The Time is Now to Rope in America

http://watchingamerica.com/News/240568/the-time-is-now-to-rope-in-america/

The Time is Now to Rope in America
Sankei News, Japan
By Reiichi Ishida
Translated By Dan Schilling
3 June 2014
Edited by Bora Mici

U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent speech on foreign policy at the U.S. Military Academy was hardly surprising. The president stated that “the United States will use military force, unilaterally if necessary, when our core interests demand it: when our people are threatened; when our livelihoods are at stake; when the security of our allies is in danger”—a clear declaration that America intends to protect its allies.

On the other hand, he also pointed out his concern that “regional aggression that goes unchecked, whether in southern Ukraine or the South China Sea or anywhere else in the world, will ultimately impact our allies, and could draw in our military.” In the New York Times International Edition, one commenter said that “President Obama is emphasizing his belief that the U.S. must avoid becoming embroiled in a quagmire of international crises.”*

After coming through two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a sense of combat fatigue is palpable all over American society. But even during this period of inward focus, the U.S. is concerned over whether the Senkaku Islands issue will boil over into a crisis. At a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in April, President Obama, in reference to the Senkaku Islands, became the first president to apply Article 5 of the Peace Treaty of San Francisco to a specific issue. However, at that same press conference, the president was directly questioned on the Senkaku issue by an American journalist:

“Are you saying that the U.S. would consider using military force, were China to have some sort of military incursion in those islands, to protect those islands?” The president chose not to answer directly, saying only that “it would be a profound mistake to continue to see escalation around this issue, rather than dialogue and confidence-building measures between Japan and China.”