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The other night I spent the evening at Beth El Synagogue in South Jersey.
The Friends of Israel partnered with the local Jewish Community Relations Council to have former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton speak on the current status of our nation in the world and the deterioration of the Middle East.
Ambassador Bolton is like listening to an encyclopedia of world history collide with an expert on current international politics. I believe his grasp of history and current issues helps him commentate with clarity on issues that lie ahead for our country’s future and the status of the Middle East.
One thing he said really grounded my understanding of the dangers of this White House administration’s passivity in the world––especially the Middle East.
Ambassador Bolton gave a brief history lesson on events leading up to World War II and how they mimic affairs happening today. Hitler could have been crushed early on and World War II and much of the Holocaust could have been avoided if the world powers would have demanded Hitler uphold the Treaty of Versailles from World War I.
The Treaty of Versailles placed military demands on Germany after WWI which included a reduced German military and demilitarization of the Rhineland. Hitler broke the Treaty of Versaille openly over and over and his only punishment was international appeasement. The world watched Hitler break the Treaty as he was staging a takeover of Poland and the Western powers stood idly by. Remember, America didn’t enter WWII until the problem reached our shores––literally––with Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Appeasement is a breeding ground for dangerous, unhampered growth. Hitler’s power grew in a matter of a few years and before long it was too late to contain Hitler’s Third Reich. Ambassador Bolton believes that had the world powers demanded Hitler uphold the treaty, he would have been quarantined to Germany and would have eventually withered within the German political system because there was nowhere for him to go but down.
The White House administration’s appeasement of Russia in Crimea, Iran’s nuclear deal, and ISIS in the Middle East mimics the conciliation of the Hitler’s power grabs between 1935-1939. Ambassador Bolton said we should more active in upholding the demands of treaties on countries like Russia and Iran, which would keep these countries accountable for their actions and restrain them from taking dangerous power grabs, which they are openly doing. Additionally, the White House administration should be more honest and straightforward about identifying our enemies like the Islamic State [IS]. The more President Obama appeases the IS, the more they grow.
For Ambassador Bolton the most pressing issue when you compound all the international problems is that the current White House administration view on America’s role in monitoring the world is small. Ambassador Bolton believes America is a force for good in the international community and when America is not present when problems arise, the power vacuum will be filled with evil as we have seen all throughout the Middle East.
But as Christians we are not shaken! Our hope does not come from Washington, it comes from the God of all creation whose footstool is the earth (Isaiah 66:1). He is sovereign and in control even when we can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.
CJK
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