It's a better game than checkers.

The new "smart foreign policy" of the United States is apparently uncontested concession. Whereas France, long the butt of jokes and mockery for their foreign policy style of surrender, has stepped up to condemn the sham elections in Iran, the United States now resembles George McFly in the beginning of Back To The Future.
"I'm afraid I'm just not very good at confrontations."
Gordon Brown, Great Britain's maligned Prime Minister, also had strong words for Iran's leaders. "The regime must address the serious questions which have been asked about the conduct of the Iranian elections."
Meanwhile, Barack Obama does not want to be seen as "meddling" in Iran's affairs.
If the United States, the Light of Liberty in the world, does not stand with an oppressed populace, who will? Iranians are being killed for protesting. They are risking their lives, the lives of their families, and the lives of their friends, all for the slightest shred of freedom. President Obama is sending all oppressed peoples buried under harsh, cruel regimes throughout the world the message that the United States will not stand with them.
It makes sense, given President Obama's worldview of moral equivocation. The United States has committed atrocities in Iraq, throughout the Middle East, and throughout its history at home. Perhaps we, in our previously flawed condition, have no right to condemn Iran's atrocities. Perhaps we are more to blame than them.
But President Obama's squishiness denies the good that America has done. Iraq, for example, is now freer than is has been in many years. We have built schools, hospitals, infrastructure. This is America's Exceptionalism, that, by virtue of our freedom and liberty, we are free to help others and to free others. This is not to say that America is better than other peoples or nations. Rather, we are freer.
President Obama's apparent compulsion to straddle both sides of a debate is weakening him, weakening the United States, weakening our allies, and strengthening the resolve of the worst factions. Even more dangerous, his weakness worsens the plight of the oppressed in these regimes. Those whose sole goal is to attain a sort of worldwide dominance are hastening their ascent.
North Korea has ramped up their braggadocio, largely in response to Obama's tepidity. President Obama called North Korea's antagonistic accelerated nuclear weapons program a "grave threat." North Korea replied with a threat of a "thousand-fold" military retaliation to any U.S. actions.
As a former educator, perhaps Mr. Obama will be familiar with this scenario:
Teachers often encounter one student whose goal, it seems, is not to learn, but to continuously, antagonistically, test the limits of the teacher's patience. When told to sit in their desk, the student will instead run around and poke other students. When told to be quite, the student will instead talk incessantly to any student who may or may not listen. When told to hand in an assignment on Thursday, the student will instead hand in the first page the following Wednesday.
It's a lot easier when the teacher can simply send the student to the Principal's office to be disciplined, or send a note home to the student's parents. Perhaps, in a university setting, the teacher can simply drop the offending student from the class.
The game changes when the teacher is the final authority, but is reluctant to dispense any sort of punishment. Or when the principal, allegorically, the U.N., is as toothless as an old man who forgot his dentures, eyeing an apple.
Or when the student's rogue actions could destroy half the planet, and leave the other half in the darkness of nuclear winter.
North Korea is reportedly preparing additional tests of long-range missiles that could reach the U.S. According to the Associated Press, a Japanese newspaper report suggests North Korea might fire a long-range missile toward Hawaii in early July. North Korea is thought to possess enough plutonium for several atomic bombs, and is reportedly enriching uranium.
Aggressive threats from North Korea, Iran and other unscrupulous, unpredictable regimes require consequential responses. Potential destructive acts wreaked upon South Korea, Japan, Israel, the United States, or even upon their own citizens will require necessarily strong punitive actions. A foreign policy that relies on concession, or in President Obama's case, perhaps overly self-confident personal charm, will fail. Kim Jong Il will have his nukes if he wants them. So will Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs in Iran. The stakes in this game are too high, and the consequences too dear.
Historically, for better or worse, the United States has assumed the responsibility of maintaining the peace, so to speak. It is in the interest of our continued liberty, but is also the product of a general lack of resolve for a cooperative, forceful effort among other nations. The U.N. can impose sanctions or pass resolutions, but is often powerless to enforce them.
The saying goes, "To whom much is given, much is expected." President Obama must now assume responsibility not just for the safety and welfare of the American people. As the leader of the free world, now he must lead.