Yesterday a group of Somali pirates attacked a US container ship, the Maersk Alabama, which was headed to Kenya to deliver food to to the World Food Program. All of the US crewmen are now safe except for the ship's captain (his name is Richard Phillips), who is being held by several of the pirates in a lifeboat.The news this morning is that a US destroyer is on the scene.
Yesterday, as I was running errands, Laura Ingraham was ranting about the way in which Obama's passivity, and his willingness to apologize for past US missteps, is causing other nations to position themselves more aggressively vis a vis the US. For instance, she argued that Sarkozy was disrespectful (?) to Obama during the recent summit because he has decided that Obama is weak and manipulable. She also cited to Castro's recent change in tone.
Ingraham said that the willingness of Somali pirates to attack a US ship is the best evidence that other nations/people are losing respect for the strength of the US. This argument is absolutely absurd - I completely disagree with the premise that by reaching out to other nations/people in a less aggressive posture, Obama is inviting them to take advantage of (and/or actually attack) us.
