America is suffering from a lack of leadership

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The time to stand up to Putin is now. If the U.S. and other European nations continue to sit idle, he will continue to launch aggressive military actions in Eastern Europe and the Baltic region. That’s why it is imperative to utilize the economic leverage the U.S. and its allies have to stop his imperial quest for power.

Nations throughout the world view the U.S. as a “paper tiger” because of our failure to back up our words with action. When Obama made his now infamous “red line” statement about Syria’s use of chemical weapons and then didn’t back it up, it set off a chain reaction of allies viewing the U.S. as unreliable.

Even today, our position in Syria is ridiculous, and lacks a sense of direction. We are currently attempting to identify and arm groups opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This is a bad idea! It is insane that the U.S. has not learned that arming insurgents usually comes back to haunt us.

Just look at the current situation in Iraq: The weapons we gave to the Iraqi army are now being used by the Muslim extremist group ISIS against the U.S.-backed Maliki government. The U.S. must stop spending billions of taxpayer dollars arming Muslims who claim they are not extremists. To this date, many of the weapons we’ve provided have been turned against American and its allies.

America must also stand by our good friend Israel in its fight to rid the Gaza strip of the sophisticated tunnels used by Hamas, complete with reinforced concrete walls, electricity and rails for trolleys. We would be foolish to believe that if Israel discontinued the current military operation without the destruction of all of the tunnels, there would be lasting peace in the region.

Since the reign of President Obama began, U.S. foreign policy has lacked direction and consistency. The result is the current mess the international community now faces. It’s time we proved once again to the world that we can be counted on to provide leadership and justice. Unfortunately, under this administration, I’m not sure that will happen.

Al D’Amato, a former U.S. senator from New York, is the founder of Park Strategies LLC, a public policy and business development firm. Comments about this column? ADAmato@liherald.com.

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