Sad Reality

The current U.S. administration is truly a farce to be reckoned with.

Their performance in so many areas appears to have failed to impress those whom their decision-making impinges upon. Sometimes this reflects poorly on individual judgement, and sometimes it's a general reflection of a number of administrations having made questionable decisions impacting on the wider international community. It is this particular administration, however, whose entrance on the international scene seemed to promise so much more than it would ever deliver, that has disgraced its standing internationally.

Other countries no longer bask in the comfort of knowing that they have a powerful ally that recognizes the same institutional and social values that they do, and which will be swift to come to their aid should that assistance ever be required. And the balefully wretched nations of the world who oppress their own populations and who wilfully contribute to international unrest, some of whom being involved in the support of terrorist activities abroad, no longer shudder in apprehension that the judgement of the most powerful nation on Earth would test their malfunctions.

President Barack Obama succeeding the Republican administration of his predecessor George W. Bush, was intent on changing the way the world regarded the United States of America. And he certainly has succeeded. Not admirably, but well. Allies have been left bemused and confused by the waning interest of America in their collective welfare, upholding international standards of best practice in democratic values and presenting a common front when confronted with the fires of conflict flaring in various parts of the world.

The lacklustre, disinterested and easily thwarted warnings that issue from the White House expressing its intention not to tolerate conflict overstepping the bounds of decency even by war's standards has, time and again distinguished the Obama White House from that of its predecessors. The internal social agenda as much as the external order-keeping agenda has failed beyond the imagination of those who placed so much trust in the potential of someone whose rhetorical grace promised much and delivered little.

From Iraq to Afghanistan, Libya to Syria, Egypt to Lebanon, Iran to Ukraine, Israel to the Palestinian Authority, President Obama has dispatched his Secretary of State to frantically attempt to subdue the crises that keep insistently popping up. Mr. Kerry's smiling face of optimism, a counterpoint to Mr. Obama's scowls of frustration. Both monumentally irrelevant.