Things Fall Apart

                                   ........"Things fall apart, the center cannot hold,
                                             Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world."

     Those are the third and fourth lines taken from the opening stanza of W.B. Yeats' poem, The Second Coming.  The two lines almost perfectly describe what is taking place in the world today as a result of Washinton's inaction or wrong action.  Perhaps the most blatantly obvious result of our inaction is what just happened in Moscow, the assassination of Putin's opposition leader, Boris Nemtsov.  Anyone who thinks that Putin was not involved in this Mafia style hit needs to have their head examined.  Putin, after being relatively quiet, a sort of a closet KGB for a number of years, has fully bloomed into what he really is - a KGB hardliner! Remember, he said that the greatest tragedy of the 20th Century was the demise of the Soviet Union!
     It may have all started earlier, but it came to surface when we did nothing with Syria when the rebels asked for help.  Putin was selling arms to the regime (he is still selling) and did not want to lose a lucrative market.  We, on the other hand, could have done something, but we didn't do anything except make a lot of threats, draw a "thin red line" that the regime crossed immediately and we still didn't do anything!  What a message we sent!  This was followed by the tragedy in Benghazi, where we tried to cover up our inaction and stupidity by claiming at first that it was not an Al Qaeda sponsored attack!  Putin, along with our other enemies, saw immediately that they could push the envelop, so to speak.  Putin's adventure in Ukraine is a direct result of our inaction in Syria and Libya.  Putin took Crimea, and we didn't do anything. Oh yes, we instituted some sanctions that no doubt hurt Russia, but not enough!  Now, on the verge of taking over the eastern part of Ukraine, so as to have a clear open land bridge to Crimea, Putin decided to get rid of some of his opposition.  Poker may be an American card game, but Putin sure as hell plays it better than Washington!
     Nemtsov was gunned down on the streets of Moscow, ironically not far from the Red Square, in a typical heavy-handed KGB style assassination.  Oh sure, Putin is going through the motions of having an investigation into the matter, and who knows, he might even come up with some "guilty" parties and hold a kangaroo court!  But he isn't fooling anyone, except perhaps Washington!  It is obvious at this point that he is not taking Washington seriously and will do whatever he wants, regardless of our protests!  History has proven time and again that you cannot deal with dictators, that you have to be firm!  Putin's latest acts, the Ukraine takeover and assassination of Nemtsov is reminiscent of Hitler's takeover of Czechoslovakia and the elimination of his opposition at home.  Hitler did those things knowing that England and France (world powers at the time) would not do anything, he was right! Putin completely discounts Europe, he does not see Europe as a military threat, besides, they need his oil and gas!  America, on the other hand, is/was his only obstacle.  But he now sees the U.S. whether correctly or not, as a "paper tiger," a lot of noise but no action!
     Not to miss the opportunity of our inaction to various situation around the world, North Korea has  speeded up its nuclear program.  North Korea already has nuclear weapons, the problem is that they are on the verge of making more!  It is estimated that within the next 5 years they will have about 80 nuclear devices, which they can sell!  The biggest danger with North Korea and its nuclear weapons is that they will sell them to terrorist states who will not hesitate to use them on Israel or the West!  As with Russia, when it comes to North Korea we seem to have a reactive approach with ad hoc policies that we develop "on the fly," so to speak.  It is absolutely incomprehensible to me why we don't take North Korea more seriously and why, when we've been dealing with Russia (as U.S.S.R.) for so many years that we can't come up with a more comprehensive, intelligent policy!  But we seem to be simply throwing things against the wall to see if it sticks, that seems to be the extent of our policies in dealing with Russian and North Korea.
     Our latest international foreign policy coupe is the forthcoming "deal" that we are planning to strike with Iran.  I don't know how many Americans really know what that "deal" is, but let me just summarize it for you.  It is essentially a one-sided deal where we lift sanctions and un-freeze Iranian funds and allow them to sell petroleum on the world market.  In return, Iran "promises" not to develop its nuclear arsenal.  There are no inspections, no controls of any kind, and Iran is not giving up anything!  Some deal, small wonder our European allies don't want to have anything to do with it!  France even goes so far as to say that it is "dumb" deal!  Ah...but we have dialogue with Iran and reached an agreement!  Never mind that the agreement only favors Iran, but we reached an agreement! 
     In striking this deal with Iran (or about to strike the deal), we have alienated our closest ally in the Middle East, Israel.  Let's be honest, we have no allies in the Middle East except for Israel.  All of our "friends" other than Israel will turn their backs on us in a second!  Look how difficult it is each time to form any sort of support from those Arab countries whenever we need help to fight terrorists in their land!  Yet, to strike this "none deal" with Iran, we are willing to alienate our closest ally.  We have been known to do this before, so it isn't anything new.  But it doesn't make it any more palatable!
     On a smaller scale, but no less important, last year we traded five hard core Taliban prisoners for Army deserter, Bowe Bergdahl.  We did this, although we have a standing policy of not dealing with terrorists!  Bergdahl is a deserter.  The fact that he became a "prisoner" of Taliban is not only questionable, but a side issue.  The point is that he voluntarily walked off his post in his attempt to get a way from his Army duty.  His last letter (email) to his parents shows the degree of his discontent and his desire to get away from it all!  The note he left with his unit also clearly stated that he was leaving, deserting, his unit.  So, we trade five known terrorists, despite our no dealing with terrorists policy, for a deserter!  At the same time, we refuse to even discuss the possibility of negotiating with terrorists on the release of a young woman who was working as a volunteer in Syria to help the unfortunates!  We would not negotiate or trade for Kayla Mueller, but we traded five known terrorists for Bowe Bergdahl, an Army deserter!  You know, there was a time when deserters were shot!
     There is something terribly wrong with our policies in general, whether it is dealing with other nations, or even dealing with terrorists!  I guess the problem is that we have no policies, everything is done ad hoc, on the fly!  When you don't have policies on important issues and when you do have them and not follow them, sooner or later, things fall apart!