White House site

I didn't think it was much of a strategy back then but at least it was coherent. Now things on the ground have changed and some of his talking points from the speech are no longer valid it seems that it's time to redo the strategy or have one.

Yesterday his statement and Rice's we did not get that.

There are more Christians in Ethiopia than France, three times as many in Egypt as are in Ireland, one and half times more in Nigeria than either Italy or Germany, and three times as many in the Philippines than there are in the entire United Kingdom.

As for my plan we need the President and other Western leaders to confront Islam and the threat Radical Islam presents within it  much the same way past leaders like Truman, Churchill, Kennedy, Reagsn and others confronted Communism.  

First you recognize and call it what it is and then you clearly state that will fight to make sure our way of life remains secure and that we would like for the Islamic world to raise their standards and human rights levels to ours as well as for them to truly confront the Radicals in  their midst.

You can't win a war of ideas until you've clearly defined your own and fully state your position in opposition.  To date our leaders have been reluctant to do so because they don't like or agree that our way of life is superior and because for whatever reason Islamic States get a pass.

However I don't agree with him.

While Putin is way more powerful militarily he is also bound by his connection economically and culturally to Western society. He needs us as much as we need him to maintain a lasting peace and economic prosperity.  Something he needs to do eventually to maintain power.

His current objective to make Russia the second super power and to consolidate as much of the old Soviet union back into Russia is a simple one and one we can negotiate and deal with.   We aren't doing it very well (if you recognize he's already taken over Crimea and basically controls parts of Eastern Ukraine) but we are engaged and it's not out of control.  Obama's cautiousness is understandable and his reluctance to arm the Ukrainians is not without merit sine the sanctions and pressure of low oil prices are hurting them and arming the Ukrainians will be seen as a hostile act.  I think he should be tougher but why should I expect that?  The American people elected him knowing they were getting the opposite of Bush and he's doing what he said he'd do in these types of situations.

Other than he becomes richer and more powerful if Putin achieves his objective I'm not sure how it affects us in the long run.   Strategically and in other world situations where our interests cross they will become a bigger player but I don't see them as being any more of a nuisance than they already are going forwardward.  

This problem is Europe's problem and the fact that they can only confront him with us shows how dependent the world has become on us leading and how meaningless NATO is.  We should be engaged but we should not be doing this in our own.

ISIS along with other Radical Islamic groups have crystal  clear and simple objectives.   They cannot be negotiated with, they do not feel they need any connection to the Western world, and we cannot live side-by-side with an understanding that we are different.  Either they and their ideology are wiped away or severely marginalize within Islamor or we live with the threat of constant terrorism for the rest of our lives.