Beltway Insider: Obama, G7, Meet in Japan; The Libyan Olive Branch; Election: Trump, Clinton, Sanders; Morley Safer

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Category: Beltway Insider

Published on Sunday, 22 May 2016 18:51

Written by Janet Walker

President Barack Obama is traveling to South East Asia visiting Hanoi, Vietnam and Hiroshima, Japan, each city invoking strong historical recollections of U.S. military involvement marking the end of the Vietnam War and retribution for the Pearl Harbor Attack.

According to Gallup, President Obama's job approval, over the past week, decreased one percentage points to 52% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness as President remained constant at 43%.

Obama in South East Asia

President Obama is moving into the last six months of his presidency and continuing to align and normalize regions of the world to create greater economic relationships without jeopardizing the efforts and achievements

Ho Chi Minh City [Saigon] and Hanoi Vietnam

Historically, Ho Chi Minh City, the new name for Saigon, represents the failed policy of the United States government. At a cost of more than 58,000 American lives, the Vietnam War remains the costliest of modern wars.

“So we'll have a broad agenda with the Vietnamese.  But I think what we want to demonstrate with this visit is a significant upgrade in the relationship between the United States and Vietnam as partners on many issues, even as we have areas of difference that will continue to be the case, “said Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications.

The killing years, beginning with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, in November of 1963, continued reaching from America college campuses to the rice fields of South East Asia.

A collective Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, another unheard of mental condition, fell across the public as reactions to the televised murder of the President and Lee Harvey Oswald the alleged gunman, ranged from complacency and continued trust in government to wild and determined voiced anti-government protests.

The frontlines of South East Asia were not the only battleground fighting against this policy. The spill over, the death sentence of the draft, the distrust of government, the memories of Dallas and a shattered Camelot, ran red into the streets as students, mass protestors, the 1960’s generation, the torch of a new generation, marked the first real rise in voiced protests against government policy began to fill the nightly news.

Just when Americans believed they were getting past the deeply wounding and effecting tragedy of Dallas the eruption of the Civil Rights Massacres and on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr was gunned down in Memphis and two months later an exuberant Robert F. Kennedy, after clinching the Democratic Presidential Nomination on June 6, 1968, with a victorious win in the California primary, was also murdered.

President Obama, in an effort to maintain and normalize relationship across the Pacific Asian region, which continues to reverberate from North Korea’s Communist, unpredictable and volatile leader Kim Jong-Un, is upping the ante across countries that had previously been considered low level priory.

“This trip continues to demonstrate and elevate the President's focus on the Asia Pacific region.  The Asia rebalance has been a central objective of the President's broader foreign policy and economic policy, rooted in our belief that this largest-emerging market in the world is critical to our future prosperity and also central to a whole host of critical U.S. national security interests as well,”Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications.

Japan and the G7 Summit

President Obama will travel to Kashiko Island, Shima Mie prefecture, Japan to attend the G7 Leadership Summit hosted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, the newest member of the G7, formally, the G8, will join the leaders from the world’s largest seven economies, The United States, Germany, Japan, The United Kingdom, France, Italy and as always a representative of the European Union will also attend.

Russia, an original member of the G8, has been expelled based entirely on the decision of the U.S.S.R. to breech the foremost rules and violate the territorial sovereignty of the Ukraine. The expulsion initiated the sectorial sanctions that will remain until Russian President Vladimir Putin restores the Ukraine in its entirety.

Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the End of World War II

President Obama has made a personal decision to visit Hiroshima, the memorial site of the dropping of the first Atomic Bomb, the effectively ended the World War II after it had spread to the Pacific theater.

“With respect to Pearl Harbor, I'd just say, first of all, that we draw no linkages to our decision to go to Hiroshima.  This is the President’s decision.  And he is making this decision be he believes that it's important to acknowledge history; it's important to look squarely at history; it's important to have a dialogue about history,” Rhodes said.

Historically, the escalation of World War II began with the surprise attack on the American Naval Fleet docked in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy” according to then President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The losses at Pearl Harbor, 2,403 killed and 1,178 wounded, mirrored the human toll of the World Trade Center Terror Attacks. The Fleet was entirely destroyed, The U.S.S. Arizona took four armor piercing bombs mid-ship and sank before any of the 1,177 sailors and ship personnel had a chance to escape. Entombed, the ship remains a memorial today.

This first strike action brought a neutral United States into War joining with the United Kingdom and then prime Minster Winston Churchill in the fight against global tyranny of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi.

During the testing of The Atomic Bomb held in Yucca Flats, Nevada, members of the military, dignitaries, honored guests and others were invited to witness. After several cancellations, the group was collected and told where and when. Of the dozen or so who were invited, Desmond Walker, my grandfather was part of the contingency. Confidentiality of participants was mandatory and a fifty-year secrecy agreement was tied to attending.  

The Atomic Bomb, nuclear warfare, the evidence of total annihilation, obliteration and destruction the world has seen has remained an issue for civilized nations even today nearly eight decades later

Obama Offers Libya An Olive Branch

President Obama, known for his soft foreign policy positions has continued to enforce this belief by offering former terrorist nation, Libya, aid, assistance and an opportunity to join the global coalition of nations fighting the Islamic State Terror organization.

Libya, home to Benghazi, the former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, and former convicted terrorist of Pan Am Flight 108, is entering into new relations with the United States as President Obama attempts to normalize relations with the former terrorist hotbed nation.

The recent predictions by NATO General Dunford indicate, in his professional opinion, “We are in a long mission to Libya in fight against ISIS.”

The September 11, 2012 Benghazi Libya Embassy attack in which four American including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith and CIA contractors Tyrone S. Woods and Glen Doherty, were killed seems to be easily pushed aside as the president seeks an additional partner in the coalition of combat the Islamic State Fighters.

“This administration is focused on supporting the Government of National Accord in Tripoli as it strives to restore stability and security to Libya and serve the Libyan people.  We commend the Prime Minister and the leadership of the new government for taking steps of restoring a unified governance. The United States would welcome a request from the Libyan government to strengthen the capabilities of the presidential guard there, embedded forces supporting and aligned with the Government of National Accord. As General Dunford indicated, NATO could have a supportive role to help build Libyan capacity to provide security and combat ISIL,” Rhodes said.

At 66 nations, whose background and recent history, is not steeped in generational hatred and violence against the United States and allies, the introduction of Libya to the coalition seems more like inviting a poisonous snake into your house.

Election 2016: Trump Dismantles UK /US Platform; Sanders, Clinton Fight to the Finish

Donald Trump has stated this week as he reviews Foreign Policy he is sure he won’t like David Cameron.  With the UK as one of the strongest allies the United States has in Europe, the relationship while not imperative is certainly crucial to the continuance of a Free World.

The advent of ISIS and the fascist regimes that sprout faster than weeds throughout the Middle East, are of grave concern to a coalition of nations that believe the world needs to downgrade and destroy the Islamic State Fighters.

Mr. Trump who rocketed to international notoriety through his long running reality show, The Apprentice, has utilized the tactics within the construct of the show that have generated results. Mr. Cameron, nor any of the G7 leaders want to play The Apprentice game.

They don’t plan to form an alliance and try to squeeze out the other team to please the bully business leader for the sake of the pinnacle moment at the end of the ten weeks of challenges when one lucky contestant will receive employment with the world famous Trump organization.

This is real politics with real time National Security issues at stake, no producer will whisper in the earpiece the right words or pause for the buildup. The Presidency is a 24/7 life commitment. 

The relationship with Prime Minister Cameron, in these pivotal times, is one that deserves respect not for each other, as he as most other world leaders and in fact the world population at large, believe the idea of a Trump presidency is a joke and he a buffoon, but for concern and care for the people both nations represent.

Trump Hoodwinks The GOP Faithful

These pivotal times call for sincere leadership; the American people don’t need another Vladimir Putin brick wall. Trump comes off as a narcissist, suffering from a napoleon complex, not from his diminutive physical stature but from his lack of political experience, a minor league player in the big leagues, determined to force world leaders to respect him simply as he is the chosen one of blinded people.  

Should Trump win the office, he is winning for one singular reason in that the people believe he represents such a deep diversion from Republican politics as usual that maybe, just maybe, he may have a better chance at being elected than previous republicans and  the quality of life may actually change.

The fact that the majority believe he is pulling the wool over the eyes of the sincere hearted Republicans like a cult evangelist preying on the devotion of the ideals of America, the heartstrings, the days when there wasn’t such a deep departure from the ideals that made America the strongest and most respected nation in the world.

When the greatest generation and the Stars Spangled Banner actually had merit and weight in the international world. A time when no terrorist would have thought to raise a knife to the throat of any American citizen, let alone behead on tape. I want that America just not that leader.

Sanders, Clinton Fight to the Finish

Presumptive Presidential democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton and chief challenger and rival Senator Bernie Sanders, split the week each scoring a win in Tuesday’s primary.

The vote so close in Kentucky the delegates awarded were equal Clinton declared victory with a .05% lead winning by 1,924 votes. Senator Sanders took Oregon by a larger percentage of 56% of the votes and received 34 delegates to Clinton’s 44%; she received 25 delegates.

The proportional delegate system has served Mrs. Clinton well throughout the second half of the primary process as her campaign hasn’t resonated as strongly with the majority of the population and possibly as the Trump campaign, the non-leader leader effect, has created some spill over. For whatever the reason, Clinton’s strong first half and solid wins early on gave her the cushion to absorb the small losses and still remain a winning candidate.

Morley Safer Dies

Morley Safer, one of the most recognized names in Journalism, died this week, one week after announcing his retirement from the CBS Sunday News Magazine, 60 Minutes. He was 84.

Safer, had an enviable career as a war correspondent covering conflicts around the world. Hired at CBS in 1964, Safer had worked with the Canadian Broadcasting System, working form London and covering conflicts in Northern Africa and the Middle East. Safer was the only western journalist in Berlin when the communist began building the Berlin Wall.  

After hired at CBS, Safer covered the growing conflict in Vietnam, the Nigerian Civil War, the Arab-Israeli war. He opened the CBS Bureau in Saigon and London, where he was named Bureau Chief. Known for his first Safer was the first journalist to report from Communist China.  

Lauded by his friends, family and profession Safer held twelve Emmys, three Overseas Press Awards, three Peabody awards, two Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University awards and the Paul White Award from Radio-Television News Directors Association.

“Morley has had a brilliant career as a reporter and as one of the most significant figures in CBS News history, on our broadcast and in many of our lives. Morley’s curiosity, his sense of adventure and his superb writing, all made for exceptional work done by a remarkable man," Jeff Fager, executive producer of 60 Minutes, said on the Wikipedia page of Morley Safer.

For more information on President Barack Obama: www.whitehouse.gov

Sources: Whitehouse.gov, Wikipedia.com,

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