#649 (9/23) "After Syrian Confusion, the Obama Doctrine Lies in Ruins"

URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS:

NEWS FLASH: "Syrian Rebels Execute Christian Villagers," - CBNNews.com, September 12, 2013; http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/September/Syrian-Rebels-Execute-Christian-Villagers/ -  Syrian rebel fighters apparently executed three Christians fleeing the fighting in Maaloula this week, Britain's Sky News reported. Hundreds of Christians held a funeral in Damascus for the men, who were cousins. Sky News reports the men were trying to escape the Christian town of Maaloula, which has been under attack by rebel troops. The men reportedly were killed by forces with the al Qaeda linked Jabha al-Nour. Mourners say two of the victims had their throats cut and another was shot. Most of the mourners are also refugees from Maaloula, one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. [PRAY for the Christians throughout Syria who face greater persecution should rebels, particularly Islamists along the line of the Muslim Brotherhood, end up in charge of the country.]

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST: "Syrian Christians Brace for Strike, Ask for Prayer," - by Gary Lane, August 31, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/August/Syrian-Christians-Brace-for-Strike-Ask-for-Prayer/"As Syrians brace themselves for a possible U.S. military attack, many of the county's Christians are praying for divine intervention. They say military action against the Assad regime will only bring them greater hardship and suffering and they're asking Christians worldwide to pray that God intervenes to bring peace to their nation. They believe the collective prayers of Christians around the world could reverse an escalating conflict..."

[EGYPT - Continue to pray for the tense situation in Egypt and especially for the Christian believers who are being targeted with violence by Muslim Brotherhood members.]      

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST- Update on Kenneth Bae: "US Ready to Bargain with N. Korea for Bae's Release,"-  CBNNews.com,  Aug 14, 2013  http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/August/S-Ready-to-Bargain-with-N-Korea-for-Baes-Release/  - The United States is willing to engage North Korea to secure the release of imprisoned American Christian Kenneth Bae. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the United States is "willing to consider a number of different options" to bring him home.In a video recently released by a North Korean newspaper, Bae requested the United States send a high-ranking official to North Korea to seek his pardon. It is unclear if he spoke of his own volition in the video. Bae, 45, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for sharing his faith. He suffers health problems such as diabetes and is currently hospitalized.[PRAY for 1) God's healing of and presence with Pastor Bae, 2) His earliest release by the North Korean government, and 3) God's comfort for his family and friends.] 

UPDATE: 9/22 - "Wife: Saeed Has Led [over] 30 to Christ in Iran Prison" - CBNNews.com; http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/September/Wife-Saeed-Has-Led-30-to-Christ-in-Iran-Prison/
SEPT 19TH UPDATE: Pastor Saeed: 'Don't Make My Children Orphans' - CBNNews.com, September 19, 2013  http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/September/Pastor-Saeed-Dont-Make-My-Children-Orphans/   Saeed Abedini, the American pastor imprisoned in Iran for his Christian faith, is pleading directly with Iran's president to not let his children become orphans. Saeed appealed to the new leader for his freedom in a letter he wrote from his prison cell. President Hassan Rouhani claims to be more moderate than his predecessor. "Considering the fact that I came to Iran to serve the orphans, please do not let them make my children orphans and my wife without a guardian," he wrote, according to the American Center for Law and Justice.

The ACLJ has launched a letter writing campaign to Iran's president on Pastor Saeed's behalf. You can join the initiative by sending a pre-written letter, or you can write your own words to the Iranian president at the Be Heard Project: Saeed Abedini.(http://beheardproject.com/saeed#write

UPDATE: Iran Rejects Saeed's Appeal, Family 'Devastated' , CBNNews.com, August 27, 2013   http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/August/Iran-Rejects-Saeeds-Appeal-Family-Devastated/ "By keeping the 8-year prison sentence in place, Pastor Saeed, now potentially faces additional beatings and abuse inside Evin Prison -- treatment that has significantly weakened him during his first year in prison,"....{

“Abandoned” For Christ" - Graham Calls On White House To Support Abedini - By Dr. Tom Askew, Aug.8,  http://www.presidentialprayerteam.com/opinion

"Behind the scenes, more than 600,000 people around the world have signed a petition sponsored by ACLJ in support of pastor Abedini. A concerted movement this past May brought together Christians from many nations to set aside Pentecost to pray for Abedini. On June 13, demonstrations were held at Iranian embassies in at least six countries to protest Abedini’s treatment. And, on July 29, Arizona Republican Representative Trent Franks spoke on the floor of the House to urge other Congressmen to join him in “adopting” Pastor Abedini through the bipartisan Defending Freedoms Project."

Saeed’s response…and yours - Through his family living in Iran, Pastor Abedini has been made aware of these efforts on his behalf, and is grateful. “I heard that the persecution, my arrest and imprisonment has united churches from different denominations, from different cities and countries. That the churches have united together in prayer to put one request (my freedom) on one day (Pentecost) before God,” he wrote in a letter.

The story of Saeed Abedini, the jihad against Syrian Christians, the attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt, and the ongoing desecration of churches in Nigeria and India should cause every American to reflect on the blessings of freedom still enjoyed in this nation.

PRAY: - For comfort and peace for Saeed’s wife and children here in the U.S.

- For a strong witness and testimony from Pastor Abedini in the prison where God has placed him

- For Christians around the world who are being persecuted for their faith in Christ

- BOLDly (Beside Our Leaders Daily) for leadership from the White House and State Department in defending the freedoms of Abedini and other Americans

Go to SaveSaeed.org to sign a petition over 600,000 others asking for his immediate release.

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"After Syrian Confusion, the Obama Doctrine Lies in Ruins", - by Ted R. Bromund, Ph.D., September 21, 2013 

Even as he took office, President Obama set out a vision of a doctrine that would “transform” the United States. In foreign policy, the “Obama Doctrine,” as Heritage’s Luke Coffey has summarized [1], is a policy of leading from behind in global affairs, presiding over dangerous defense cuts that leave America weaker in a more dangerous world, and placing “hope” above reality when dealing with countries like Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea—each presenting unique threats to America’s interests.

Instead of leading from the front, the President emphasized multilateral institutions (such as the U.N.), international law, and engagement with hostile regimes. Now that the Syrian crisis has for the moment—but only for the moment—gone quiet, we can see how badly that approach has worked.

No part of the President’s doctrine has survived contact with reality. After leading from behind for over two years on Syria, he suddenly decided that the U.S. needed to start bombing immediately. After asserting that the President did not have the power to authorize such an attack, he turned around and argued that he did.

After emphasizing the U.N., he recognized that the Security Council was hopelessly deadlocked, and (rightly) decided that U.N. authorization for U.S. action was unnecessary. And after relying on the power of so-called international norms, he found that virtually no one in the world agreed with him that those norms required the U.S. to start bombing ASAP.

Throughout his Administration, the President has sought—successfully—to cut the defense budget. But, inevitably, there came a time when he thought it was right to use force. His successors will, at some point, be in exactly the same position, perhaps when action really is in America’s vital national interest—but by that point, his cuts will have made successful action difficult or even impossible.

The net result of his incoherent policy in Syria has been to bring Russia back as a Middle Eastern power, to make it clear that the U.S. has no idea what its interests are in the region, and to position us behind Russia as the protectors of the Assad regime—for only an intact regime can deliver on its supposed promise to give up its chemical weapons. The President appears to have completely forgotten his demand [2] that “Assad must go.”

The risk of leading from behind is obvious: The nation that leads from the front decides where you are going to go. Right now, that is Russia, and Russia’s desires and interests in the Middle East have nothing in common with ours.

The President has never had a coherent approach to foreign policy. Instead, he entered office with a string of liberal platitudes about the world and a deep desire to focus on domestic policy. Today, the Administration’s central goal on Syria is the same as it was two years ago: to get the problem off the front pages.

If that means being lectured [3] by Vladimir Putin in the pages of The New York Times, so be it. After all, neither Putin nor our own President [4] believes in American exceptionalism. Fortunately, as Heritage President Jim DeMint recently pointed [5] out to Putin, we at The Heritage Foundation definitely do.

[bold and italics emphasis mine]
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Article printed from The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation: http://blog.heritage.org; URL to article: http://blog.heritage.org/2013/09/21/after-syrian-confusion-the-obama-doctrine-lies-in-ruins/

URLs in this post:
[1] summarized: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/10/22/the-obama-doctrine-a-failed-policy-leaving-america-weaker-in-a-dangerous-world/
[2] demand: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-08-18/politics/35271355_1_syrian-government-assets-syrian-president-bashar-al-assad-syrian-people
[3] lectured: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
[4] neither Putin nor our own President: http://blog.heritage.org/2013/09/13/putin-and-obama-taking-exception-on-american-exceptionalism/
[5] pointed: http://blog.heritage.org/2013/09/13/demint-writes-letter-to-vladimir-putin-on-american-exceptionalism/

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