By Shoshana Bryen
WASHINGTON, D.C — The day after sweeping electoral change, it is tempting to think the world is shifting on its axis. American voters may have shifted the political axis – or righted it, depending – but it would be a mistake to think things beyond our border have changed. This is the second time in two years Americans have made a decision to alter the status quo. The last time, we wrote:
“America may be different this morning, but that is our affair. The world is still full of people who believe America – not one President or another – is an impediment to their radical, anti-Western and anti-Semitic goals. They didn’t like us before the Bush administration; they will not like us now. [Russia, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, China and others will continue to pursue policies inimical to our goals and desires] because they believe in them and believe them to be in their interest, not because an American President approves, disapproves or is confused.”
And if our adversaries aren’t planning to change their stripes because the House changed hands or the Senate didn’t, our friends can make us a little uneasy as well. We wrote two years ago:
“There has been a tendency, particularly in Western Europe, to blame ‘the Bush administration’ for every foreign policy difficulty, every war, every vicious act of terrorism, and every unhappy foreigner – particularly every unhappy Muslim radical, Sunni or Shiite. For years, they could thus curry favor with Iraq… Syria… Iran… or Russia… knowing that the United States would try to defend what were once called ‘Western interests’ even as they sneered at us. ”
The past two years have been decidedly mixed for “Western interests” as most Americans have been focused on the economy. There are new sanctions on Iran – but China, Russia, Turkey, India and Brazil still do lucrative business there, while Turkey, Venezuela and Syria do Iran’s political business. A senior European diplomat noted this week that Iran’s position on nuclear capability hasn’t changed. The Dutch have left Afghanistan and NATO refused the American request for more troops. Russia is arming Syria. The UN has become – if possible – even more one-sided against Israel and the United States a more ambiguous ally there. Iraq’s inability to produce a government following elections has led to a serious increase in violence – including an attack last week on a Christian church that killed 58 people. The Palestinian Authority is planning to augment American training and equipment for its security forces with Islamic religious training in an effort to instill “discipline and morale” of the sort Hamas soldiers show.
Mid-term elections won’t fix it.
We are very happy with some of last night’s results – Mark Kirk in the Senate will be a strong voice for Israel, for missile defense and for a skeptical American eye on UNRWA. His House successor, Bob Dold, seems in a similar mold. We’re looking forward to Pat Toomey but we will really miss Ike Skelton, a strong Democratic voice for American defense. We’re sorry former Marine Ilario Pantano didn’t make it – we’d like more Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in Congress. In the meantime, Air Force veteran turned law enforcement professional and State legislator Sandy Adams won a House race, adding to the number of vets there. In 21 House races and two Senate races, the nominees from both major parties had military experience – not all of it recent. We’d like to see more of that. American defense policy shouldn’t be the purview of one party.
Faces changed last night – and the new House majority will put its imprimatur on policy where it can. We wish our legislators well as they face the daunting challenge of keeping us safe in a dangerous world while they work to re-launch our economy.
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Bryen is senior director of security policy of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. Her column is sponsored by Waxie Sanitary Supply in memory of Morris Wax, longtime JINSA supporter and national board member.