A Really Bad Day for Freedom
Steven Bucci /
Freedom took a beating yesterday.
America rolled over in the face of two of its longest standing adversaries, and we didn’t even get anything in return.
North Korean despot Kim Jong Un and Cuba’s Raul Castro are probably exchanging celebratory emails as we speak after the one-two punch they landed on Obama’s America.
First, the Sony hackers, who were belatedly tied to the North Korean government, added extortion to the list of their cyber crimes. The hack, while slick, was not state-of-the-art stuff—but the propaganda was some of the best ever seen. The hackers threatened 9/11-style attacks on movie theaters that screened the farcical movie “The Interview.” Individual malls and theaters were the first to balk, then entire movie chains pulled the film, and finally Sony itself pulled it entirely.
The threats were unsubstantiated and empty. Sony folded anyway, and our leaders have said nothing. A tin-pot dictator was able to dictate what can be said in America. Our freedom of expression, guaranteed by our Constitution, has been abridged because of Kim Jung-un’s wounded pride. Freedom lost.
Then the president himself, without consulting Congress or the American people, decided to reward the sclerotic dictatorship in Cuba with relief and succor. He is normalizing relations with them, despite the fact that the Cuban government is doing nothing new to improve the lot of its oppressed citizens.
Obama claims this will help the Cuban people. How, Mr. President?
The Communists are changing nothing! Are we to sprinkle democratic pixie dust on them? For the price of a press conference, this Administration is throwing away decades of effective pressure for change. Freedom lost.
What message will Vladimir Putin and the Chinese take from all this? What about ISIS and al-Qaeda? They will all know that if you threaten and bluster, America will fold. If you manipulate and offer gossamer promises, America will run into your arms. It’s a lesson Iran has already learned. Now the North Koreans and the Cubans can join the party. Freedom lost, again.