Clive Bibby: Cryonics or just a "Dead man walking!"

Since his inauguration, two weeks ago, we haven't seen a lot of evidence that the newly installed President of the United States is in fact the live option.

Sure, there have been the usual photo opportunities of a person sitting at the Oval Office desk putting his mark on a record number of executive orders aimed at overriding or rescinding authority given by the previous administration for some pretty significant developments that undoubtedly had been deemed at the time to be in the national interest.

That is what Presidents usually do during their first days in office, especially if they can't wait to settle old scores. It's often rather petty and sometimes, as in this case, vindictive although they have all done it.

But Biden is different from all his predecessors, not only in dutifully responding to his political backers' desire to expunge every last bit of evidence that "the Donald" had been in residence but the haste with which he is dismantling the national defences against the modern threats to what remains of the "Free world" - ie the emboldened rogue states of China and Iran.  

Here are examples of those changes to US foreign policy that should and will be sending alarm bells ringing in every corner of the globe where this particular brand of tyranny had been "temporarily" held in check:

1) the withdrawal of all support to the Saudi Arabian coalition that has been defending the Yemenese against the Iranian backed rebels in that impoverished and war-torn country.

2) the obvious signals being given that the Biden administration intends re-engaging the abandoned Obama appeasement policies including the aborted nuclear arms deal with Iran and the disastrous "non-confrontational" diplomatic overtures on every front that involves the brutally expansionist regime that is the Chinese Communist dictatorship.

To anybody with half a brain, it is clear where this is heading.

The United States government is telling the world that it is hell bent on abdicating its responsibilities as the benign policeman of the whole world - a role that it has faithfully exercised from a position of strength and for the benefit of mankind since the end of WW2.

And into the vacuum that will exist after this cowardly withdrawal will march the usual suspects, destroying the last remnants of democracies that have embodied the will of their citizenship for decades.

Make no mistake, these guys play for keeps and will operate with impunity in any place or at any level where they think their best interests are being served.

As a result of confronting a weakened adversary that is more focused internally from self-inflicted wounds and consequently reluctant to challenge these illegal grabs for territory, China and Iran will be free to carve off large slices of the planet, expanding their areas of influence without firing a shot.

Other obvious signs of a change in direction are more subtle but just as alarming.

I note the warm fuzzies emanating from the White House during Biden's introductory calls to the leaders of the US traditional allies.

It is nauseating that he would attempt to convince countries like Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom that he is going to be tough with these rampant dictators.

This guy (unlike his predecessor) has a history of doing the opposite of what he promised - his unequivocal statement on the hustings that there would be "no more fracking" is just one of the many commitments he made to the American people that aren't worth the paper they are written on.

So why should anyone believe him now! A leopard doesn't change its spots.

If you are looking for supporting evidence of his commitment to the defence of the "Free World", you need go no further than the priority listing of leaders he rang first after his inauguration to assure them of his undying support.

Apparently, our Prime Minister has received more than one phone call in the last two weeks, yet the Prime Minister of Israel (the US's strongest ally in the Middle East) is still waiting. Netanyahu should have been the first to hear from the new President - not the last!

That fact alone says a lot about this administration's commitment to our safety.

When it comes to the crunch, it looks like being another case of Horatio at the bridge and we will be largely on our own. We should enjoy our current sense of security while it lasts because it appears that we might be living with false hopes that the cavalry will always come over the hill.

Who would have thought - but these days, anything is believable.

Clive Bibby is a commentator, consultant, farmer and community leader, who lives in Tolaga Bay.