Akram's Razor
I've finally posted something new on Tikkun Daily, on attacks on President Obama for being "indecisive" during the Jasmine Revolutions.
In a curiously un-self-aware move a few weeks ago, Christopher Hitchens slammed President Obama’s handling of the unrest in North Africa as “pathetic” and “cynical” in a piece for Slate Magazine. Employing a facile (and – given how devoid of neutrality US Mideast policy often is – a tad euphemistic) analogy to a fickle Swiss banker, he declares:
The Obama administration also behaves as if the weight of the United States in world affairs is approximately the same as that of Switzerland. We await developments. We urge caution, even restraint. We hope for the formation of an international consensus. And, just as there is something despicable about the way in which Swiss bankers change horses, so there is something contemptible about the way in which Washington has been affecting – and perhaps helping to bring about – American impotence. Except that, whereas at least the Swiss have the excuse of cynicism, American policy manages to be both cynical and naive.
He’s right, but I’m not sure he has the credibility to point this out. [MORE]
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