Pax Post-Americana

Regrettably, President Obama’s new national security cabinet officers are fulfilling their critics’ harsh predictions.   Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has indicated that more cuts in defense spending are in prospect and initiated a series of concessions to the North Koreans in the face of their continuing belligerence.

Not to be outdone, Secretary of State John Kerry has been signaling to the Chinese and their puppets in North Korea that the United States is a paper tiger.  Mr. Kerry announced that President Obama is prepared to negotiate bilaterally with the North and to undo U.S. missile defense deployments if only Pyongyang will promise us again to eliminate its nuclear program.

Foes and friends alike are responding to this evidence of our waning power in the Pacific.  No good will come of that perception.