by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
NRO’s\u00a0The Corner<\/em><\/p>\n They\u2019re rioting in Iran over a probably fraudulent election and the use of violence to suppress dissent \u2014 part of the \u201crobust\u201d debate that President Obama just welcomed. Meanwhile, the \u201coptional\u201d and orphaned war in Iraq, which led to real democracy, is now, after January 20, mysteriously once again a sign of the \u201cwinds of change.\u201d<\/p>\n It used to be that a South Korean leader, worried about a cowboy America, would visit Washington to lecture an American president about grating U.S. bases while talking grandly about a \u201cKorean solution\u201d and the growing \u201csunshine policy.\u201d Now it is more likely that a worried Korean president will have to persuade his skeptical American counterpart to keep imperialist U.S. troops on the DMZ to order to deter a nuclear Armageddon.<\/p>\n There is some value to the present irony. Erstwhile U.S. allies can begin to fathom the wages of their much-desired \u201cpost-American world.\u201d It appears that it wasn\u2019t George W. Bush\u2019s Manicheanism that \u201cplayed into the hands\u201d of Mr. Ahmadinejad, who now has a fresh lease on power, despite the U.S. charm offensive of the last six months.<\/p>\n The truth is that the United States now gives more attention and concern to former enemies than it does to present allies. We now believe that provocative acts arise from misunderstanding, not planned aggression. Possible military action against aggressors hinges on U.N. approval and global consensus. We have leapfrogged Europe and are now quite to left of it on matters of foreign policy. It is assumed that disputes involve 50\/50 culpability and do not arise from the greater bad-faith efforts of one party. This is the world our allies largely wanted, and it is fascinating to see it play out about them.<\/p>\n \u00a92009 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson NRO’s\u00a0The Corner They\u2019re rioting in Iran over a probably fraudulent election and the use of violence to suppress dissent \u2014 part of the \u201crobust\u201d debate that President Obama just welcomed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[715],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-GR","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10414,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-korean-games-of-thrones\/","url_meta":{"origin":2657,"position":0},"title":"The Korean Games of Thrones","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review \u00a0 The time for pious American lectures is over. \u00a0 North Korea North Korea seeks respect on the cheap \u2014 and attention and cash \u2014 that it cannot win the old-fashioned way by the long, hard work of achieving a dynamic economy or an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "South Korea"","block_context":{"text":"South Korea","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/south-korea\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11078,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/our-long-history-of-misjudging-north-korea\/","url_meta":{"origin":2657,"position":1},"title":"Our Long History of Misjudging North Korea","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review There\u2019s a lot to learn from seventy years of failure to stop the Kim regimes\u2019 aggression. North Korea has befuddled the United States and its Asian allies ever since North Korean leader Kim Il-sung launched the invasion of South Korea in June 1950. Prior\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MacArthur"","block_context":{"text":"MacArthur","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/macarthur\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10383,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/west-can-neither-live-with-nor-take-out-north-korean-nukes\/","url_meta":{"origin":2657,"position":2},"title":"West Can Neither Live with nor Take Out North Korean Nukes","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review \u00a0 It\u2019s time for the U.S. and its allies to prepare for a tough, messy confrontation. \u00a0 North Korea recently test-launched a long-range missile capable of reaching Alaska. \u00a0 When North Korea eventually builds a missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, it will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Putin"","block_context":{"text":"Putin","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/putin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7108,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obama-ike-redivivus\/","url_meta":{"origin":2657,"position":3},"title":"Obama: Ike Redivivus?","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Obama admirers have created a complete distortion of \"the Eisenhower era.\" by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0National Review Online\u00a0 In critique of the George W. Bush administration, and in praise of the perceived foreign-policy restraint of Obama\u2019s first five years in the White House, a persistent myth has arisen that Obama\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "History"","block_context":{"text":"History","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/481px-General_Dwight_D._Eisenhower-240x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10453,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/is-kim-jong-un-an-evil-buffoon-or-an-evil-genius\/","url_meta":{"origin":2657,"position":4},"title":"Is Kim Jong-un an Evil Buffoon or an Evil Genius?","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Corner The one and only. by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review \u00a0 Kim Jong-un has accomplished something that neither his grandfather nor father pulled off during the last 70 years: bringing an existential threat to the shores of the United States. North Korea\u2019s handful of missiles that are soon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "North Korea"","block_context":{"text":"North Korea","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/north-korea\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4361,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/security-threats-warm-our-allies\/","url_meta":{"origin":2657,"position":5},"title":"Security Threats Warm Our Allies","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 20, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, is busy trying to strengthen the American alliance. In recent months, members of his government have announced new joint military arrangements with the U.S. and announced to the South Koreans that, unlike Japan, they are not to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "June 2005"","block_context":{"text":"June 2005","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2005\/june-2005\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2657"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2657"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2658,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2657\/revisions\/2658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}