And France Takes the Lead!

You can tell something is wrong when the fiercest voice of opposition to a fanatical dictator like the one who clings desperately to control in the State of Libya is the French President. Indeed, despite the perfect assembly of conditions to justify the cause of action with international backing, Barack Obama's response to the conflict facing the citizens of Libya has been to dawdle in a staring contest with the North African rockstar as he commits atrocities against his own people.

(Photo courtesy of Gooseradio.com)

Thus far the flimsy explanation from the Whitehouse has been to point to the Bush Administration's seeming failure with intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq as a reason to hold the reins in frozen state. Fearing a backlash, they cower while the forces of Europe stand to take responsibility for what may  become the event of the century as far as it refers to democratic change. 

This raises perhaps the greatest irony of the 21st Century: France acting with more boldness than the United States of America in a foreign conflict. Since the end of the Second World War French governments have remained disinterested in international responsibility, with even the grandiose figure of Charles De Gaulle advocating a largely disengaged status of the French military both in Africa and across the entire world. Yet now President Nicholas Sarkozy stands (no doubt at least partially for political advantage) as a taller and more formidable leader than his American equivalent: a stunning turning of the world image table by all means. 

If this is the future of American foreign policy, then the world may truly see a dramatic realignment of influence from the land of the free to nations of the Old Republic--or perhaps even the Deep South of the world. Such a probability is disconcerting and yet not entirely impossible in the modern day consdering the continuous stumbling of America's foremost leader on the international stage. Should our country fail to show leadership, it is entirely justified for other nations to desire a means of filling the vacuum through their own means of foreign policy expansionism.  

The future is always uncertain, so it remains up to those with steady hands to claim it in the name of righteous democracy

Michael Veramendi

National Alliance Vice President for Foreign Issues