Madeleine Albright Carries Obama Message to Russia

When I heard the remarks Madeleine Albright made in front of a bunch of Russian students in Omsk, the first thing I thought was how lucky we were that, during the Clinton administration, Albright was not Secretary of Defense. The occasion of her presence in the media right now is the publication of her new book "Read My Pins." The title is taken from her self-consciously "charming" habit of using brooches and pins (jewelry, in other words) to reflect her thinking on a variety of issues in world affairs. While I can appreciate the feminine touch in what had been, up to Madeleine Albright's appointment, a male domain, most likely the only people who were charmed were those on her own staff and her admirers in the media. One such admirer is Newsweek writer Eleanor Clift in a September 24 Newsweek blog piece titled "Madeleine Albright's Unusual Diplomatic Weapon: Jewelry."

One of the insider jewelry intrigues suggested by Eleanor Clift was Albright's use of a serpent pin after Saddam Hussein had allegedly referred to her a snake. Albright was our United Nations ambassador at the time. When Saddam Hussein was executed, Albright is said to have worn a snake pin with a sword through it.

If jewelry pins were Madeleine Albright's signature on American foreign policy, I would suggest wearing a brooch showing the Secretary of State shooting herself_(and America) in the foot. Madeleine Albright gave her okay for Kofi Annan to visit Saddam Hussein in Iraq in the days preceding his invasion of Kuwait, giving the dictator the distinct impression, after many months of U.S. protests, that the U.S. would not be interested in military action against Iraq. It was Albright's naïve belief that Annan's visit would convince the Iraqis to allow weapons inspectors back into the country. We know what Saddam Hussein took this to mean-a nod and a wink-as he marched his troops forward into the desecration and humiliation of his neighbor Kuwait under the pretext of resolving a border dispute. With the Oil for Food program circumvented, and the sanctions program in tatters, and with the pressure from European critics of the U.S., Saddam Hussein perhaps had a tank commander's brooch on his lapel as he invaded Kuwait with plenty of tanks and 100,000 troops.

Now, in speaking before the Russian students in Omsk, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had strayed very far from what she had told a student group at Ohio State University in 1998.

"We are the greatest nation in the world ...and what we are doing,is being the indispensable nation, willing to make the world safe for our children and grandchildren, and for nations who follow the rules."

Apparently, Madeleine Albright's views with regard to the U.S. have devolved and evidence of Albright's New Consciousness are featured on blogs around the world, but were a source of great interest at Pravda, the Russian newspaper of record.

We're no longer interested in the concept of American "exceptionalism," according to Albright. She went to say we're on hard times, and don't need any more enemies. We have enough competition already-in places like India, China, and London. We're throwing in the towel!

"My generation has made many mistakes. We give the future into the hands of the young. Your prime goal is to overcome the gap between the poor and the rich," the former Secretary was quoted by Pravda.

Gosh, I hope someone in one of those great countries she's visiting will take pity on us and offer to help. Russia will certainly feel sorry for us now that President Obama has abandoned U.S. plans to put defensive missiles and radar in Poland and Czechoslovakia. The Iranians might shed a tear, too, and will be sending us a message of accommodation very soon. Those missiles launched today by the Iranians were for the sole purpose of generating peaceful electric power. Germany, France, and England can be counted on to "stand with us" at the United Nations now that we have given up on the idea of American "exceptionalism" and agreed to follow the prescripts of bureaucratic internationalism.

Don't think, however, that Albright's message was at all denigrating. Focus instead on the inspiration she imparts to the young to "overcome the gap between the poor and the rich." As one blogger pointed out, that sage advice cost the seminar's organizers a mere $40,000 as Albright narrows the gap between herself and Russia's Soviet style capitalist billionaires. But there is no reason for cynicism with regard to Madeleine Albright's speech, not when you consider the grand objectives of an International Government of Commissars and Apparatchiks feathering their nests in Brussels, Moscow, Paris and Berlin. Just think of the egalitarian benefits of a world where people are equal because poverty is universal, where no one strives because there is nothing to strive for, and electricity is plentiful and supplied free of charge all over the world from the radioactive Caliphate presided over by Ahmadinajad.

Sources: http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/85423/

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2009/09/24/madeleine-albright-s-unusual-diplomatic-weapon-jewelry.aspx

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9802/18/town.meeting.folo/index.html

http://english.pravda.ru/business/finance/109362-1/