How refusing to acknowledge an enemy spills over into other foreign policy errors

The fact that so many democratic leaders refuse to see Communist China for the enemy that it is became old news long ago for readers of this space. More evidence of that was apparent today regarding the reaction of most (but not all) world leaders to the Communist Olympiad (Epoch Times and the Washington Post), despite what the damage cadres themselves are doing to their own country due to the Games (Epoch Times and Boycott 2008), and I've already commented repeatedly on the shockingly ignored Battle of Flushing (Epoch Times). However, the one area where this myopic and Pollyannaish view of the CCP has done the most damage is in foreign policy, and not just vis a vis Communist China.

Because the leaders of the democratic world don't see the danger up front, they can't see it lurking in the shadows of other issues either. The embarrassing situation in North Korea (One Free Korea) could have easily been avoided had Washington understood the true role between Beijing and its Korean colony. The current unrest in Mongolia is seen as just another unfortunate incident, whereas the closeness between the Communist regime in Beijing and the ex-Communist government in Ulan Bator (Weekly Standard) should have given some leaders pause about ignoring (as they have so far) the opposition claims of recent election fraud. The insistence that Communist China's economy will zoom past ours within a generation (AFP) should be a cause for great concern (although given the cadres' history with numbers one has to be careful making projections); instead it has been met with largely a yawn.

However, the biggest victim, by far, of the view-the-CCP-with-colored-glasses syndrome has been India. Ever since he took office, President Bush (to his credit) has been trying to forge an alliance with India. That culminated in the US-India nuclear deal of 2006. After two years of trying to hold his shaky coalition together, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has finally been able to get Parliament behind the deal, but suddenly the U.S. Congress looks like it might balk (Washington Post).

There are a bunch of reasons for this: the Congressional recess, presidential politics, and partisan bickering in Washington that might preclude a post-election special session to name a few. None of them, however, hold a candle to what this deal means for US-India relations, and for building a democratic bloc to counter the Communist regime. If the folks in Washington understood that, there would be no argument about the need to ensure this deal becomes law - no matter the calendar or petty political ambitions. Yet no one seems perceptive enough to act (except, ironically enough, the Administration). The behavior of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - who as Minority Leader seemed to hold so much promise on the Communist China fie - is an especially painful disappointment.

I have repeatedly said that the political party who recognizes, understands, and articulates to the American people the danger Communist China poses to the real world will become the majority party for the next generation. Unfortunately, over a half-dozen years after I first said, I still don't know who it is. Even worse, both parties seem determined to ensure it is not themselves.