“They couldn’t have been spies. Look what she did with the hydrangeas.”
That’s got to be one of the best quotes to come out of the latest spy saga wherein apparently everyday folks turn out to be Russian spies. My favorite of the alleged spies is “Anna Chapman,” who, according to the New York Post, “sidled up to power players while hobnobbing at society functions, charity events and book openings in slinky designer outfits.”
“Russia’s NY minx painted the town red,” is the Post’s subhead. The others in the alleged spy ring project more of a spy-next-door aura. Yep, I’ve enjoyed the spy story as much as anybody. But really, the whole business raises an important question: How’s that reset button workin’ for ya?
Our foreign policy, if that’s not too strong a term for it, right now is based on the notion that nations just gotta be friends. We make nice, you make nice. All god’s children make nice. President Obama said after the G20 summit that the international system works best when no one nation asserts “undue advantage” over other nations.
Tell that to Mr. Ahmadinejad.
Unfortunately, U. S. “foreign policy” lately has been aimed at assuring the world that the United States, a force for good in history, doesn’t have “undue advantage” or influence. The spy saga, ever how comic, indicates that other nations might not want to play along with this program of foreign policy as fantasy.