History going to repeat
I recently read the book, “7 Tipping Points that Saved the World,” by Christ Stewart and Ted Stewart. In it, the authors describe how radical Islam came within a hair’s breadth of taking over the world.
As I read that chapter and reflected upon my last two articles on ISIS proliferation and atrocities, I thought again: If we don’t get leadership in Washington that can deal with such matters, history will repeat itself, except radical Islam could possibly win this time.
As the Blaze explained, “In ‘The Miracle of Freedom: Seven Tipping Points That Saved the World,’ Chris and Ted Stewart ask a question: How unusual is freedom in history? The answer may surprise some of you. The Stewart's estimate that fewer than 5 percent of all people have ever lived under conditions we in the Western World would consider free. The book explores a series of critical events, ‘obvious forks in the road leading to very different outcomes that resulted in this extraordinary period we live in.’” The Stewarts also discuss how fewer than 12 of the 193 countries around the world have a democratic government that has lasted for more than 50 years. And to what do those few countries – like the U.S. – owe the great privilege of freedom? The Stewarts say not merely our own efforts to fight for it but also the efforts of others through history. A few noteworthy examples include:
At small band of Greek soldiers and their naval officers in a life-or-death conflict with the Persians in 480 B.C. Our allies in Great Britain who refused to surrender to the crushing power of Hitler’s Third Reich. A handful of Frankish soldiers who opposed the conquering armies of Islam more than 13 centuries ago In my last two columns, I discussed how Obama’s foreign policy of appeasement has only emboldened our enemies, especially is the case with Islamic extremists.
No president is perfect. But compared to presidents like Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and even George W. Bush, Obama’s laissez-faire foreign policy plan – namely, ignore or negotiate with our enemies – is only causing their expansion and empowerment. They have spread like wildfire while he has coddled them and played the passive, retreating giant. And he is not the first in recent history to make this calamitous mistake.
Prime Minister Arthur Neville Chamberlain (1937-1940) was also known for his appeasement foreign policy. Despite signing the Munich Agreement in 1938 and conceding the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Germany, Adolf Hitler continued his blitzkrieg and invaded Poland. Rather than diverting war, Chamberlain exaggerated its conditions, and so had to work triple time to fight a stronger Germany in its first eight months of World War II. Only when Britain hit its tipping point, did it even declare war on Germany, because of its pack with Poland in September 1939. President Jimmy Carter is another example of the failure of appeasement foreign policy. In reaction to the Vietnam War, Carter downgraded the role of U.S. military and sought a more peaceful path on the planet by downplaying the threat of our enemies, too.
Dr. Robert G. Kaufman, a professor of public policy at Pepperdine University, summarized Carter’s plight well. In his May 1977 speech at Notre Dame University, Carter dismissed what he called “our inordinate fear of communism.” As a result, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979. The revolutionary government of Iran held 52 American hostages for 444-day hostage crisis, something that also bolstered the strength of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s Islamist, oppressive anti-American regime. Moreover, the refusal of U.S. military and economic aid to Granada strengthened their relationship with communist Cuba and heightened tensions with the U.S.
And not to be forgotten is President Carter’s then-director of the National Security Agency (1977-1981), Adm. Bobby Ray Inman. Inman’s communications were intercepted and uncovered that Libyan Dictator Moammar Gadhafi made a “loan” of $220,000 to President Jimmy Carter’s brother, Billy, as Libyan sway to gain influence inside the White House.
It took a tough president like Ronald Reagan to right the international wrongs of President Carter and regain America’s place in the world. As far as President Obama is concerned, professor Kaufman made this comparison: “The ineffectiveness of President Obama’s foreign policy resembles the record of President Jimmy Carter. … President Obama also has reprized Carter’s mistake of offering too little, too late.” Because of Obama’s foreign policy of appeasement, ISIS has seized Syria and Iraq; it is spreading around the world. Hamas and Hezbollah are enemies of Israel and Syria; Russia is NOT invading the Ukraine, North Korea is more aggressive against the West, Egypt and Libya are in political and military disarray. These are all truth, due to Obama's policies.
Remember, early in Obama’s presidency, when supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt during the so-called “Arab Spring” was the new U.S. path for world peace? Understanding the end outcome of Barack’s appeasement foreign policy is like looking into a historical crystal ball: Radical Islam has spread over the last seven years, the global community is more volatile than ever, and the U.S. is in a more unstable and vulnerable position and inching closer and closer to another world war. As the old adage goes: If we don’t learn from history, we are bound to repeat it.
The seven tipping points that Stewart discussed remind us that each of those who fought for freedom through the ages have – in some way or another – made it easier for us to grab the baton of liberty. But the fact is, each country must fight to preserve freedom; otherwise, it will unravel one thread at a time. Like a frog in a kettle, we won’t realize it’s over until it’s too late. That is exactly the boiling or tipping point the U.S. is at with radical Islam and other extremist powers in the world, and the only way out is through stronger leadership in Washington.
Professor Kaufman from Pepperdine University noted the only way out: “Count on worse to come, until Americans elect a neo-Reaganite president who will renounce the Carteresque foreign policy and Barack Obama's foreign policy .” That reminds me of the 2012 video that my wife, Gena, and I made, in which I explained: “If we look to history, our great country and freedom are under attack. We’re at a tipping point and, quite possibly, our country as we know it may be lost forever if we don’t change the course in which our country is headed.”
I added, “Our great president, Ronald Reagan said, ‘Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same.’” Gena finished, “President Reagan went on to say that, ‘You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.’” Reagan’s words are truer today than ever, if we only heed them. I ask again: Is history going to repeat itself? It is already!
Editor’s note: Chuck Norris’ weekly political column debuts each Monday in WND and is then syndicated by Creators News Service for publication elsewhere. His column in WND often runs hundreds of words longer than the subsequent release to other media.
