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O'S AMATEUR HOUR
By RALPH PETERS
April 8, 2009 --
THE real climax of President Obama's Spring Apologies Tour wasn't his
photo op with our troops in Baghdad or even his "American Guilt"
concerts in Western Europe.
While fans in the press cheered wildly at every venue, the real
performance came in Turkey. And it was a turkey.
Obama means well. Just as Jimmy Carter, his policy godfather, meant
well. But the road to embassy takeovers and strategic humiliation is
paved with good intentions -- coupled with distressing naivete.
On every stage, Obama draped Lady Liberty in sackcloth and ashes,
drawing plentiful applause but no serious economic or security
cooperation in return. Then, in Turkey, he surrendered our national
pride, undercut our interests and interfered in matters that aren't
his business.
On the latter point: Suppose the European Union president went to Cuba
and insisted that the world's sunniest concentration camp should be
welcomed into NAFTA? That's the equivalent of what our president did
in Ankara on Monday when he declared that he supports Turkey's bid for
EU membership.
The Europeans don't want Turkey in their club. Because Turkey isn't a
European state, nor is its culture European. And it isn't our business
to press Europe to embrace a huge, truculent Muslim country suffering
a creeping Islamist coup.
The Europeans were appalled by Turkey's neo-Taliban tantrum on-stage
at last week's NATO summit. The Turks fought to derail the appointment
of a great Dane, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, as the new NATO secretary
general. Why? Because he didn't stone to death the Danish cartoonist
who caricatured Mohammed.
Which brings us to the even bigger problem: Obama has no idea what's
going on in Turkey. By going to Ankara on his knees, he gave his seal
of approval to a pungently anti-American Islamist government bent on
overturning Mustapha Kemal's legacy of the separation of mosque and
state.
Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party, the AKP, means
headscarves, Korans, censorship and stacked elections. The country's
alarmed middle class opposes the effort to turn the country into an
Islamic state. Obama's gushing praise for the AKP's bosses left them
aghast.
Obama's embrace of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (now
orchestrating show trials of his opponents) was one step short of
going to Tehran and smooching President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
What was Obama thinking? He wasn't. He relied on advice from State
Department appeasement artists who understand neither Turkey, Islam
nor the crises raging between the Bosporus and the Indus. State's
answer is always "More love, more humility, more aid."
Well, I, for one, don't think our country has anything to apologize
for, either to Turkey or to Europe.
Insisting that America's always guilty, Obama omitted any mention of
Turkey's wartime betrayals of our troops, its continuing oppression of
its Kurd minority or the AKP's determination to turn a state with a
secular constitution into a Wahhabi playground.
When it came to the Armenian genocide, Obama bravely ducked: He never
dared use the g-word.
And Obama's disdainful remarks about President Bush were just shabby.
After those overpriced tour T-shirts have shrunk in the wash (trust me
-- they will), what will we have gained from Obama's superstar act?
He told the Europeans that the global economic crisis is all our
fault. No mention of European greed, overleveraged governments,
destructive Euro-loans or Chinese currency manipulation. We did
it. Whip us, please.
In return, the Europeans gave him . . . nothing.
Even though Obama was right when he said that Europe faces a greater
terror threat than we do, the entire continent only ponied up 2,500
short-term non-combat troops for Afghanistan. The Europeans know we'll
do the heavy lifting.
He gave the Russians yet another blank check, too. (Meanwhile, in
Moscow, Putin's thugs beat an aging pro-democracy dissident to a
pulp.) In return, the Russians promised to . . . well, actually, they
didn't promise anything.
Then Obama went to Turkey, undercut secular political parties,
infuriated the Europeans -- and disclaimed our country's
Judeo-Christian heritage. (Did Turkey's leaders respond by denying
Islam's importance to them? Naw.)
In Turkey, Obama got . . . nothing we didn't already have.
Then he went to Iraq and told its prime minister that Iraq would get
nothing.
I believe that our president wants to do the right thing. But he
doesn't have a clue how. For now, he's enraptured by the applause. But
he hasn't tried to charge his fans for their tickets. And they've
already made up their minds they won't have to pay.
Ralph Peters is Fox News' strategic analyst and the author of "Looking
for Trouble."
NEW YORK POST is a registered trademark of NYP Holdings,
Inc. NYPOST.COM, NYPOSTONLINE.COM, and NEWYORKPOST.COM are trademarks
of NYP Holdings, Inc.
Copyright 2009 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
By RALPH PETERS
April 8, 2009 --
THE real climax of President Obama's Spring Apologies Tour wasn't his
photo op with our troops in Baghdad or even his "American Guilt"
concerts in Western Europe.
While fans in the press cheered wildly at every venue, the real
performance came in Turkey. And it was a turkey.
Obama means well. Just as Jimmy Carter, his policy godfather, meant
well. But the road to embassy takeovers and strategic humiliation is
paved with good intentions -- coupled with distressing naivete.
On every stage, Obama draped Lady Liberty in sackcloth and ashes,
drawing plentiful applause but no serious economic or security
cooperation in return. Then, in Turkey, he surrendered our national
pride, undercut our interests and interfered in matters that aren't
his business.
On the latter point: Suppose the European Union president went to Cuba
and insisted that the world's sunniest concentration camp should be
welcomed into NAFTA? That's the equivalent of what our president did
in Ankara on Monday when he declared that he supports Turkey's bid for
EU membership.
The Europeans don't want Turkey in their club. Because Turkey isn't a
European state, nor is its culture European. And it isn't our business
to press Europe to embrace a huge, truculent Muslim country suffering
a creeping Islamist coup.
The Europeans were appalled by Turkey's neo-Taliban tantrum on-stage
at last week's NATO summit. The Turks fought to derail the appointment
of a great Dane, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, as the new NATO secretary
general. Why? Because he didn't stone to death the Danish cartoonist
who caricatured Mohammed.
Which brings us to the even bigger problem: Obama has no idea what's
going on in Turkey. By going to Ankara on his knees, he gave his seal
of approval to a pungently anti-American Islamist government bent on
overturning Mustapha Kemal's legacy of the separation of mosque and
state.
Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party, the AKP, means
headscarves, Korans, censorship and stacked elections. The country's
alarmed middle class opposes the effort to turn the country into an
Islamic state. Obama's gushing praise for the AKP's bosses left them
aghast.
Obama's embrace of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (now
orchestrating show trials of his opponents) was one step short of
going to Tehran and smooching President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
What was Obama thinking? He wasn't. He relied on advice from State
Department appeasement artists who understand neither Turkey, Islam
nor the crises raging between the Bosporus and the Indus. State's
answer is always "More love, more humility, more aid."
Well, I, for one, don't think our country has anything to apologize
for, either to Turkey or to Europe.
Insisting that America's always guilty, Obama omitted any mention of
Turkey's wartime betrayals of our troops, its continuing oppression of
its Kurd minority or the AKP's determination to turn a state with a
secular constitution into a Wahhabi playground.
When it came to the Armenian genocide, Obama bravely ducked: He never
dared use the g-word.
And Obama's disdainful remarks about President Bush were just shabby.
After those overpriced tour T-shirts have shrunk in the wash (trust me
-- they will), what will we have gained from Obama's superstar act?
He told the Europeans that the global economic crisis is all our
fault. No mention of European greed, overleveraged governments,
destructive Euro-loans or Chinese currency manipulation. We did
it. Whip us, please.
In return, the Europeans gave him . . . nothing.
Even though Obama was right when he said that Europe faces a greater
terror threat than we do, the entire continent only ponied up 2,500
short-term non-combat troops for Afghanistan. The Europeans know we'll
do the heavy lifting.
He gave the Russians yet another blank check, too. (Meanwhile, in
Moscow, Putin's thugs beat an aging pro-democracy dissident to a
pulp.) In return, the Russians promised to . . . well, actually, they
didn't promise anything.
Then Obama went to Turkey, undercut secular political parties,
infuriated the Europeans -- and disclaimed our country's
Judeo-Christian heritage. (Did Turkey's leaders respond by denying
Islam's importance to them? Naw.)
In Turkey, Obama got . . . nothing we didn't already have.
Then he went to Iraq and told its prime minister that Iraq would get
nothing.
I believe that our president wants to do the right thing. But he
doesn't have a clue how. For now, he's enraptured by the applause. But
he hasn't tried to charge his fans for their tickets. And they've
already made up their minds they won't have to pay.
Ralph Peters is Fox News' strategic analyst and the author of "Looking
for Trouble."
NEW YORK POST is a registered trademark of NYP Holdings,
Inc. NYPOST.COM, NYPOSTONLINE.COM, and NEWYORKPOST.COM are trademarks
of NYP Holdings, Inc.
Copyright 2009 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress