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The Honduras Predicament
Townhall.com ^ | July 2, 2009 | Cal Thomas

Posted on 07/02/2009 5:36:32 AM PDT by Kaslin

Help me out here. President Obama immediately "meddles" in the affairs of Honduras, denouncing a military coup, the intent of which is to preserve the country's constitution, but when it comes to Iran's fraudulent election and the violent repression of demonstrators who wanted their votes counted, the president initially vacillates and equivocates. Are we expected to accept this as a consistent foreign policy? Even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was reluctant to call the removal of President Manuel Zelaya a coup, if for no other reason than it would stop U.S. aid flowing to the impoverished Central American nation.

The fingerprints (or in this case the boot prints) of the Castro brothers, Venezuela's dictator Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua are all over this. If one is known by the company one keeps, the specter of the Castros and their protege dictators joining President Obama in denouncing the Honduran military coup is not reassuring. Clearly Zelaya was the choice of the dictators to help spread "revolution" to America's back door. The coup is a setback for them, though perhaps temporary, depending on how much pressure "world opinion," which can be as fickle as some politicians' marriage vows, can assert.

One of the flaws in U.S. policy in this and in the Bush administration has been our commitment to elections as an end and not a means. Elections can put scoundrels in power and the election that elevates them is often the last one a country sees until the miscreants are overthrown. That has been true of Hamas in the Palestinian legislative elections of 2006, Germany under Hitler, as well as Ortega and Chavez, among others. The United States should be supporting electoral processes that put people in office who are committed to the rule of law and representative government.

The threat by Chavez to send his troops into Honduras ought to be another signal to the Obama administration that thugs can't be made nice by talking to them. So far, the world's tyrants have been unresponsive to Obama's offer of a new start and a pushing of the "reset" button, which Secretary Clinton famously offered Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The word on the device she gave Lavrov was meant to say "reset" in Russian, instead, roughly translated, the word meant "overcharge." Overly optimistic might be a better word to describe this nascent administration's approach to bad guys. They are getting the message, but it's a different one than President Obama hoped to send. The message is that Obama is weak and can be had.

It is one thing for a president to be liked, but in a dangerous world with dictators who have, or wish to acquire, nuclear weapons and by these and other means destroy the United States, it is better that an American president be feared.

Does this administration have a "Plan B" for dealing with thugs and dictators should their rules of social and diplomatic etiquette fail to produce their announced objectives? Suppose Kim Jong-il follows through on his threat to launch a missile at Hawaii on July 4? If he does and America shoots it down, what happens then? If missile defense fails (the administration and Congress are cutting the budget for a missile shield) and the missile hits Hawaii and kills a lot of people, what then?

Will there be strong denunciations, UN resolutions, or a rapid and devastating retaliation? Given this administration's commitment to "dialogue," I'm not betting on retaliation. More like handwringing and wondering aloud what we might have done to make them hate us, as we heard from many leftists following Sept. 11.

The administration is being tested on several fronts, as Vice President Biden predicted. Honduras is one of many challenges. Will the administration meet them, or retreat? We may know sooner than many of us might expect.


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs
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1 posted on 07/02/2009 5:36:32 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Welcome to the “O” zone, a popular subdivision of Bizarro World.


2 posted on 07/02/2009 5:39:45 AM PDT by xcamel (The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it. - H. L. Mencken)
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To: xcamel

All of this makes perfect sense once you realize that obama is a committed marxist socialist. He has no interest in the ‘democratic’ yearnings of the Iranian people but he’s fully committed to preserving and expanding latin America’s fall into marxist socialist hell.


3 posted on 07/02/2009 5:42:28 AM PDT by pgkdan ( I miss Ronald Reagan!)
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To: Kaslin
TOTUS is a moron. Simple.

How we got to this point is astounding!

4 posted on 07/02/2009 5:43:13 AM PDT by ryan71 (We're in deep kimchi!)
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To: Kaslin

He sees his own potential fate in the Honduras situation.


5 posted on 07/02/2009 5:45:40 AM PDT by ozark hilljilly (My gub'mint calls me a terrorist, but my kids call me "Mom".)
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To: Kaslin
President Obama immediately "meddles" in the affairs of Honduras, denouncing a military coup,

This isn't a coup and people should stop referring to it as such. Using the word 'coup' lends an air of illegitimacy to the actions of the Honduran Military who acted at the behest of the the Supreme Court and with the unanimous support of the Congress. The Hondurans ousted the man who was attempting a coup.

6 posted on 07/02/2009 5:45:48 AM PDT by pgkdan ( I miss Ronald Reagan!)
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To: Kaslin
The United States should be supporting electoral processes that put people in office who are committed to the rule of law and representative government.

Liberalism knows but one law: “ALL RIGHT THEN WHO’S WITH ME??”
The mob rule. Thus the emphasis on democracy rather than law.

7 posted on 07/02/2009 5:48:47 AM PDT by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast (Rent this space.)
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To: pgkdan

Dummies!
WAKE UP!
O wants to do EXACTLY THE SAME THING when it comes to his run #3.
(You don’t think Acorn will let him lose next time, do you?)


8 posted on 07/02/2009 5:50:42 AM PDT by Flintlock
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To: Kaslin
The answer is quite simple:

In IRAN, Absolute Zero's friend, the marxist and islamist president, WON. He is stil in power. Thus, Absolute Zero is pleased with the situation and iite would therefore be "arrogant" and "ill-advised" to meddle in the internal affairs of another sovereign nation.

IN HONDURAS, Absolute Zero's friend, the marxist president, LOST. This displeases Absolute Zero, and therefore in the name of "freedom" he must immediately meddle in the internal affairs of another sovereign nation.

See, it's all perfectly logical... IF you're a marxist dictator (or strive to be one).

9 posted on 07/02/2009 5:51:55 AM PDT by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
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To: pgkdan

You’re right.

But if even conservative columnists like Cal Thomas persist in referring to it as a “coup”, it’s going to be tough to get the record set straight. I have a sick feeling the history books will be reporting this as a “coup” from now until doomsday (after which it will not matter).


10 posted on 07/02/2009 5:54:57 AM PDT by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
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To: pgkdan
Bears repeating.

The Hondurans are playing by the rules of the Constitution; the leftist who was removed was removed according to the rules, which he had violated grossly.

11 posted on 07/02/2009 5:56:03 AM PDT by caddie
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To: pgkdan

The use of the word “coup” is an attempt to demonize.

The military didn’t take it upon themselves to remove this man and install someone of their choosing. The did it under the orders of the elected officials of the country and supreme court.

Personally I’m pretty irritated at the republicans over this as well. Have any of them even mentioned this or stood in solidarity with the Honduran people and the rule of law? Or are they so owned by the globalists who want the dictator reinstalled that they’re cowering under their desks hoping no one notices their silence?


12 posted on 07/02/2009 6:04:31 AM PDT by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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Comment #13 Removed by Moderator

To: WayneS

Cal Thomas is a conservative alright...in the same mold as McCain and Lindsay Grahm.


14 posted on 07/02/2009 6:18:29 AM PDT by old curmudgeon
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To: Kaslin

The entire world is lurching leftward. Obama is the very Marxist/leftist/godless coward we all insisted he was before the election. His support of Chavez/Castro/Zalaya is unfathomable. He make Clinton look like Dwight Eisenhower.

The DUmmies have been trying to cast this Honduran thing as a “fascist” takeover. I don’t think any of them have actually graduated high school.


15 posted on 07/02/2009 6:20:37 AM PDT by Rutles4Ever (Ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia, et ubi ecclesia vita eterna!)
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To: Rutles4Ever

Its a simple case of simple minded “follow dear leader” for the DUmmies.

Thinking is just too hard.


16 posted on 07/02/2009 6:31:46 AM PDT by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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To: Kaslin

in the minds of Bam and his followers, it is still 1985 and they are still fighting the Contra War


17 posted on 07/02/2009 6:32:48 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Rutles4Ever

The United States should be supporting electoral processes that put people in office who are committed to the rule of law and representative government.

-—<>-—<>-—<>-—<>-—<>-—

Very good statement by Cal.

Your saying that the DUm bunnies are casting Honduras situation as a fascist takeover is nearly accurate. A dictator tried to overturn the rule of law. However, in this case Hitler didn’t succeed in doing so, and the rule of law has triumphed - at least for now, despite the 0Bama-Chamberlain crew in the WH now.


18 posted on 07/02/2009 6:42:11 AM PDT by AFPhys ((.Praying for President Bush, our troops, their families, and all my American neighbors..))
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To: Kaslin

We have already cut military ties to Honduras, I fully expect to see them cut off foreign aid and maybe even trying to dent them their rightful seat in the UN and OAS.

Obama is anti-democratic to his core.


19 posted on 07/02/2009 6:58:15 AM PDT by GeronL (http://libertyfic.proboards.com <----go there now,----> tyrannysentinel.blogspot.com)
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To: Servant of the Cross

Is “obama” hiding his hammer and sickle in his beak in that cartoon?


20 posted on 07/02/2009 6:59:04 AM PDT by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
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