbart, "Obama, Biden Promoting a 'New,' 'Changing Very Rapidly' World Order."

Obama Skipped a Few World Events in His Big Foreign Policy Speech at West Point

I missed this editorial Richard Engle mentioned in his comments I posted earlier.

At the Wall Street Journal, "Obama at West Point":

The speech President Obama delivered Wednesday at West Point was intended to be a robust defense of his foreign policy, about which even our liberal friends are starting to entertain doubts. But as we listened to the President chart his course between the false-choice alternatives of "American isolationism" and "invading every country that harbors terrorist networks," we got to thinking of everything that wasn't in his speech.

No mention of the Reset. "The reset button has worked," Mr. Obama avowed in a 2009 meeting with Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's figurehead president. That was the same year Mr. Obama announced in Moscow that, "The days when empires could treat sovereign states as pieces on a chessboard are over."

No mention of the Pivot or "rebalance" to Asia. This was billed by Hillary Clinton in 2011 as "among the most important diplomatic efforts of our time" and meant as proof that America's withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan wasn't simply a retreat from the world. But as assistant secretary of defense Katrina McFarland admitted in March, following the latest round of Pentagon cuts, "Right now, the pivot is being looked at again, because candidly it can't happen."

No mention of Mr. Obama's Red Line in Syria against the use of chemical weapons. No mention, either, of the ostensible success of using diplomacy to disarm Bashar Assad. The President was fond of boasting of this achievement until recently, when it emerged that Assad continues to use chlorine bombs to kill his enemies. Somehow that also didn't make it into the speech....

We know that no foreign policy speech can cover the entire world. But listening to Mr. Obama trying to assemble a coherent foreign policy agenda from the record of the past five years was like watching Tom Hanks trying to survive in "Cast Away": Whatever's left from the wreckage will have to do.

U.S. International Relations Have Not Improved Under Obama

What's amazing is that it's leftist NBC correspondent Richard Engel making the case.

At Free Beacon, "NBC Reporter: U.S. Relations Have Not Improved With a Single Nation Under Obama."



Also at NewsBusters, "NBC's Richard Engel: U.S. Relations Have Not Improved With a Single Nation During Obama Presidency." (At Memeorandum.)

Bill Kristol vs. Peter Beinart on Obama's Troop Drawdown

Ooohh, you gotta love it!

Transcript here.

The Gift of American Power

From Robert Kaplan, at RealClearWorld.

And see Robert Kagan, at the New Republic, "Superpowers Don't Get to Retire."

Soldiers Fight to Save the A-10 Warthog

This is cool, via Business Week:

Here's why U.S. soldiers are fighting to save the Air Force's A-10 Warthog: http://t.co/5AF2dM0Oe1 pic.twitter.com/LNvlsqyUCa

— Businessweek (@BW) May 19, 2014

'American power is what has kept the world from massive conflicts for the past 70-plus years and retreating from that position invites world chaos...'

A quote to sum-up the founding vision of this blog, from the letters the the editor, at the Wall Street Journal, "Face It, the U.S. Isn't Just Another Country."

Daniel Drezner Quits Blogging

I guess Foreign Policy, where Drezner blogs, is having its bloggers shift to a weekly column requirement, phasing out the magazine's stable of blogs. Drezner was one of the "last holdouts" apparently. Glenn Reynolds expects him to be back: "At least, most bloggers who say goodbye to blogging wind up coming back." (Click through to Drezner at Instapundit's.)

I once quit blogging (at my first blog) and wound up missing it after a couple of months and haven't turned back since. I started about March 2006 and American Power launched in October 2007. I just posted the "5 Million Hits" entry a couple of days ago.

We'll see how it goes. Of course, Drezner's a big-shot blogger and early political science pioneer of the format. I've taken him to task a couple of times for his spinelessness. It's nevertheless interesting he's hanging up his blog keyboard. He's been blogging since 2002.

I usually have an update on blogging on New Year's Day, and I'm sure I'll have more. So until then ... have a Merry Christmas!

Five Years and Four Million Visitors

This blog's 5th anniversary came on October 7th.

I actually forgot about it at the time, although I was planning to write something to mark the occasion. It's not that big a deal, frankly. Folks like Jeff Goldstein have been blogging over ten years (and it's not getting any easier over there, it turns out). But longevity in the blogosphere is worth noting, since so many come and go. And "AmPower" also recorded 4 million visitors on Sitemeter a week or so back, so that's another milestone. But again, compared to Althouse, it's still a tiny number of hits.

Yesterday I was excited to get home from work so I could do some blogging, and tonight I'll be excited to post my thoughts on the presidential debate. So I guess that's the best sign that it's been worthwhile: I still haven't burned out, and that's after years of leftist attempts to shut me down.

I could do a huge roundup of thanks to all the big bloggers who've helped me, but I've been there done that. Instead, folks should check out Swedish Meatballs Confidential (pNSFW)." The guy was one of the first dudes to actually read my blog and provide feedback.

In any case, here's to another five years, and by then I will have said far more of moral significance than political scientist Daniel Drezner, who just posted his 10th anniversary post in the most anodyne iteration one could imagine. It's so nice not to worry about the academic prestige hierarchy of the political science profession. Most of those folks bore the hell out of me, but there's still a few good souls left in the field, so I'll stick around a little longer.

The Best Navy in the World

Via America's Interests:

Japan Observes 67th Anniversary of Hiroshima Attack

At London's Daily Mail, "Prayers for peace: Japanese light hundreds of lanterns to mark the 67th anniversary of those killed in Hiroshima bombings."

I post on this every year and it's always the same thing: the U.S. was horrible for dropping the bomb, etc., etc., and so forth.

But the U.S. decision to drop the bomb shortened the war and saved lives. Sixty-seven years later the world community lives under an American peace that allows such protests. When the U.S. pulls back from international leadership --- whenever that day arrives, this century or beyond --- there won't be any such guarantees of peace and prosperity, no automatic safety of the U.S.-led international order.

More at Telegraph UK, "Harry Truman's grandson arrives in Japan for Hiroshima visit."

America's Navy: A Global Force for Good

Here's the "Power" advertisement that ran this week during the Olympics:

The DDG-1000 Zumwalt, the U.S. Navy's Next-Generation Destroyer

This is cool.

At London's Daily Mail, "Navy's answer to a rising China: $3 billion warship that can sneak up on coastlines undetected and fire missiles at twice the speed of sound."

IMAGE CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons.

Commemorating 100 Years of Marine Corps Aviation

Via Theo Spark:

Fighter Pilot

Via Maggie's Farm:

Also at Theo's: "Grab a beer, turn down the lights, turn off your cell phone, shut the door and watch full screen & High Definition and sound!"

The Myth of America's Decline

From Walter Russell Mead, at the Wall Street Journal:

The United States isn't in decline, but it is in the midst of a major rebalancing. The alliances and coalitions America built in the Cold War no longer suffice for the tasks ahead. As a result, under both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, American foreign policy has been moving toward the creation of new, sometimes difficult partnerships as it retools for the tasks ahead.

From the 1970s to the start of this decade, the world was in what future historians may call the Trilateral Era. In the early '70s, Americans responded to the defeat in Vietnam and the end of the Bretton Woods era by inviting key European allies and Japan to join in the creation of a trilateral system. Western Europe, Japan and the U.S. accounted for an overwhelming proportion of the international economy in the noncommunist world. With overlapping interests on a range of issues, the trilateral powers were able to set the global agenda on some key questions.

Currency policy, the promotion of free trade, integrating the developing world into the global financial system, assisting the transition of Warsaw Pact economies into the Western World—the trilateralists had a lot to show for their efforts.

The system worked particularly well for America. Europe and Japan shared a basic commitment to the type of world order that Americans wanted, and so a more cooperative approach to key policy questions enlisted the support of rich and powerful allies for efforts that tallied pretty closely with key long-term American goals.

It is this trilateral system—rather than American power per se—that is in decline today. Western Europe and Japan were seen as rising powers in the 1970s, and the assumption was that the trilateral partnership would become more powerful and effective as time passed. Something else happened instead.

More at that top link.

PREVIOUSLY: "Robert Kagan: American Power Preserves Freedom and Prosperity."

Robert Kagan: American Power Preserves Freedom and Prosperity

See Kagan's essay at CNN, "America has made the world freer, safer and wealthier":

We take a lot for granted about the way the world looks today -- the widespread freedom, the unprecedented global prosperity (even despite the current economic crisis), and the absence of war among great powers.

In 1941 there were only a dozen democracies in the world. Today there are more than 100. For four centuries prior to 1950, global GDP rose by less than 1 percent a year. Since 1950 it has risen by an average of 4 percent a year, and billions of people have been lifted out of poverty.

The first half of the 20th century saw the two most destructive wars in the history of mankind, and in prior centuries war among great powers was almost constant. But for the past 60 years no great powers have gone to war.

This is the world America made when it assumed global leadership after World War II. Would this world order survive if America declined as a great power? Some American intellectuals insist that a "Post-American" world need not look very different from the American world and that all we need to do is "manage" American decline. But that is wishful thinking. If the balance of power shifts in the direction of other powers, the world order will inevitably change to suit their interests and preferences.

Continue reading.

And ICYMI, see Kagan's "The Myth of American Decline," published in January at The New Republic.

From the Marines: Toward the Sounds of Chaos

Via Theo Spark:

Oops! MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Spews Hatred of American Exceptionalism: Racist Attack Blogger Walter James Casper III Caught Lying Again!

Newsbusters has the story, "Rachel Maddow Sniffs in Disdain at Belief in America as 'Shining' City on a Hill."

I've been avoiding the racist anti-Semitic hate-blogger Walter James Casper III, but he and his progressive attack posse continue to stalk this blog --- and the comments at the American Nihilist shithole are filled with deranged screeds demononizing yours truly. And since I've been carefully documenting Casper's racist, hate-Israel pro-Occupy agenda, it's worthwhile to further expose his classic anti-Americanism and bankrupt lies about America's founding culture of American exceptionalism.

Recall first that I posted on Callista Gingrich's paean to American exceptionalism last week. Walter James Casper's hate-addled commenters freaked out over that (see the top Google result here). These nihilist goons were especially pissed about my comparison to First Lady Michelle Obama, who in 2008 admitted that "for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country." That got Casper all lathered up like a mule, and he writes:

Like too many republicans, mrs newt #3 is trying to sell a meme about the left that is a lie. I agree with 99% of everything she says in that video. There is no "great debate" about what American exceptionalism" means except in a few folk's divisive, partisan, fevered imaginations.

Whether one believes man was endowed with inalienable rights by a Christian God or by human nature, the end result--the form of government that makes America exceptional--is the same. It is our American ideals that make us unique in the world, and it is our desire and ability to sell our ideals to others--both immigrants who come here to seek a better life and become a part of this country, and to a lesser extent, those foreign nations who have incorporated some of our American ideals into their governments--that make we Americans unique.

Too often, however, there IS a certain degree of arrogance when talking about American exceptionalism. There are too any who believe that America was a nation chosen by God from among all (or most) others, and that we Americans are a chosen people. They are often nativists who don't want to share and expand American exceptionalism. Immigrants and other groups are demonized and deemed unworthy. "All men are created equal." Except Muslims (American or otherwise.) Except gay folks. Except liberals. That kind of American exceptionalism isn't worth the breath with which it's spoken...

I believe in American exceptionalism... But unlike too many on the right I'm not particularly threatened if the citizens of some other country feel the same about their ideals and way of life (though I do think they're wrong.)

This is classic denialism and dishonesty from epic hate-blogger Walter James Casper III.

First, actually, there is a "great debate" about American exceptionalism, and it's perfectly encapsulated by the contrast between Callista Gingrich and Rachel Maddow. And as is true with any other examples of the left's socialist program, Walter James Casper III is confronted with facts that are simply too difficult to acknowledge. So he lies about them. He's a pathological liar.

Here's Maddow at the video above:

Chris, I have to, I have to put it to you because you're the only person I know in the world to whom I can complain about this, but the city on the hill does not shine. The city upon a hill with the eyes of the world, with the, with the, right, the eyes of all people upon us, the city on the hill never shined. I don't understand why it always has to be shining.

One can't be more clear than that. Maddow's statement is a complete and total rejection of the historical vision of America as a light unto the nations. Progressives can't stand that, because they want to bring America down. Progressive ideology posits racist imperialism and implacable oppression as the hideous marks of an nation allegedly founded upon genocidal conquest. Thus for Maddow, "the city on the hill never shined." And when progressives are called out for such anti-Americanism, they simply deny the essential goodness of America's founding, and they revise the historical narrative to fit their collectivist agenda. We see that with Walter James Casper's dismissal of American exceptionalism as not "worth the breath with which it's spoken."

Now, secondly, Walter James Casper idolizes Rachel Maddow --- he's a huge fan of her poorly-rated show and he tweets regularly that he's tuning in to the program. And now --- rubbing hands together with hilarious glee! --- we have Maddow's own words proving --- beyond a shadow of  doubt! --- that Walter James Casper's a despicable liar. It's pretty rich.

Some time back, President Obama dissed American exceptionalism, announcing that "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism." Picking up on that and more, Victor Davis Hanson responded to left's attacks on America last Fourth of July, at the New York Post, "What makes America exceptional":

 ...there has never been any nation even remotely similar to America. Here's why. Most revolutions seek to destroy the existing class order and use all-powerful government to mandate an equality of result rather than of opportunity -- in the manner of the French Revolution's slogan of "liberty, equality and fraternity" or the Russian Revolution's "peace, land and bread."

In contrast, our revolutionaries shouted "Don't tread on me!" and "Give me liberty or give me death!" The Founders were convinced that constitutionally protected freedom would allow the individual to create wealth apart from government. Such enlightened self-interest would then enrich society at large far more effectively than could an all-powerful state....

Individual freedom in America manifests itself in ways most of the world can hardly fathom -- whether our unique tradition of the right to gun ownership, the near impossibility of proving libel in US courts, or the singular custom of multimillion-dollar philanthropic institutions, foundations and private endowments. Herding, silencing or enfeebling Americans is almost impossible -- and will remain so as long as well-protected citizens can say what they want and do as they please with their hard-earned money.

Race, tribe or religion often defines a nation's character, either through loose confederations of ethnic or religious blocs as in Rwanda, Iraq and the former Yugoslavia, or by equating a citizenry with a shared appearance as reflected in the German word "volk" or the Spanish "raza." While America was originally crafted largely by white males who improved upon Anglo-Saxon customs and the European Enlightenment, the Founders set in place an "all men are created equal" system that quite logically evolved into the racially blind society of today....

The Founders' notion of the rule of law, coupled with freedom of the individual, explains why America runs on merit, not tribal affinities or birth. Most elsewhere, being a first cousin of a government official, or having a prestigious name, ensures special treatment from the state. Yet in America, nepotism is never assured. End that notion of American merit and replace it with racial tribalism, cronyism or aristocratic privilege, and America itself would vanish as we know it...

And note something about "all men are created equal." The Declaration of Independence sets forth the ideal that all of those born, under God, are endowed with equality of opportunity and with basic natural rights, that among these, is the right to pursue happiness. American equality is equality of birth, not equality of outcome --- not the forced equality of the socialist state. See Ralph Benko, at Forbes, "Gingrich vs. Obama: American Exceptionalism vs. The Reconquest of America By Europe":

America — rooted in Democratic Capitalism — defines itself by equality of opportunity. Europe — rooted in Social Democracy— defines itself by equality of results. One of [Newt] Gingrich’s three key tenets is American exceptionalism. The 2012 election likely will determine whether America remains exceptional or, finally, is, culturally, reconquered by Europe.

Exactly.

Simply put, progressives hate American exceptionalism, and when confronted by proud assertions by conservatives about America's goodness, they react with visceral demonology. Rachel Maddow can't stand the country as it is, so she promotes an entirely different model --- the unexpectional collectivist welfare state of the kind now dragging the European democracy into purgatory.

And Walter James Casper III hates America too. His classic play is to attack conservatives who stand up for fairness and moral right as bigots and racists. The truth, however, is that Walter James Casper's a vile racist and Israel-basher, and when called out on it he lies and distorts reality in a never-ending attempt to hide from the facts. But as we see with his creepy idolatry of Rachel Maddow, Walter James Casper can't stand America. He's a liar and a stump of a man. His ideology has driven him to destroy others, with attacks, harassment and threats against the safety of his enemies.

What a disgrace.

PREVIOUSLY:

* "Walter James 'Occupy' Casper Continues Campaign of Lies: Childishly Whines About 'McCarthyism' While Endorsing Anarchists and Anti-Semitic Communists."

* "Racist Walter James Casper III Doubles-Down on Endorsement of Revolutionary Anti-Semitic Occupy Wall Street."

* "Hate-Blogger Walter James Casper III and Progressive Evil: Denial of Israel-Hatred Enables Exterminationist Anti-Semitism."

* "Manifesto: Occupy for the Revolution."

UPDATE: Stalking hate-blogger Walter James Casper III, who is banned from commenting at this blog, nevertheless commented at a different post because comments are closed at this entry explicitly TO PREVENT THIS KIND OF HARASSMENT.

Racist Walter James Casper III writes:

1 comments:

repsac3 said...

Sorry, Donald... but your "american exceptionalism" attack is nonsense. I never said that exceptionalism was not worth the breath with which it was spoken; I said there are those who use it as an excuse for nativism and divisiveness, and it is those excuses that are unworthy... Even your readers will be able to see the difference, Donald...

As for Rachel, I don't really know what she was trying to say (unless it was that America isn't perfect, maybe), but your guilt by association attack, as though I agree with or have to answer for every word the woman speaks, is pretty lame. I said my piece... Attack that... Don't just call it denialism and dishonesty... Show that it is either of them...

I feel bad for you Donald... Your need to lash out at others makes you a pathetic excuse for a man.

But thanks for "stalking" my blog and Twitter stream enough to launch this kind of ridiculousness... It shows how much of a hypocrite you really are...

January 27, 2012 1:52 PM

Racist Walter James Casper continues to harass this blog. He can't stand being called out for his anti-Americanism so he simply ignores the argument (progressives hate exceptionalism), ignores the evidence (undeniable and substantiated), ignorantly waves away Maddow's statement in dishonest non-acknowledgement of her America-bashing (the city on a hill "never shined"), and continues his lies and derangement.

In fact, contrary to stupid f-king racist asshat Walter James Casper, there is indeed a debate over exceptionalism. Seriously, stupid liar Walter James Casper perfectly represents it with his own claims that, "There are too [m]any who believe that America was a nation chosen by God from among all (or most) others, and that we Americans are a chosen people. They are often nativists who don't want to share and expand American exceptionalism."

Well hello progressive asshat!

That IS American exceptionalism. AMERICA IS A NATION CHOSEN BY GOD AMONG ALL (OR MOST) OTHERS.

Duh, if God didn't choose America as a light unto others we wouldn't be exceptional.

AND THEY ARE NOT "NATIVISTS WHO DON'T WANT TO SHARE" IT BECAUSE EXCEPTIONALISM HOLDS THAT ALL PEOPLE ARE BORN WITH NATURAL RIGHTS THAT CANNOT BE DENIED.

RACIST WALTER JAMES CASPER IS AGAIN LASHING OUT WITH ATTACKS AGAINST CONSERVATIVES AS "RACIST" IF THEY DON'T KNUCKLE UNDER TO THE LEFT'S POSTMODERN SOCIALIST AGENDA.

The stupidity! The denial! It burns!

America was chosen by God and that IS what Callista Gingrich affirms at her video. And that IS what John Winthrop declared in 1630, that the United States IS a city on a hill. And that IS what Rachel Maddow denounced as "never shining."

Racist Walter James Casper is beaten, beaten badly. What an epic loser and piece of shit progressive tool.

And racist hate-blogger Walter James Casper is now in likely violation of Google's terms of use. He is banned from commenting here and he is abusing his Google privileges. I am now approving all of hate-blogger Walter James Casper's comments and submitting them to Google as a record of the harassment.

Blogging in 2012

I will mark six years of blogging in April 2012. I have to laugh a little when I check out some of my earliest efforts. I'm a much better blogger now, but I'm motivated by the same concerns that got me started. Here's something I wrote at my very first blog post:

No other single topic or object of analysis in my entire career as a political scientist has worried me as has contemporary anti-Americanism. I have learned about the complex nature of the radical left in this country, and its ties to, for example, transnational movements to deligitimize the nation-state and the principle of national sovereignty, the world's anti-globalization forces, and pro-Palestian organizations bent on the destruction of Israel.

It was the radical left's treasonous attacks on the war in Iraq that first got me to writing. I started American Power in October of 2007 when I finally pinned down my central ideological orientation: I'm neoconservative, but by now more reflective of that persuasion and more sophisticated in its elucidation. Unlike some who're characterized as "national greatness" types (or ridiculed that way, in fact), I'm animated by the tea party movement and my goals aren't so much as to radically shrink government but as to promote a politics of balanced budgets, entitlement reform, and continued support for a robust defense --- a "constitutional conservatism." These goals can't be achieved with the Democrats in power, obviously. And while we may get Mitt Romney as the GOP nominee, any of the mainstream Republicans would be an enormous improvement over the current administration. (Ron Paul is not mainstream and I'd abstain next November rather that vote for him if he somehow secured the nomination.)

I'll also continue to shine a spotlight on the global neo-communist left. I've learned a lot about the left over this past six years --- indeed, I'm a changed man. Probably the strangest thing to me is what I frequently refer to as our upside down politics of moral bankruptcy at home and abroad. This is one reason why my support for Israel will continue more consistently than ever before. Progressives hold Israel in the cross-hairs for death as an independent state. And when called out on it they'll spew the most vicious historical lies --- the kind of lies that would make the Nazis proud. Support for Israel rests at the center of the defense of Western civilization. I often remind myself that Israel defends itself just fine and that the Jewish state is not going out of business any time soon. And that's true. But Israel's enemies are working harder than ever before to push the Jews to the sea and this administration is doing its damnedest to bring about that reality. This situation brings even some of our most stalwart defenders of decency in the world to despair that we've crossed a threshold of appeasement and social decay, and this failure threatens the peace and stability of the West.

I'm not personally pessimistic about the survival of right and decency in the United States. But things will depend on winning the upcoming election and driving the Democrats from power. As I've noted many times, today's Democrat Party is no longer the party of Truman and Kennedy. It's a progressive-socialist party that touts nearly 100 Castroite members in Congress. And the political culture is increasingly infected with the cancer of progressivism and political correctness. It will take a lot to turn back the tide against these freaks, but the new social media --- and the Democats' overreach itself --- is empowering new armies of the righteous to take this country back.

And on a personal level, 2011 was a considerable challenge as a blogger. I beat back not one but two attacks that might have broken lesser writers. First were the attacks at my workplace by Scott Eric Kaufman and Carl Salonen. There is nothing more despicable than the kind of lies mounted by progressive demons as this. It's shocking, really, the extent that people will go to destroy their political enemies. But I rest soundly every day knowing that it's the truth that sustains me and that progressives can't take me down no matter how hard they try. And believe me, they try and will continue to try because the left does not tolerate deviations from the accepted narrative, especially from a political scientist working from behind the lines of academic totalitarianism. I drive the left f-king crazy. And I don't plan on stopping any time soon. The second challenge was the damned Righthaven lawsuit, which I beat by simply refusing to capitulate to those assholes. As I said at the time, it was scary as hell being served, but Righthaven is a bully and a troll and they're going down in a gloriously epic defeat.

So, thanks to all my readers. I have a few core readers and supporters who've become my friends, and I have a large number of readers and linkers among fellow conservative bloggers. And I continue to hear from new readers from time to time with words of good cheer and support. It all sustains me and I'll be plugging away throughout 2012.

Happy New Year!