Even as President Obama gave his State of the Union address to the joint chambers of Congress Tuesday night, another domino was falling in Iran's line-up of nation-state influence.
Yemen's leadership was on the brink of capitulation just as Obama was gloating over a failed foreign policy as being effective. Others have already pointed out how facts of Yemen and Somalia's chaos contradict the president's previous glorying in those states as testaments of his policy's success. His idea as to what qualifies as success appear to deviate from that of most Americans.
As of now, Iran's sway in Lebanon is further verified with the death of one of their generals in an Israeli air strike against Hezbollah in the Golan Heights. Syria's Bashar al-Assad hangs onto power only because of the Shiite support of Iran and their underling, Hezbollah. Yemen is now in the grip of Iran-backed Houthi rebels while Saudi-supported southern Sunnis try to wriggle free from Sana'a.
Iran's sphere of influence expands in the Middle East as America's recedes, bolstered by President Obama's persistent allegiance to floundering talks meant to rein-in their nuclear program. Even one of his own Democrat senators took issue with statements he made in the SOTU as sounding like Iranian talking points.
In addition, while the president boarded Air Force One to Idaho, House Speaker John Boehner announced his invitation to Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress in March, bypassing White House input. The invitation came on the heels of another terror attack against Tel Aviv civilians by a cowardly individual lauded as a hero by Hamas, Israel's vicious neighbor sworn to eradicate the Jewish state. It's not hard to understand Netanyahu's acceptance to speak to the republican-held Congress when his small nation is facing animosity from all sides, including the White House which continues to insist on Israel ceding land to self-avowed enemies, giving up any possibility for real defense.
After reprimanding Congress about interfering in his negotiations with Iran over their nuclear aspirations, President Obama immediately flew to Idaho to meet with Naghmeh Abedini. Pastor Saeed Abedini, Naghmeh's husband, has been suffering for two years in the worst of Iranian jails for the crime of building an orphanage. Since Abedini's initial arrest the president has received numerous petitions demanding he intervene to secure the pastor's release, which, by all indications, have been ignored.
What appears to be going unnoticed by the rest of the media is that the long overdue meeting with Naghmeh Saeed is being used to serve up a further slap to the republican-led Congress to butt-out of the president's agenda. In telling the Abedini children that he will try his best to bring their father home, the president delivered his underlying message to Congress that it won't happen if they act on a bill placing more sanctions on Iran.
With each new twist in the Middle East political tale, President Obama shows more interest in seeing the Iranian negotiations continue, buying more time for Iran to develop nuclear weapons and, evidently, longer range missiles capable of carrying payloads beyond Europe.
With petulance, arrogance and betraying the only democracy in the crumbling Middle East, President Obama displays a singular agenda that serves no good purpose other than vanity and preference for the Islamic world. Is he irrelevant, or an advocate for Iran-backed terror?
Former newspaper publisher, A. Dru Kristenev, grew up in the publishing industry working every angle of a paper, from ad composition and sales, to personnel management, copy writing, and overseeing all editorial content. During her tenure as a news professional, Kristenev traveled internationally as a representative of the paper and, on separate occasions, non-profit organizations. Since 2007, Kristenev has authored five fact-filled political suspense novels, the Baron Series, and two non-fiction books, all available on Amazon. Carrying an M.S. degree and having taught at premier northwest universities, she is the trustee of Scribes’ College of Journalism, which mission is to train a new generation of journalists in biblical standards of reporting. More information about the college and how to support it can be obtained by contacting Kristenev at cw.o@earthlink.net.
ChangingWind (changingwind.org) is a solutions-centered Christian ministry.
