What if?…asks Michael Kuttner

Crucial events are more often than not determined by the right leader being in the right place at the right time.

How true this is when one surveys the train wrecks which have already occurred and will occur just down the tracks.

This past week I have been reading about how two previous United States Presidents stood up to the bullying tactics of totalitarian regimes and successfully defeated overt and intended aggression.

The contrast between what happened not so long ago and what is unfolding today with Iran is stark. It provides valuable lessons for anyone interested in learning how to deal with terror states and their bullying behavior. Glaringly obvious is the pathetic performance of today’s US leadership. Unfortunately neither the US nor European political establishments are prepared to acknowledge their total failures and therefore the road upon which they have embarked will only lead to disasters soon enough.

Harry Truman was initially seen as one of the most underrated Presidents but he soon displayed huge doses of common sense and an uncanny ability to discern what needed to be done in order to thwart the ambitions of those who threatened democracy and democratic countries. Not only that but he had no hesitation in calling evil exactly that and not hiding behind politically correct double speak.

The Berlin airlift is a classic example of how standing up to naked bullying succeeded in defeating the designs of the Soviet Union to take over and dominate Germany at the end of World War 2. Faced with a blatant attempt to occupy the whole of Germany and isolate Berlin the Soviets blockaded it thereby hoping to starve the city and the allies into submission. Instead of engaging in fruitless appeasement President Truman led by example and together with the British organized a huge airlift to supply Berlin with essential needs. He warned the Soviets not to interfere with the planes and promised dire consequences if they did so. This resolute display of military forcefulness paid off because at the end of the day the Soviets backed down and their bully tactics failed. What a contrast to today’s weak kneed kowtowing.

The second example of a Presidential will to confront evil intents was when North Korea with Communist Chinese assistance decided to embark on a campaign to destroy South Korea and its newborn democratic way of life. Truman swung into action. Unlike the present incumbent of the White House, Truman realized right from the beginning that sucking up to brutal dictatorships and oppressors of human rights would only bring in its wake more of the same. He instinctively knew that rewarding aggressors with billions of dollars and pieces of paper promising everlasting love and trust was not going to save South Korea nor would it prevent recurrent duplicity in the future. He was fortunate in that the United Nations in the early 1950’s had not yet been hijacked by a majority of morally corrupt dictatorships and anti democratic nations.

Realising that jaw jaw, as Churchill described negotiations, was not going to bring about a cessation of aggression against its neighbor, the US President swiftly put together an international force led by the US and sanctioned by the UN, to put an end to North Korea’s terror.

North Korea could have been totally defeated but in yet another historic error which would breed future mayhem, they were allowed to sue for an uneasy armistice which exists to this day. At least South Korea was saved from Communist tyranny by the decisive action of Harry Truman.

The third example of resolute Presidential action occurred during the Cuban Missile crisis when the Soviets intended to station missile bases in Cuba which threatened mainland USA. With a fleet of Soviet warships and merchant vessels approaching Cuba and photos revealing work being undertaken to accommodate them, President Kennedy warned the Soviets of dire consequences. Ignoring US demands because they believed Kennedy to be a weak person, the Soviet fleet approached the Cuban coast. Kennedy put in place a naval blockade and warned the Soviets that their fleet would be intercepted and turned back by force if necessary. At the last moment, realizing that Kennedy was serious, the Soviet flotilla turned around and retreated. Russian missiles were never installed on Cuban soil. The only reason that the Soviets blinked first was because of the determined intention by the USA to thwart by force if necessary the plan to threaten the American continent.

Obama loves to compare himself to Kennedy but that is as far removed from reality as his other delusional hallucinations. Can anyone in their right mind even start to compare the present incumbent of the White House with the likes of Truman and Kennedy?

Bill Clinton who is often touted as some sort of political genius set the precedent to today’s Iranian farce by negotiating with North Korea and then trumpeting his amazing achievements at defanging their nuclear ambitions. Signing yet another worthless piece of paper and claiming diplomatic victory, all he managed to achieve was a massive disaster. North Korea, thanks to Clinton’s inept appeasement is today the world’s largest exporter of missile and nuclear technology to rogue nations. Their continued and unhindered development of nuclear capability is a direct consequence of the same sort of naïve policies being advanced by Obama and Kerry.

Just as critics in Clinton’s time were derided and accused of being war mongers for daring to question and challenge obviously fatally flawed agreements so today we have a repeat performance. One does not have to be a political genius to predict similar disastrous results as the current White House dream team promote an equally poisonous and useless plan of action.

Obama complains that only Israel opposes his sell out to the Mullahs and we are meddling in something which is a domestic US affair. He is wrong on both counts. Other Arab countries are also fearful of the toxic consequences of this sell out because they know only too well that an Iran flush with funds and contemptuous of US impotency will soon cause trouble in the region. They are not speaking out loudly because they do not want to be publicly seen as being on the same side as Israel which in itself speaks volumes about hypocrisy and double standards. History has taught us that remaining silent in the face of threats to our lives is a fatal disease which unfortunately many still suffer from.

As for meddling in US affairs that is a specious assertion. Iran first of all threatens the lives of all Israelis. Once they have disposed of the Zionist entity as they call us, they will focus their attention further afield such as Europe and the USA. Therefore our vocal warnings are more than justified. Meddling in someone else’s internal affairs is something the State Department is well versed in as we witness every time there is an Israeli election.

What if the current President and Secretary of State had been in charge at the time of the Berlin crisis? What if they had been there when North Korea tried to destroy democratic South Korea? What if they had been in charge when the Soviets covertly tried to establish missile bases in Cuba and had their fleets steaming towards that country with missiles?

Beyond a shadow of a doubt they would have trodden the well-worn and failed path of appeasement. West Germany would have been conquered by the Soviet Union, South Korea would have ceased to exist and mainland US would be within spitting distance of Soviet missiles. We are fortunate that at those crucial times determined leadership averted such scenarios.

No such luck however prevails today. We are faced by delusionary weak leadership which is determined to ignore every red line, whether it is chemical weapons in Syria, terrorism in general or nuclear genocidal ambitions in Iran.

The ultimate proof, as if any is really needed, of the delusionary policies being pursued today, is exemplified by a statement made by John Kerry this week. He proclaimed: “if we reject the Iran deal, the world will lose faith in US leadership.” Except for those who do not want to acknowledge reality, all countries which counted on US backup and are now menaced by the Iranian march to the bomb, lost faith in any US leadership a long time ago.

A quote by Albert Einstein sums up the situation brilliantly:

“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

http://www.jwire.com.au/what-if-asks-michael-kuttner/#more-54765