When I was a kid, there was a bully in our neighborhood. He never picked on kids his own size and certainly not on anyone larger. Rather, he punched, pushed and kicked kids smaller and weaker than himself, especially those who refused to respond to his threats. Stirred by his adversaries’ impotent responses, the bully felt free to slug anyone he fancied. Most kids tried to avoid him, thinking their demonstration of weakness might protect them from being hit. It never did. Having set themselves up as easy targets, the bully went after these kids first.
This lesson learned early in life has served me well as a citizen of the United States. It is why some choose to arm themselves, install alarm systems on their homes, own large dogs and learn self-defense. During the Reagan years, in matters of foreign policy, self-defense was known as “peace through strength.” And it worked. America’s strength and the assurance held by much the world that we were willing to use our muscle against threats served to deter those who might have wanted a piece of us.
Now we are faced with an administration that believes pandering, appeasement (as Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty bravely called it) and negotiation can change the nature of dictators with dark souls. That “strategy” will be on display again this week when President Obama speaks to the United Nations and talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Bullies like Abbas, and the people he represents, love to negotiate with the West because it weakens us and bolsters their spirit. We give and they take without giving anything in return. The Middle East is a textbook example of failed negotiations between unequals.
In the days of Al Capone, individuals and businesses bought “protection” from the mob. Today, no public or private insurance policy is available to protect us from predatory nations or terrorist organizations. A punch in the nose — or the threat of one — still deters bullies far better than signed agreements, which they have no intention of honoring.
Why have the world’s bullies suddenly become more galvanized against the West, especially the United States? It’s because they believe President Obama’s loftiness about talking to despots instead of standing up to them demonstrates weakness. So we’re going to talk (again) to North Korea’s Kim Jong-Il about dismantling his nuclear weapons program when he has refused to honor previous promises to cease and desist. With his track record, why would we believe any agreement he signs the next time?
When tyrants like Iran’s Ahmadinejad, Venezuela’s Chavez, Cuba’s Castro and, increasingly, Russia’s Putin, see a foreign affairs novice like President Obama they may believe his pocket can be picked. History — and human nature — has shown that appeasing evil begets more evil. Does the President believe that he has something of a divine gift? Will the sound of his voice and his steely glare compel the tyrannical lion to lie down with the peace-loving and docile American lamb?
If our foreign adversaries believe America will not respond to aggression, we’ll get more aggression.
In 1956, Hungarian freedom fighters believed the United States would come to their aid against the occupying Soviets. When we didn’t the tanks rolled in and many were killed. When President Kennedy met Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna in 1961, Khrushchev concluded that Kennedy was weak. This conclusion precipitated the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which nearly led to nuclear war. Then there was Vietnam, which some still believe America abandoned before it finished the job. Osama bin Laden believes this. He has cited Vietnam as his main reason for believing he can outlast the U.S. in the terrorist war.
There was a time when America was feared. That time has passed. Either we restore it or we’ll live — or die — to regret it.
Columns
War through weakness
- Columns
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‘Calico Joe’ evokes memories
By Sid Salter/Syndicated columnist
The new “small” novel “Calico Joe” — John Grisham’s much-anticipated paean to the game of baseball — was the perfect traveling companion on a long drive from Mississippi to Fayetteville, Ark., to witness my niece’s graduation from the University of Arkansas last week. -
Is there a censored race war?
Thomas Sowell/Syndicated columnist
When two white newspaper reporters for the Virginian-Pilot were driving through Norfolk, and were set upon and beaten by a mob of young blacks — beaten so badly that they had to take a week off from work — that might seem to have been news that should have been reported, at least by their own newspaper. But it wasn’t. -
The virtues of grunt work
By Cokie and Steven V. Roberts/Syndicated columnists
Occasionally a really bad idea gains currency and credibility. Here’s one: College students who work at unpaid internships are unfairly exploited by money-grubbing capitalists. In fact, goes this argument, the whole system is not only immoral but probably illegal and should be abolished. -
Once, there were no words
By Rhetta Grimsely Johnson/Syndicated columnist
No matter how many times I stand in front of a group to speak, I get nervous. One of the reasons I went into print journalism was because I figured I’d never have to do any public speaking or wear grown-up clothes. -
‘Finding Your Roots’ good show
By Cal Thomas/Syndicated Columnist
“Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr.” is another of the Harvard professor’s wonderful television series for PBS. This is “must-see TV” and a more than worthy sequel to three previous projects Gates has hosted about how some of us came to be what and who we are. -
Moral duties in a muddied world
By Kathryn Jean Lopez/Syndicated columnist
In an election season in which the White House has instituted a policy that puts unprecedented limits on the constitutional right to freedom of religion, questions of conscience, duty and spiritual and moral obligation are of critical importance. -
Colleges, development intertwined
By Sid Salter/Syndicated columnist
At his speech here to the movers and shakers in the Mississippi Delta’s business, agricultural, educational and political circles, Gov. Phil Bryant’s remarks were met with more than polite applause. Bryant, the mechanic’s son from Moorhead, understands the Delta region’s challenges as lessons from his boyhood. -
Prolific circuit judge relieved of duty
By Wyatt Emmerich/Southside Sun
Relieving the best criminal judge of all his criminal cases is not the way to exercise responsibility as senior circuit judge. What on earth is Hinds County Senior Circuit Judge Tomie Green doing? -
Romney braces for ‘conspiracy’
By Byron York/Syndicated columnist
“There will be an effort,” Mitt Romney said recently, “by the, quote, vast left-wing conspiracy to work together to put out their message and attack me.”
By those words, many observers thought Romney, speaking to Breitbart News, meant the press. After all, the Republican nominee is likely to face some pretty tough coverage from left-leaning outlets in the months ahead. -
Invasion of the body snatchers
Diana West/Syndicated columnist
Remember the sci-fi cult classic “Invasion of the Body Snatchers"? The 1956 movie is about a small town where extraterrestrial “pods” take over the townspeople. Even pillars of the community change into zombielike clones, as revealed by their blank stares and abnormal impulses. Outwardly, though, the “pod people” remain unchanged. - More Columns Headlines
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