Why is Obama giving Libya to the Russians?-John Bolton
Wed Jul 20, 2011, Reuters– John R. Bolton, was George W. Bush’s Ambassador to the United Nations (from 2005 to 2006). His extreme views and often bizarre comments left Presient Obama with a steep hill to climb in restoring the US’ reputation. Bolton has floated the possibility that he might add his name to the right wing melee in the farce of the Reprican crowd sourcing for a Presidential candidate.
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(excerpts) With President Obama’s Libya policy staggering from one embarrassment to another, last week he and Secretary of State Clinton outdid themselves. They publicly welcomed Russia’s effort to insert itself as a mediator, an act of such strategic myopia that it must leave even Moscow’s leadership speechless. . Now, as a mediator, Russia will, in effect, have the chance to rewrite the (UN Security) Council’s resolution according to its own lights.
… The reputation and credibility of U.S. and NATO, militarily and politically, have been gravely impaired. The President likely doesn’t appreciate these wounds as he leans over backwards not to be seen as the regime-changing unilateralist he imagined his predecessor to be.
… Mediation was never the correct answer here. NATO, once committed, must prevail by force of arms, as it still could with a modest demonstration of American leadership. Make no mistake: Welcoming Russian intercession between NATO and a military opponent like Libya is nothing less than a massive humiliation for the Western alliance. If the Obama administration’s misguided worldview favors mediation, whatever happened to the likes of Sweden and Switzerland?
Not only does Russia now have the possibility of reshaping the Libyan morass to its own ends, it is also well positioned for a dominant role in post-conflict Libya. From the outset, U.S. critics of the intervention raised legitimate questions about the bona fides of the Libyan opposition, embodied in the Transitional National Council (“TNC”), now recognized by over three dozen countries. Last Friday, the United States joined the crowd, while also unfreezing Libyan assets to make them available to the TNC.