Thailand Gets Cozy With China More below. Obama was a hands off President allowing Hillary to be one of the primary crafters of his foreign policy, and at every turn, she proved to be less than up to the task. From the Arab Spring, to the Middle Eastern crises, to the Near East, to Russia, to China, to the South China Sea situation she was only capable of mucking things up, but not crafting functional policy which helped the world, the US, and the related parties move towards an optimal, or even reasonable solution.
"More evidence that Obama’s vaunted “pivot to Asia” is ending in retreat and confusion. Reuters: Thailand and China are in talks about building military production facilities in Thailand, a Thai defense ministry spokesman said on Wednesday, the latest sign of warming relations between China and America’s oldest ally in Asia. […] “The defense minister told his Chinese counterpart that we are interested in setting up facilities to repair and maintain the Chinese equipment we currently have in our arsenal,” ministry spokesman Kongcheep Tantravanich told Reuters. “We will also look to their expertise in producing small arms and other security-related equipment like drones,” he said. Thailand has also held talks with Russia about setting up similar production facilities, said Kongcheep, without giving details. For Team Obama, a key to the pivot was its linkage with democracy and human rights and international law. The United States was building a coalition of democracies and emerging democracies to stand against China’s defiance of international norms and statutes. This is the kind of foreign policy that makes Wilsonian hearts go pitter patter. The trouble is that democracy doesn’t seem to be emerging on schedule in the region. Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Burma aren’t marching to the beat of the Wilsonian drum. As a result, Washington may have to choose—if it still can—between a foreign policy that makes idealistic professors feel soft and fuzzy, and one that deals effectively with the challenge that China poses to regional and global order. Obama can be as tolerant of bloodbaths and evil dictators as the sternest of realists; just ask the people of Aleppo how inspired they are by the fierce urgency of his shining ideals. But in Syria, Obama was looking for reasons not to act, and so the cold logic of realism worked for him. In Asia, by contrast, the need was to act with greater vigor and forcefulness, not excluding military shows of force. For that kind of action, liberal Democrats like Obama needed to put on the full armor of light. Thus linking American policy to the Law of the Sea Treaty and an alliance of democracies became necessary to the administration." Obama, and Hillary had the propensity to select foreign policy models most likely to fail in nearly every situation. I cannot remember another President so inclined to failure. Living here in Portlandia, I am often treated to long literate arguments on foreign policy where amount of nothing more than farcical Unicorn hunts. The beliefs are commonly Chimerical, based mostly in mythology, and fundamental misunderstandings of human nature. I like how Mead, the good liberal holds his nose at the Trump potential, and yet realizes that the Obama/Hillary/Kerry era was a disaster, and, yes, the necessary word is "abject" attached to "failure." For the Obama/Hillary/Kerry era has been nothing if not an abject failure!
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