By noon Friday, adults will depart the Executive branch of our country and inexperienced adolescents will assume the vital role.
When it is necessary to interpret the world's complexities through thoughtful, disciplined eyes, the adolescents will see the world as black and white, good and bad, us and them.
When it is necessary to interpret the world's complexities through thoughtful, disciplined eyes, the adolescents will see the world as black and white, good and bad, us and them.
27
Of course, one problem is that the new administration does not seem interested in many of the advantages being handed to them.
47
Mr. Kerry's tenure at State reminds me of a line in a Neil Young song
"...he tried to do his best...but he could not...open up the tired eyes..."
He inherited a huge mess from Hillary Clinton and at least he did not make it a lot worse.
"...he tried to do his best...but he could not...open up the tired eyes..."
He inherited a huge mess from Hillary Clinton and at least he did not make it a lot worse.
9
Secretary Kerry, thank you for your long, distinguished service. As you say, while the new administration will assume many challenges in the world, they will also benefit from many advantages for which you and Mrs Clinton worked so tirelessly to restore. You made us so proud to represent our country while traveling abroad. God bless you and your family.
70
"President Obama has made clear to our allies and potential adversaries in Asia that the United States will remain a major force for stability and prosperity in their region."
Well, we can longer have faith that will happen.
Well, we can longer have faith that will happen.
16
Thanks to Obama, the end of the American century (the 20th century) got postponed by 8 years.
A slow decline started decades ago with the Republican war on the middle class and unions, but the steep decline began with W. When future historians look back, they will have to admit that 9-11 was indeed the turning point. 9-11 occurred because we had an incompetent President, and after that he destroyed the economy. The remaining Islamophobia from 9-11 and the Bush-Saudi link led to Trump. (In the future they will remember that Trump won by berating the W just as much as by berating Obama).
Where did we go wrong? I give a whole lot of the blame to the electoral college, set up to help empower slave states (our 'original sin'). If we were a true democracy, Gore would have been President, not W. And Hillary would be getting inaugurated tomorrow. In that case we would have been able to make the 21st century the American century.
A slow decline started decades ago with the Republican war on the middle class and unions, but the steep decline began with W. When future historians look back, they will have to admit that 9-11 was indeed the turning point. 9-11 occurred because we had an incompetent President, and after that he destroyed the economy. The remaining Islamophobia from 9-11 and the Bush-Saudi link led to Trump. (In the future they will remember that Trump won by berating the W just as much as by berating Obama).
Where did we go wrong? I give a whole lot of the blame to the electoral college, set up to help empower slave states (our 'original sin'). If we were a true democracy, Gore would have been President, not W. And Hillary would be getting inaugurated tomorrow. In that case we would have been able to make the 21st century the American century.
49
Thank you John Kerry for your years of service to our country and your commitment to honesty and decency. I sure wish the Democratic political leaders in NM had supported you in your presidential bid more strongly rather than thinking Bill Richardson who definitely has integrity issues would somehow be the choice for president in 2008.
21
I fail to see how sanctions had any meaningful effect on Russia. They didn’t retreat from the Crimea, or eastern Ukraine. They established an Air Base & a Naval Base in Syria & have a foot hold in the Middle East.The only thing that Sanctions did was hurt the average Russian, who much rather have peace than war.Putin has a iron hold on Power & remains a menace to America & the World.Much more would have been accomplished with a Division of Marines in Georgia behind a Line in the sand.It would have stopped Russia in it’s tracks without firing a shot.A lot of Children in Aleppo would be alive today.
7
I wish I agreed. I think Secretary Kerry and President Obama have acted honorably, and have had some successes on the international front, e.g. the Iran deal. But there are some big negatives as well, in both Syria and Ukraine. Ukraine was bad because failure to push back has led to a much more assertive Russia, not a good thing. Syria was a very large setback. It has, of course, increased Russian ability to make trouble. But that is actually secondary to the destabilizing impact that failure to act with strength has had on Europe. One might even make the case that it led in part to Trump's election. Not good.
10
from one vietnam era vet to another, good job soldier. thanks.
46
Clinton and Kerry, 8 years of dismal results in the foreign policy arena. By any measurement, our foreign policy under Obama was a dismal failure. Libya, Benghazi, Russia, Israel and Syria, just to name a few lowlights. Add to that Obama's unchecked use of drones and the killing of innocent civilians and you almost have the entire picture. The only two countries that we have improved relations with are Cuba and Iran, two of the worst human rights actors on the planet. So I along with many beg to differ with Kerry's highly biased op-ed. Perhaps he had his hands tied by Obama? In any event the new administration will have its hands full dealing with this mess. And I didn't even mention North Korea and China
25
I respect Mr. Kerry, and the President.
I respectfully disagree with Mr. Kerry's assessment. No aspect of any international issue is better now than it was 8 years ago. I could go on about Libya, Syria(red line), Ukraine, Crimea, deterioration of Middle East, Iran, refugee crisis, etc, but the President's own words in this newspaper sum it up the best; "ISIS is a junior varsity terrorist group"...
I respectfully disagree with Mr. Kerry's assessment. No aspect of any international issue is better now than it was 8 years ago. I could go on about Libya, Syria(red line), Ukraine, Crimea, deterioration of Middle East, Iran, refugee crisis, etc, but the President's own words in this newspaper sum it up the best; "ISIS is a junior varsity terrorist group"...
19
Well, Mr. Kerry, the fact is that we DIDN'T see nightmares wherever we looked and insist that America's position as world leader is in precipitous decline until November 8, 2016. So your cataloguing of what the Obama administration got right is not relevant. The decline is due to what the American voters got so terribly, terribly wrong.
7
Never has a politician been more full of hot air than John Kerry. How many hundreds of thousands of Syrians have died on his watch, and how many of Syrians are now refugees? All the while Kerry was telling us that Assad must go, and that Assad is on the wrong side of history. North Korea is still messing with nuclear weapons, and Kerry's sanctions are totally ineffective. Kerry was on the wrong side of the Arab Spring. ISIS grew its JV team and became an even bigger threat while Kerry fiddled. Iran will be more of a threat after Kerry leaves office. And Kerry's final stab in the back of Israel won't be forgotten.
23
With the upcoming Trump inauguration, I have an awful foreboding since of this nation’s future. There was an attempt to bury something terrible in American culture, back in the 1960s. Fear, anger, loathing, mistrust, racial supremacy and a since of betrayal were feelings that the 1960s attempted to grapple with, and popular culture decided to go on a path to free itself from these destructed urges. For decades, the Republican Party used that awful energy to propel itself.
Now, there has been a core breach, and that awful energy has reached a critical mass that can no longer be contained, and some Republicans are too greedy for power to even care. Although, many Republicans are also wary about the future of this nation, they seem powerless to contain the situation. All of the people out there that was so greedy for Ultra-Right Wing power are blind to the upcoming catastrophe, everyone else knows in their gut that something possibly fatal has entered the realm of the United States of America.
Now, there has been a core breach, and that awful energy has reached a critical mass that can no longer be contained, and some Republicans are too greedy for power to even care. Although, many Republicans are also wary about the future of this nation, they seem powerless to contain the situation. All of the people out there that was so greedy for Ultra-Right Wing power are blind to the upcoming catastrophe, everyone else knows in their gut that something possibly fatal has entered the realm of the United States of America.
10
Hopefully the next four year can make up for the massive US Dept. of State failures of the last eight: Russian invasion of Ukraine - pass, Chinese occupation of the Spratley Islands; unilateral removal of US troops from Iraq and the creation of ISIS - 250,000 plus dead; genocide against Christians and Yazidis; Iran nuclear deal and the US defacto approval of a Iranian nuclear device within 5 years; the delivering of billions of dollars to Iran, the world's leader in fostering terrorism; the US walking away from the red line in Syria, and millions of refugees pouring into the EU. It's mind boggling how the NYTimes and Obama/Kerry supporters and trying to put lipstick on a pig. This was by far the worst State Department in modern times and a major reason Hillary lost the election. Obama's legacy was written right here.
20
John Kerry has been an exemplary Secretary of State, supremely intelligent, with impeccable integrity, a skilled negotiator, never giving up on finding solutions however complex or hard the situations are. His speech on Israel was masterful. Thank you Mr Kerry, your wisdom and foresight will be missed.
36
The attitude of most people I talk with has improved greatly. Obama left us doubting ourselves as a country. The USA is the best on this planet, just you doubters, go somewhere else and live. We live, they exist. There's a big difference and maybe one day Obama will understand that.
5
Once again outgoing officials write revisionist history to suit their legacy. What Kerry conveniently leaves out is the fact that the US watched ISIS rise in Syria and hoped to ‘manage’ it — as revealed by Kerry on a leaked tape recording when speaking to Anti-Assad Syrian dissidents at the UN
Kerry admits "we and the Saudis and Qatar and Turkey had provided huge amounts of aid to the rebels, who unfortunately were sort of aligned with extremists."
Excuse me? Sort of aligned?
Kerry: "when Daesh, or ISIS, started to grow, the US watched and thought we could “manage” the ISIS situation, because it might push Assad to negotiate, but instead Putin came in. The reason Russia came in is because ISIL was getting stronger. And we know that this was growing. We were watching. We saw that Daesh was growing in strength, and we thought Assad was threatened. We thought, however, we could probably manage, that Assad would then negotiate. Instead of negotiating, he got Putin to support him.”
Combine this with the Wikileaks revelation that the US State Department and Hillary Clinton knew Saudi Arabia and Qatar were giving “clandestine financial and logistic support” to ISIS in the Syrian war.
in a nutshell: We and our Arab allies supplied weapons. This caused the violence to escalate. The good rebels “kind of” work with extremists, who get direct funding from our Arab allies. We thought the rise of ISIS would prove useful in ousting Assad, but Putin intervened.
Great legacy, John.
Kerry admits "we and the Saudis and Qatar and Turkey had provided huge amounts of aid to the rebels, who unfortunately were sort of aligned with extremists."
Excuse me? Sort of aligned?
Kerry: "when Daesh, or ISIS, started to grow, the US watched and thought we could “manage” the ISIS situation, because it might push Assad to negotiate, but instead Putin came in. The reason Russia came in is because ISIL was getting stronger. And we know that this was growing. We were watching. We saw that Daesh was growing in strength, and we thought Assad was threatened. We thought, however, we could probably manage, that Assad would then negotiate. Instead of negotiating, he got Putin to support him.”
Combine this with the Wikileaks revelation that the US State Department and Hillary Clinton knew Saudi Arabia and Qatar were giving “clandestine financial and logistic support” to ISIS in the Syrian war.
in a nutshell: We and our Arab allies supplied weapons. This caused the violence to escalate. The good rebels “kind of” work with extremists, who get direct funding from our Arab allies. We thought the rise of ISIS would prove useful in ousting Assad, but Putin intervened.
Great legacy, John.
14
Very proud of your service to our country, Secretary Kerry. Thank you.
48
Thank you for selling out Israel. You saved me from further contributions to the Democratic party and enabled me to support the opponent for the first time ever. Good bye forever.
24
Calling out Netanyahu is not selling out Israel. Public opinion in Israel is by no means highly supportive of settlements.
30
Thank you, John Kerry, a true patriot and hero. You, along with your Commander and Chief, have done a wonderful job. I would have loved to have you have been our 43 President.
34
All I know is John Kerry sold his soul for Barack Obama. The United States is not thought of well throughout the world. The United States is not feared by their enemies (hence the Iran Nuclear Deal). Iran now has the money, thanks to Obama, to sponsor terrorism throughout the world. Russia wants dominance over Europe. He would like nothing better than to destroy NATO. He took Crimea right under Obama's nose and there were no consequences. The Syrian Red Line: Well, there was none apparently. John Kerry, as Secretary of State did his bidding.
His legacy will be as a failed presidential candidate and as a failed Secretary of State.
Just like Hillary.
His legacy will be as a failed presidential candidate and as a failed Secretary of State.
Just like Hillary.
20
Is your belief based on facts or just something you picked up from some fake news source?
20
What an interesting surprise when I opened the link from John Kerry entitled "What We Got Right". I was expecting a blank page
18
Secretary Kerry, I truly appreciate your tireless efforts to promote peace, justice, and stability around the world, and especially the significant work you and President Obama have accomplished in addressing climate change. Thank you for your service.
25
John Kerry's greatest misfortune is that he wasn't born a Western European. He would make a perfect diplomat for a country like Belgium or Luxembourg.
11
Congratulations Mr. Kerry. President Obama inherited a mess in 2009 and your efforts have left a much improved global situation for your successors.
36
Another inaccurate self-serving statement from the Obama Administration, not worth the battery power to view on my smartphone. Let us just hope that we don't have to hear from Kerry again.
14
No worries for your smartphones. I read it, and found no inaccuracies.
9
I think back to the time when the Muslim brotherhood established democracy in Egypt and the US backed the military coup to squash it. Kerry said then that the coup was saving democracy in Egypt. What a pile of 'hot air' that statement was. I noticed that wasn't mentioned in his article. The one good thing Kerry did was totally accidental - when the US was totally ready to bomb Syria off the map for their alleged use of poison gas he gave the Syrians a way to prove they weren't using the stuff by giving up all their supply and averting another Iraq style mess. The US and MSM hysteria suddenly went quiet on subsequent gas attacks that was obviously perpetrated by the groups they were supplying money and weapons to. Thank you John for putting your foot in your mouth at that perfect moment - that was truly your diplomatic highlight.
8
This article right before the change of administration will be a legacy document for the administration that will come AFTER Trump. As the Trump administration establishes (as per the campaign and recent week declarations) a new era of American exceptionalism and isolationism, the rest of the world may continue the example of the Obama administration and elevate the bar of diplomatic interaction to avoid the serious conflicts existing currently. Hopefully, AFTER the Trump administration, a new one will pick up where President Obama and Secretary Kerry left it, and get back in the train of good spirited diplomacy and avoidance of unnecessary conflict.
8
Secretary Kerry, You built the"strongest international sanctions the world has ever seen" in opposition to Iran and "unprecedented" sanctions against North Korea. Is there any contradiction here? Are the Korean sanctions stronger and more effective than the ones used against Iran since there are unprecedented and if so why are the N Koreans attempting to load ICBMs with nuclear weapons as we speak? Could sanctions and the attendant claims of success be another PR red herring to advance Obama's all important political/ historical "legacy" as well as yours? What was the result in Syria and elsewhere when Obama's hollow threats and lines in the sand proved to be the usual empty rhetoric? Could any bad actors be emboldened by this weakness such as Iran, Syria, Russia and N Korea? The President makes a great sounding speech, doesn't back it up with actions, then goes to play golf. The state of Israel glossed over in your cheery assessment has a totally different take on the "successes" of the Obama administration and the reality of the situation where they have to live, or perhaps die. Only a deluded fool would claim the world is a safer and better place with vacillating weakness and timidity leading our country for the last eight years. BTW, next time register your yacht in Mass and pay the taxes on it so we afford all those treasured social programs you're so passionate about.
10
January 19, 2017
What got right was for the Obama administration to engage is the most sophisticated and honest dialogues in all of its eight years to serve the interest of oath and concert with his engagements with America's talents. All with giving the full range of debates for the record and with one can surely agree achievements to tackle in full scope their vision based in worthy and admiral service for years ahead to the debates and witness to our nation's documentary plans for behold, and do or don't the records speak to truth with honor and grace - the best in America's professional class and with civil service to guide eternal.......
jja Manhattan, N. Y.
What got right was for the Obama administration to engage is the most sophisticated and honest dialogues in all of its eight years to serve the interest of oath and concert with his engagements with America's talents. All with giving the full range of debates for the record and with one can surely agree achievements to tackle in full scope their vision based in worthy and admiral service for years ahead to the debates and witness to our nation's documentary plans for behold, and do or don't the records speak to truth with honor and grace - the best in America's professional class and with civil service to guide eternal.......
jja Manhattan, N. Y.
5
"Foreign Policy magazine this week announced the results of its 2014 Ivory Tower survey of 1,615 international relations scholars from 1,375 U.S. colleges.
One question they were asked was: “Who was the most effective U.S. secretary of state of the past 50 years?
'...Then, dead last, is John Kerry. He got a total of two votes of the 660 scholars who responded…" Washington Post (Feb 2015)
Obama and Kerry are leaving office after setting the world ablaze.
One question they were asked was: “Who was the most effective U.S. secretary of state of the past 50 years?
'...Then, dead last, is John Kerry. He got a total of two votes of the 660 scholars who responded…" Washington Post (Feb 2015)
Obama and Kerry are leaving office after setting the world ablaze.
10
The most hated man, and the most hated name in the world, will soon be "Trump". Thank you, President Obama and Secretary Kerry, for giving us this last gasp of dignity, diplomacy, and intelligence before the coming fall from grace.
18
Surely one of the techniques of bullying and potty-talking is disparaging the good that others do.
With their reckless war spending and loose financial regulations, Repubs sent the U.S. into an almost unrecoverable tailspin 8 years ago - or 13 years ago if you go by the beginning of the Iraq war.
I remember talk of incredible calamaty in 2008 by Republicans. Have they taken responsibility for that in any way? For them to pick on the guy that got us out of GWBs ditch, is really the most. And he did it one-handed since they took over Congress in 2010. Obamas a miracle worker compared to their last two Presidents. And Americans understand it.
With their reckless war spending and loose financial regulations, Repubs sent the U.S. into an almost unrecoverable tailspin 8 years ago - or 13 years ago if you go by the beginning of the Iraq war.
I remember talk of incredible calamaty in 2008 by Republicans. Have they taken responsibility for that in any way? For them to pick on the guy that got us out of GWBs ditch, is really the most. And he did it one-handed since they took over Congress in 2010. Obamas a miracle worker compared to their last two Presidents. And Americans understand it.
17
He opens with a failure, the collapse of Iraq under Obama and the rise of terrorist state that to this days holds territory. Follows with a bribe of $150 billion in exchange for a promise that Iran won’t build a nuke for a few years (after that they’ll be allowed to…). Throws in another failure, Russian annexation of Crimea and undermining of Ukraine in contravention to the US’s agreement to ensure Ukraine’s territorial integrity. The ‘successful response’ has changed zero facts on the ground and Russia continues to foment disruption. Skims over another failure, Chinese expansionism in Asia which continues unabated. And finally lands on another piece of fiction, promises from countries with zero way to ensure these promises are met.
As for the problems he concedes, he declares that the US strategy which led to half a million dead in Syria should not change and ignores the budding terrorist state in Libya. Arrogant and oblivious, Kerry leaves the global landscape in far more turmoil state than he inherited.
As for the problems he concedes, he declares that the US strategy which led to half a million dead in Syria should not change and ignores the budding terrorist state in Libya. Arrogant and oblivious, Kerry leaves the global landscape in far more turmoil state than he inherited.
7
It’s unfortunate that diplomacy is so quiet and slow moving. Without “shock and awe” it’s hard to convince most people that positive things are happening. It’s too bad our schools don’t teach as much about diplomatic accomplishments as they do about wars.
Wars… at least the kind that capture our imaginations… are so 20th century and before. Let’s hope in the 21st century, all nations will begin to rely more on the kind of smart diplomacy Secretary Kerry and the Obama administration worked so hard to promote.
Wars… at least the kind that capture our imaginations… are so 20th century and before. Let’s hope in the 21st century, all nations will begin to rely more on the kind of smart diplomacy Secretary Kerry and the Obama administration worked so hard to promote.
17
denigrating the state of the union and taking the position that America is no longer great may have won an election. but we can hope that what has been done and the state of the union will be built on and not thrown away.
4
If the JCPOA has been as successful as the administration claims, that certainly puts Trump in a stronger position with regard to its execution.
1
The revisionist history continues taking shape by the departing administration. Truth is, failure and home and failure abroad. Despite constant avowals to "not attack any nation that doesn't attack us", Mr. Obama did just the opposite--attacking several nations which did not attack the US. Mr. Obama criticized the GWB regime for the torture of illegal enemy combatants who didn't even qualify for Geneva Convention protections, yet ordered the assassination of a US citizen without due process. Premature withdrawal in Iraq against the advice of his civilian and military leadership. Failed negotiations with Iran and Russia led to some of the weakest pacts ever witnessed, all because those opposing the US knew Obama was desperate for deals and would cave, just as he did with his Red Line speech for Bashar al Assad. Taking selfies and cutting up at the solemn funeral services for perhaps the greatest human rights warrior the world had seen in Nelson Mandela. Bowing subserviently before the Saudi Monarch and the Chinese Premier. Accepting a Nobel prize for which everyone on the planet recognized that he clearly did not earn. Referring to the Ft Hood terror murders as "workplace violence" so as to allow political correctness whitewash reality. And finally the betrayal of the ME's only democracy--and one of America's two closest allies--at the UN. Clearly, the Obama-Clinton/Kerry foreign leadership was an international embarrassment and unquestionable failure.
7
After the upheaval from Bush wars, and with the advent of immediate mass communications with Twitter et al, the Middle East quagmire became far more incendiary, and far more complex. Mr. Kerry rightly says:
Diplomacy requires creativity, patience and commitment to a steady grind, often away from the spotlight.
None of these are traits in our president nor his cabinet appointees (certainly not in the oil and gas salesman) - it's going to be a bumpy, and hopefully not catastrophic, ride.
Diplomacy requires creativity, patience and commitment to a steady grind, often away from the spotlight.
None of these are traits in our president nor his cabinet appointees (certainly not in the oil and gas salesman) - it's going to be a bumpy, and hopefully not catastrophic, ride.
8
Secretary Kerry, thanks for documenting how world has changed in last 8 years.
For those like me who travel across the world and get to experience world culture, I can tell that I do not feel scared any more to carry my American passport in my hand.
Thats not because USA can "carpet bomb" a culture and civilization from the face of earth but the demonstrated leadership in "fairness and rule of law" .
I have not fielded the cab drivers inquest whether I came from the Red States and feel a friendly voice greet me when I say I was from Oregon.
Today China and USA are more closer to fix the climate issues than any time before. I hope we can continue to pivot successfully in pacific region and atleast work for stopping the mad man in North Korea from hitting us in our homeland.
Thanks for everything.
For those like me who travel across the world and get to experience world culture, I can tell that I do not feel scared any more to carry my American passport in my hand.
Thats not because USA can "carpet bomb" a culture and civilization from the face of earth but the demonstrated leadership in "fairness and rule of law" .
I have not fielded the cab drivers inquest whether I came from the Red States and feel a friendly voice greet me when I say I was from Oregon.
Today China and USA are more closer to fix the climate issues than any time before. I hope we can continue to pivot successfully in pacific region and atleast work for stopping the mad man in North Korea from hitting us in our homeland.
Thanks for everything.
6
Where's the context on how ISIS was created in the first place? It came about thanks to our illegal invasion of Iraq and killing potentially as many as a million of that country's citizens, disbanding their army, removing Hussein from power -- and ISIS filled the vacuum. Meanwhile, violence rages on in that country.
Where's the context on how Syria's civil war began? The U.S., in its zeal for Middle East regime changes, helped foment a revolution by the "rebels" (who are every murderous thugs Assad's people are), and now not only has the country been reduced to rubble and tens of thousands have died in the violence, but we have a massive refugee crisis on our and Europe's hands. And if Assad is removed, the danger remains that ISIS could fill in the gap.
Where's the mention of Libya? We invaded, had Qaddafi removed (by mob rule) and now that country has turned into a breeding ground for ISIS and other terrorists.
Yemen? We're funding Saudi Arabia's endless bombing of that country, killing thousands of innocents and decimating their homeland.
What about the fact that we currently have drones bombing seven countries, I think it was at last count?
I could go on but won't.
Where's the context on how Syria's civil war began? The U.S., in its zeal for Middle East regime changes, helped foment a revolution by the "rebels" (who are every murderous thugs Assad's people are), and now not only has the country been reduced to rubble and tens of thousands have died in the violence, but we have a massive refugee crisis on our and Europe's hands. And if Assad is removed, the danger remains that ISIS could fill in the gap.
Where's the mention of Libya? We invaded, had Qaddafi removed (by mob rule) and now that country has turned into a breeding ground for ISIS and other terrorists.
Yemen? We're funding Saudi Arabia's endless bombing of that country, killing thousands of innocents and decimating their homeland.
What about the fact that we currently have drones bombing seven countries, I think it was at last count?
I could go on but won't.
10
All pure nonsense. The Arab Spring was set off by WikiLeaks' disclosure of the contents of hacked diplomatic cables that revealed to the impoverished Arab masters how they'd been played by their rulers who took billions from the West to ensure "stability." It opened their eyes, they revolted, but success evaded them. The people of Libya toppled Gaddafi...not military intervention.
2
Chinese Militarized artificial islands in the south China sea, Russian invasion of Georgia and the Ukraine, Rise of ISIS in the vacuum left by precipitous withdrawal from of US troops which in turn caused major refugee problem, reversal of decades long bipartisan opposition to Iranian nuclear enrichment tech. If this is success, I shudder to think what failure would look like.
18
You prove so much by blaming Kerry for the invasion of Georgia. Get an education then talk
4
Please, John Kerry, let's leave it to an objective party to assess what you got right and what you got wrong.
18
I disagree. Had this administration been better at letting people know what they accomplished, we wouldn't be facing a Trump presidency.
5
If Trump can bloviate about every single success, even though most are not of his doing, then Sec Kerry can tout his success of avoiding a shooting war with Iran, and putting ISIS on the run and reducing their territory to a fraction of what it was.
9
Only in the New York Times can an article like this be taken seriously. Buckle in folks, Trump isn't even tapping the breaks, he's hanging a U-Turn and punching it just as the electorate requested. Hillary won the popular vote? Well then, next time the Democrats take office they can put forth a Constitutional Amendment bill to incorporate the popular vote however each state has one vote and I highly doubt if Nevada or Rhode Island, etc., would be willing to give up their State or voters voice in our Republic. Not gonna happen but as usual a fuzzy way to self comfort.
13
John Kerry has been a resolute and indefatigable Secretary of State. Facing chaos in the Middle East, he has constrained the forces of instability there albeit failing to help build democratic institutions in Egypt and Libya and to prevent the emergence of the “Islamic State”. He has achieved heretofore unrecognized successes in containing Putin’s aggression against Ukraine and armed intervention in Syria. The Iran nuclear deal, an agreement including Russia and China he helped produce, is a major contribution to sustained peace in the Middle East and beyond. Kerry has led President Obama’s efforts culminating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement on trade, a milestone. He patiently endured many months of fruitless “negotiations”, creatively exploring diverse avenues for promoting an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. He played a key role in the U.S. opening to Cuba which is already promoting two-way trade and travel there as well as contributing to improved relations among other countries in Central and South America. The recently consummated Paris accord on climate change has initiated, thanks largely to John Kerry’s sustained efforts, a promising process toward preventing a global catastrophe from the accumulation of CO2 emissions.
32
It all comes down to climate change. Who controls the purse when money is to be lent to build a dam in in some third world country? The West whose elite believes the Hoover and Three Gouges dams are crimes against the planet or nations that believe their people shouldn't starve because of a lack irrigated lands? Sooner or latter they will figure out and the West isn't their friend and turn elsewhere. It's time to put the climate change alarmist in their place.
3
Joe G,
You may want to consider the following. Since the 1960s and 1970s, in 'the third world' when The United States provides soft power to support large infrastructure projects another nation state has taken a different approach. Mind you since the late 1960s to present day.Those who examine the impact of soft power-have enough data from both efforts This other nation state looks at a large public projects and with that very view of soft power politics determines that such aid would enhance influence if it were turned into thousands of micro-grassroots level projects.
That nation is the PRC. Same desire to use soft power politics to influence nations, but willing to wait it out and go to a micro level to help individual community. Many 'deals' in Africa have a PRC pivot because of this policy.
You may want to consider the following. Since the 1960s and 1970s, in 'the third world' when The United States provides soft power to support large infrastructure projects another nation state has taken a different approach. Mind you since the late 1960s to present day.Those who examine the impact of soft power-have enough data from both efforts This other nation state looks at a large public projects and with that very view of soft power politics determines that such aid would enhance influence if it were turned into thousands of micro-grassroots level projects.
That nation is the PRC. Same desire to use soft power politics to influence nations, but willing to wait it out and go to a micro level to help individual community. Many 'deals' in Africa have a PRC pivot because of this policy.
2
Cutting money to fund Three Gouges Dam was not a soft power event. Where would China be without it? In thirty years when climate change kicks in? Would building it then be OK with those in the West? Or would Brussels demand drastic population reductions which is what Green Peace wants above all else? The best way to avert disaster is to raise the standard of living of the poorest. The choice is people or fish.
Secretary Kerry, this Vietnam Vet retired physician applauds your commitment to diplomacy above war and your decades of service. I have worked in Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica. Thank you, and please thank our Commander-in-Chief for the intelligence, elegance, and graciousness you both brought to the international community. Your impact improved our world and left images in our minds and hearts that cannot be erased.
120
The rhetorical comparison of ineffective diplomacy is too often praised as a measure of first resort for a peaceful means to avoid conflict, however historically these plans often are a precursor to a significant loss of life and humanity.
Undoubtedly the Obama Administration may deserve an "A" for their efforts, which many people may argue against, however the results of many policies and choices will barely make a passing grade if historians take into account the greatest exodus of human life since the end of World War II.
The need to write a op-ed in The NY Times to explain past actions and to find justification conveys a much different message than the intentions Mr. Kerry had in mind,
Thanks for the effort, but no thanks for the results.
Undoubtedly the Obama Administration may deserve an "A" for their efforts, which many people may argue against, however the results of many policies and choices will barely make a passing grade if historians take into account the greatest exodus of human life since the end of World War II.
The need to write a op-ed in The NY Times to explain past actions and to find justification conveys a much different message than the intentions Mr. Kerry had in mind,
Thanks for the effort, but no thanks for the results.
7
Mr. Kerry is a true patriot in every sense of the word.
He doesn't need the money and he doesn't care about it.
He's not a zealot but only wants to be fair. With Obama and Kerry we were ultimately safe. They worked hard and they did what they thought was right. totally the opposite of incoming administration.
He doesn't need the money and he doesn't care about it.
He's not a zealot but only wants to be fair. With Obama and Kerry we were ultimately safe. They worked hard and they did what they thought was right. totally the opposite of incoming administration.
55
Yes, he doesn't need the money, he married well.
1
What we got Wrong:
-Libya - catastrophic intervention, nothing constructive whatsoever was gained. ISIS has a strong foothold in northern africa now.
-Yemen - We are knee deep in this proxy war between saudi Arabia and iran. A strong al-queda foothold has been allowed along with some ISIS presence, due to proxy war which we helped instigate, and provide billions of dollars of military support for. Saudis are completely wasting our military support and bungling the entire war. We also have "unofficial" military presence on the ground. This is why Iran is often testing us in naval encounters.
Syria - I wouldn't count that as a win just yet. Bear in mind it was the cavalier attitude of Obama (infamouse "JV team" quote regarding ISIS) that helped allow this to boil out of control. We also have lost a lot of ground as an influencing force to Iran and Russia. Our sphere of influence has been severely damaged for many decades to come (not to suggest it was being helped by Bush either, i understand all of the 21st century has been a disaster in the middle east).
The world is not a safer place, and we are internationally weaker than we have been in decades. Trump winning is a symptom of the failures of the last 8 years, and the rejection by Americans of the paradigm of the Obama administration. The EU is also falling apart.
-Libya - catastrophic intervention, nothing constructive whatsoever was gained. ISIS has a strong foothold in northern africa now.
-Yemen - We are knee deep in this proxy war between saudi Arabia and iran. A strong al-queda foothold has been allowed along with some ISIS presence, due to proxy war which we helped instigate, and provide billions of dollars of military support for. Saudis are completely wasting our military support and bungling the entire war. We also have "unofficial" military presence on the ground. This is why Iran is often testing us in naval encounters.
Syria - I wouldn't count that as a win just yet. Bear in mind it was the cavalier attitude of Obama (infamouse "JV team" quote regarding ISIS) that helped allow this to boil out of control. We also have lost a lot of ground as an influencing force to Iran and Russia. Our sphere of influence has been severely damaged for many decades to come (not to suggest it was being helped by Bush either, i understand all of the 21st century has been a disaster in the middle east).
The world is not a safer place, and we are internationally weaker than we have been in decades. Trump winning is a symptom of the failures of the last 8 years, and the rejection by Americans of the paradigm of the Obama administration. The EU is also falling apart.
19
John
I cannot imagine that Trump, or his policy team can imagine or deal with the complexity and nuances of the current global situation. Your guidance and determination to leave the world a better place will be remembered. PS Just wish you had won the '04 election.
I cannot imagine that Trump, or his policy team can imagine or deal with the complexity and nuances of the current global situation. Your guidance and determination to leave the world a better place will be remembered. PS Just wish you had won the '04 election.
33
As a Yale '66 classmate Secretary Kerry, I couldn't agree more about 2004. Was that the burgeoning of "fake news"? I am therefore grateful that he was able to serve as Secretary of State.
2
Thank you Secretary Kerry. Most of us in this country appreciate your dedication and hard work. You've made our country and the world safer. We all pray that the next Administration follows your lead.
44
History will judge Mr. Obama's policies on his actions. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian men, women and children died, or became homeless refugees after he warned Assad that to use chemical weapons against his people would cross a "red line" that the United States would not ignore. Under Mr. Obama's watch Putin annexed Crimea. North Korea threatened to use atomic weapons and China expanded its military reach.
The oath of office to "defend” the Constitution and the laws was violated when the U.S. ambassador at the United Nations failed to defend the Cuban Liberty and Solidarity Act, passed by Congress. Mr Obama's duty to protect American lives and to enforce the law was also ignored when he took the Castro regime out of the list of supporters of terrorism, while an American terrorist who was serving a life sentence after murdering a New Jersey state trooper, and fled to Cuba, enjoys the hospitality of the regime. Mr. Obama released and returned to Cuba a Cuban spy serving a two consecutive life sentences for planning the murder of Americans.
Mr. Obama ignored Havana’s hostile actions during the last eight years: the attempted smuggling in violation of United Nations sanctions of war planes and missiles under tons of sugar to North Korea; the American missile used at a NATO exercise in Europe that ended up for months in the hands of Cuba’s spy agency; the announced negotiations to reopen a Russian surveillance station on the island and Russian spy ships in Havana Harbor.
The oath of office to "defend” the Constitution and the laws was violated when the U.S. ambassador at the United Nations failed to defend the Cuban Liberty and Solidarity Act, passed by Congress. Mr Obama's duty to protect American lives and to enforce the law was also ignored when he took the Castro regime out of the list of supporters of terrorism, while an American terrorist who was serving a life sentence after murdering a New Jersey state trooper, and fled to Cuba, enjoys the hospitality of the regime. Mr. Obama released and returned to Cuba a Cuban spy serving a two consecutive life sentences for planning the murder of Americans.
Mr. Obama ignored Havana’s hostile actions during the last eight years: the attempted smuggling in violation of United Nations sanctions of war planes and missiles under tons of sugar to North Korea; the American missile used at a NATO exercise in Europe that ended up for months in the hands of Cuba’s spy agency; the announced negotiations to reopen a Russian surveillance station on the island and Russian spy ships in Havana Harbor.
17
Putin's plans didn't benefit from the millions of refugees created by his indiscriminate bombings of civilians all over Syria? Didn't their flowing into Europe to escape that needless destruction further his desire to stir deep trouble in the EU?
1
You and Ms. Power should resign from the human race for the troubles both of you caused our only true ally in the middle east, Israel. Your unconscionable acts were not those of true Americans and, thank God, you are both out of office today.
17
What you say is a bunch of "malarky" as VP Biden would say. Thank Mr Kerry and Pres. Obama!!
5
I had the pleasure of doing some unpaid work on State Department grants in Tunisia, Morocco, France, Denmark and Cuba during the past eight years. The leadership provided by you and Secretary Clinton, along with your boss, President Obama, permeated at U.S. Embassies with diplomats we worked with and more importantly, with the hundreds of foreign citizens we encountered.
The respect for the United States that we observed in diverse places was a direct result of articulating a coherent foreign policy and while everyone didn't always agree, mutual interests sometimes resulted in positive changes.
You can be justly proud of your tenure, Mr. Secretary. THank you for your service.
The respect for the United States that we observed in diverse places was a direct result of articulating a coherent foreign policy and while everyone didn't always agree, mutual interests sometimes resulted in positive changes.
You can be justly proud of your tenure, Mr. Secretary. THank you for your service.
43
Yes, their efforts supporting death squads and dictators in Honduras and Haiti, to name just two disasters in our hemisphere, were quite commendable, weren't they.
Well done Secretary Kerry! But you should have run for President.
16
Absolutely! Please do Mr. Kerry, come 2020. Hope, with some appropriate push from the DNC, you'll be the Democratic candidate.
4
Thanks John Kerry, your life shows what greatness is all about, through successes and failures, always fighting to do better, for all, you are the ultimate hero. Keep helping us out, we need it.
17
I would call most of thesis of this artcile, l..., hmm, misinformation. However I wil l try to stay calm and make some fact checks. I would not mention that ISIS is the phenomenon which spawned exactly during mr Obama reign. in 2008 the have 0 sq.m controlled territory. Now they have thousands of hundreds. I also would not ask why US did nothing in order to prevent Turkish and Quatar support to ISIS. American policy at the Middle East is a never-ending topic.
I would ask, actually why Russia turned from local bully in 2008 to Global Evil Empire once again in 2016. You may say on the evening that sanctions badly damaged Russian economy, bot on the morning you insists that they (Russian) put their puppet into White House, is ready to invade Eastern Europe and destroying democracy everywhere. Has Russia really weakened during mr. Obama term?
I would ask, actually why Russia turned from local bully in 2008 to Global Evil Empire once again in 2016. You may say on the evening that sanctions badly damaged Russian economy, bot on the morning you insists that they (Russian) put their puppet into White House, is ready to invade Eastern Europe and destroying democracy everywhere. Has Russia really weakened during mr. Obama term?
11
You are my dear friend in this information machine.
Isis was created because of George W. Bush, your boy!
Isis was created because of George W. Bush, your boy!
10
Thank you, Secretary of State John Kerry - for your long years of service as a Senator, a Presidential candidate and as our Secretary of State for President Barack Obama's second term. You got so much right! Your legacy is assured - that you used diplomacy as our foreign policy tool of first resort.
Your worked hard to reclaim ISIS strongholds in Iraq and Syria, though Aleppo is the scene of catastrophic genocide by Bashar al-Assad. Blocking Iran's nuclear program, notwithstanding the new President's words that it is a "bad deal", has made us and our allies and the world safer.
The European Union has isolated Russia, though Trump admires Putin and loathes "obsolete" NATO. In Asia, President Obama with his pivot to the Pacific Rim nations, has increased our presence there, supporting the rule of law in the South China Sea (all of which China has targeted for its hegemon) - our relationship with Beijing is emperiled by Trump's saber-rattling.
Facing tragic climate change, the Climate-change deniers have won the White House and Congress. The shift to clean energy is urgent as the Manhattan Project was to atomic power. Mr. Trump's Secretary of State nominee is a Big Oil man.
You dealt with the two-state solution in Israel to the best of your ability and patience, Secretary Kerry; no one could do better (except King Solomon in the Year Dot). Diplomacy cannot be reduced to Tweets. We shall see how our new President carries on from tomorrow into the future.
Your worked hard to reclaim ISIS strongholds in Iraq and Syria, though Aleppo is the scene of catastrophic genocide by Bashar al-Assad. Blocking Iran's nuclear program, notwithstanding the new President's words that it is a "bad deal", has made us and our allies and the world safer.
The European Union has isolated Russia, though Trump admires Putin and loathes "obsolete" NATO. In Asia, President Obama with his pivot to the Pacific Rim nations, has increased our presence there, supporting the rule of law in the South China Sea (all of which China has targeted for its hegemon) - our relationship with Beijing is emperiled by Trump's saber-rattling.
Facing tragic climate change, the Climate-change deniers have won the White House and Congress. The shift to clean energy is urgent as the Manhattan Project was to atomic power. Mr. Trump's Secretary of State nominee is a Big Oil man.
You dealt with the two-state solution in Israel to the best of your ability and patience, Secretary Kerry; no one could do better (except King Solomon in the Year Dot). Diplomacy cannot be reduced to Tweets. We shall see how our new President carries on from tomorrow into the future.
17
as A After Usin
Refusing to negotiate from a position of strength gave Crimea and the China Sea to our adversaries.
Congratulations, sir, it's about what we expected from you and the Grovellor-in-Chief!
Refusing to negotiate from a position of strength gave Crimea and the China Sea to our adversaries.
Congratulations, sir, it's about what we expected from you and the Grovellor-in-Chief!
11
I am happy to see this statement by Secretary Kerry and the farewell speech by President Obama. They establish the markers whereby the coming Presidency of Donald Trump will be measured. Let us be sure to judge Mr. Trump by these standards. President Reagan liked to ask in his campaigns: Are we better off at the end of the Presidential term than we were when it started? In the case of President Obama the answer is unquestionably yes. What will it be with Mr. Trump?
25
Both the DNC and GOP have formed a cyst in the skin of our Republic. Kerry's efforts have merely added to the pressure of pus building to a head. Such large cysts often require surgery to clean out the infection (money in politics). Bernie's near-success and Trump's actual success may indicate this boil is about to burst on its own. Some clean-up surgery will probably be necessary. Let's get money out our politics.
11
Steve Tillinghast,
The American Revolutionaries who signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 and then created this great nation were political activists committing criminal acts of high treason.
Those men committed their fortunes and their lives to the creation of the USA.
They would have all been hanged by the English Government for Treason if the American Revolution military forces had failed.
Today, politicians are only in the game for their own personal financial gain with perks, bribes and cash in paper sacks for their congressional votes and no-bid PAY TO PLAY contracts paid from the taxpayer’s Public Treasury awarded to their political campaign contributors!
Today, only those politicians that accept sufficient campaign or Clinton Foundation contributions in return for political favors and “PAY TO PLAY” no-bid contract awards from the public treasury can collect enough campaign money in order to buy enough TV advertising can get themselves elected to public office.
The American Revolutionaries who signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 and then created this great nation were political activists committing criminal acts of high treason.
Those men committed their fortunes and their lives to the creation of the USA.
They would have all been hanged by the English Government for Treason if the American Revolution military forces had failed.
Today, politicians are only in the game for their own personal financial gain with perks, bribes and cash in paper sacks for their congressional votes and no-bid PAY TO PLAY contracts paid from the taxpayer’s Public Treasury awarded to their political campaign contributors!
Today, only those politicians that accept sufficient campaign or Clinton Foundation contributions in return for political favors and “PAY TO PLAY” no-bid contract awards from the public treasury can collect enough campaign money in order to buy enough TV advertising can get themselves elected to public office.
2
Thank You for your service Secretary Kerry.
19
The US foreign policy since WWII has been influenced and dictated by the elite “DONOR CLASS” and PAC (foreign and domestic) members who made campaign contributions sufficient to elect our “Established Mainstream Republican” and “Established Mainstream Democrat” officials, who as directed by their donors, the elite “DONOR CLASS” campaign contributors, and PACs (foreign and domestic) campaign contributor members that created all of the “Politically Correct” limited wars (to benefit the PAC’s) that the USA has fought, and then tied or lost since WWII.
These wars that the USA lost have cost the USA thousands of US lives, created thousands of disabled veterans, and a few trillions of US taxpayer dollars which the taxpayers did not have so the US government increased the National Debt and obligated our children to repay the money that we borrowed and then spent on these wars that BENEFITED NATIONS OTHER THAN THE USA.
Donald Trump's foreign policy could not possibly be any worse than “Established Mainstream Republicans” and “Established Mainstream Democrats” foreign policy dictated by the elite “DONOR CLASS” plus the foreign and domestic PACs in return for campaign donations for the last 70 years.
These wars that the USA lost have cost the USA thousands of US lives, created thousands of disabled veterans, and a few trillions of US taxpayer dollars which the taxpayers did not have so the US government increased the National Debt and obligated our children to repay the money that we borrowed and then spent on these wars that BENEFITED NATIONS OTHER THAN THE USA.
Donald Trump's foreign policy could not possibly be any worse than “Established Mainstream Republicans” and “Established Mainstream Democrats” foreign policy dictated by the elite “DONOR CLASS” plus the foreign and domestic PACs in return for campaign donations for the last 70 years.
13
The current (for one more day) Administration has used the finesse of the master fencer to confront the messiness of the world as it is. The next Administration seems set to confront the world as a wrecking ball.
Thank you Sec. Kerry for your work as our top diplomat.
Thank you Sec. Kerry for your work as our top diplomat.
25
Thank you Secretary Kerry for everything you've done for our Country and for a better, peaceful World. Your Iran nuclear deal, in particular, was a masterpiece of diplomacy for which you deserve a Nobel peace prize. You have also been an exemplary Senator, and would have made a great President. Thank you for all your hard work on behalf of our Nation and for the betterment of the human condition around the Globe.
18
Thank you for your service, Secretary Kerry, and your humane approach to solving problems. Unfortunately, you were outnumbered and out-shouted by the hate-fear-anger-war mongers among us and around the world but I, for one, appreciate all the time and effort you put into the fight.
May the next years of your life be generous and kind to you just as you are to others.
May the next years of your life be generous and kind to you just as you are to others.
54
I echo the above comments. Secretary Kerry deserves our gratitude for his professionalism and dedication. For years he has worked around the world to promote diplomatic solutions to incredibly difficult problems and always conducted himself with class. It often is a thankless and unrecognized job but all of us benefited from his wisdom. Kudos and thank you to Secretary Kerry. He has served our country admirably in so many ways.
12
I agree with NJlea! Secretary Kerry thank you for your good efforts and sincere support of our country's ideals. I wiosh you well in your future endeavours. God Bless You!
11
"Our Successes" "What We Got Right"
Say what!
We lost Turkey, a key NATO ally now getting awfully close to Russia; we lost the Philippines as a key Pacific save haven; we totally collapsed when dealing with China, soon the permanent Pacific Rulers; we allowed the Middle East to further collapse thus severely dragging down all of Western Europe; we have no idea how to respond to the EU inner conflicts or how to handle the UK separation; and, Obama/Ms. Clinton had no idea what the election powers were of Trump but kept bragging about the 90/10 percent ratio thus creating Democratic non-voters by the gallon.
These are just a handful of easy to find but critical negatives which happened these past 8 years.
Embarrassing at best.
Say what!
We lost Turkey, a key NATO ally now getting awfully close to Russia; we lost the Philippines as a key Pacific save haven; we totally collapsed when dealing with China, soon the permanent Pacific Rulers; we allowed the Middle East to further collapse thus severely dragging down all of Western Europe; we have no idea how to respond to the EU inner conflicts or how to handle the UK separation; and, Obama/Ms. Clinton had no idea what the election powers were of Trump but kept bragging about the 90/10 percent ratio thus creating Democratic non-voters by the gallon.
These are just a handful of easy to find but critical negatives which happened these past 8 years.
Embarrassing at best.
26
Direct from the Fox News, Drudge, Limbaugh, Alex Jones, RT, Kremlin echo chamber.
11
Philippines - led by despot. Turkey - led by despot. Brexit - fear mongering at hands of inept despot-like Farage who thankfully and cowardly left after creating much of the trouble to come. Western Europe - fear mongering from right wing nationalist. US - Trump, we'll see and only time tells. Secretary of State Kerry did what was in his authority to do and did it with peace as the end in mind. He, nor the Obama administration, could control what fear focused fools voted in office around the world or in our own country. My level headed diplomacy reign
4
John Kerry has been one of the best, perhaps the best, of the many Secretaries of State that the United States has had during the last five or six dedecades.
Recognizing that the senior diplomat of any democratic country works within the constraints set by its president or prime minister, I would submit that Mr. Kerry has been the American diplomat 'par excellence'.
Americans and a multitude of people from around the world owe him a debt of gratitude for his achievements as the U.S. Secretary of State.
Recognizing that the senior diplomat of any democratic country works within the constraints set by its president or prime minister, I would submit that Mr. Kerry has been the American diplomat 'par excellence'.
Americans and a multitude of people from around the world owe him a debt of gratitude for his achievements as the U.S. Secretary of State.
16
Of course, John Kerry should have received the Nobel Peace Prize for the Iran nuclear deal that required all the world's major powers to work together to achieve peace. And, now we have Trump threatening to tear up deal and attack Iran if their sailors give our military that finger. It's a troubling state of affairs we're about to confront with a an administration of neophytes.
17
Surest sign of a failed administration is the multiple attempts to explain it's good, positive achievements - when there are few. Yet another attempt here. Not working.
No John Kerry. You guys were not a foreign policy success. Failed with Russia, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, Iraq, China and Iran. Squandered American power with talk of red lines. Tried to isolate Putin but he out maneuvered you by moving into Syria. Failed to stand by Ukraine who gave up their nukes based on the West's promises. Failed to check China's expansion in the South China sea. That will come home to roost. Negotiated with the Iranians as if they had the upper hand. Knocked out a government in Libya leaving no support structure - one can suppose you didn't learn a lesson from Iraq. And Iraq, the worst. Bush turned it over on the mend and you and Barack squandered the gains then failed to comprehend the ISIS threat. Now our friend, the Iraqi premier, is attempting to blame the US for the failure of his forces to maintain security in his country.
Don't let that door hit you....
No John Kerry. You guys were not a foreign policy success. Failed with Russia, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, Iraq, China and Iran. Squandered American power with talk of red lines. Tried to isolate Putin but he out maneuvered you by moving into Syria. Failed to stand by Ukraine who gave up their nukes based on the West's promises. Failed to check China's expansion in the South China sea. That will come home to roost. Negotiated with the Iranians as if they had the upper hand. Knocked out a government in Libya leaving no support structure - one can suppose you didn't learn a lesson from Iraq. And Iraq, the worst. Bush turned it over on the mend and you and Barack squandered the gains then failed to comprehend the ISIS threat. Now our friend, the Iraqi premier, is attempting to blame the US for the failure of his forces to maintain security in his country.
Don't let that door hit you....
30
Wait until we see what the Trump administration achieves. That is when we will know what real failure looks like.
16
You were doing so well until you said, "Bush turned it (Iraq) over on the mend", revealing that you still don't get it that both the DNC and GOP are nothing more than the Military/Industrial Complex that Eisenhower warned us about.
5
Had we used this squandered American military power as you suggest, we'd have had WW3.
2
Kerry is right about Vietnam. It happened that he was in Vietnam at the same time I was last week (I was coincidentally staying at the same hotel in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) as the State Department delegation). Kerry's comments about Vietnam being "a dynamic capitalist society" certainly reflect what I saw. After the United States finally lifted the embargo against Vietnam in 1995, the country was able to start pulling itself up economically, and today shows the incredible power of a capitalist structure. I have never seen so many people energetically running so many businesses. Vietnam now is developing decent infrastructure, and the standard of living, though not high by U.S. standards, is vastly improved. The country is very popular with tourists (including American tourists), and the people have somehow been able to move on in a positive way, emotionally, from the damage we inflicted on them during the Vietnam War.
12
Good points. As a vet who was recently in VN, I agree with all of them. The question for 2017 is will Iraq survive its interactions with the Defenders of Liberty, the purveyors of Shock and Awe? The jury is still very much out. We dropped (or tried to drop) the wrong dictators: Saddam, Gaddafi, Mubarek and Assad. They were the bulwark against hotheaded religious warriors and now they're gone. Welcome to chaos, Barry Ho-style.
2
We went from “shock and awe” during the Bush administration to the Obama administration’s largely “talk and thaw” strategy in dealing with several foreign policy crises. Mr. Kerry has outlined the ones that they got right. But we are now back to an administration that wants to “bomb the @#$% out” of our enemies. The incoming Trump administration also believes in “peace through strength,” which is another way of saying let’s reinforce the “military industrial complex.”
Meanwhile on the world stage, we are witnessing the surreal – China’s leader Xi Jinping is defending “globalization and free trade” and Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin is pontificating about “moral boundaries,” while President-elect Trump is reiterating that NATO is obsolete!
Everything that the Obama administration got right is now headed on a path where it is likely to go horribly wrong and what it didn’t get right could likely just get worse?
Meanwhile on the world stage, we are witnessing the surreal – China’s leader Xi Jinping is defending “globalization and free trade” and Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin is pontificating about “moral boundaries,” while President-elect Trump is reiterating that NATO is obsolete!
Everything that the Obama administration got right is now headed on a path where it is likely to go horribly wrong and what it didn’t get right could likely just get worse?
5
Unbelievable. We are not better off. The Kerry years at State have been a disaster. A weak Russia is leading on the world stage and creating havoc, and our allies look to us, but we can give them is sound bites and platitudes.
The Iran deal is a disgrace, and no amount of lipstick is going to cover that pig.
The world is starved for leadership. The type of leadership that once came from the Oval Office. Thank you for this OP Ed it is a fine summation of your failures and is a blueprint for a diagnosis of a world on the brink.
The Iran deal is a disgrace, and no amount of lipstick is going to cover that pig.
The world is starved for leadership. The type of leadership that once came from the Oval Office. Thank you for this OP Ed it is a fine summation of your failures and is a blueprint for a diagnosis of a world on the brink.
13
The only criticism I would offer: Obama and Kerry did not win the PR game. Somehow the right kept Libya and Benghazi in the wheelhouse of discourse. Somehow the right bludgeoned an irrational anti-Obama creed with everything accomplished. Even the capture of bin-Laden was diluted. Obama and Kerry have led very well on the ground, but to keep this work and these long-term values in place, they should have sold them better on the airwaves.
5
The right wing usually wins the PR game because they're willing to lie and go to any extent to make to do so.
And they never stop. It's like they have a mental condition that they have to keep lying and hating. And most of them are paranoid.
And they never stop. It's like they have a mental condition that they have to keep lying and hating. And most of them are paranoid.
6
John Kerry was rejected by the american people for president. He is an elitist ,narcissist who would sell his own soul and anyone around him for political ambitions. Americans reject globalism ,the UN sham, and the imperialism that Kerry , obama, and Bush's backers represent . Kerry give up your Private Jets , gas guzzling cars , air conditioners, and heaters etc before you lecture the little people on the so called dangers of man made climate change formally known as global warming and in the 70's the ice age. Otherwise us peasants just think that it is a over reach of government that will limit our luxuries but not yours.
12
Kerry did not win in large part because of the very successful, but utterly dishonest Swift Boat campaign. Sadly, the GOP is the one party best know for its dishonest, nasty campaigns. Maybe someday the GOP will run an honest, reputable campaign. I hope so for our nation's sake.
15
In today's NY Times we read that the US sent two billion dollar B-2 bombers on a 34 hour roundtrip mission from Missouri to blow up trucks and tanks in Lybia. Does the outgoing administration's foreign policy include no cost/benefit analysis at all?
Trump seems as clueless about foreign policy as Rick Perry is about the nuclear arsenal of the DOE but perhaps he will apply some cost/benefit analysis to such military forays?
Trump seems as clueless about foreign policy as Rick Perry is about the nuclear arsenal of the DOE but perhaps he will apply some cost/benefit analysis to such military forays?
6
Indeed, thank you for your service Secretary Kerry.
If we want to see the foreign policy of the Trump Administration, justvread Secretary Kerry's article and take the opposite position.
If we want to see the foreign policy of the Trump Administration, justvread Secretary Kerry's article and take the opposite position.
9
Secretary Kerry may be the only human being on earth who thinks that "most global trends remain in our favor." The rest of us see an ascendant Russia, an ever more belligerent China, North Africa overrun by Islamist savages, Syria in ruins, Europe besieged by refugees, a Cuban dictatorship defiant in the face of American capitulation, Iran already violating its agreement ...
So long, Mister Magoo. We won't miss you.
So long, Mister Magoo. We won't miss you.
17
One thing Secretary Kerry is certainly correct about:he is not objective.
Obama promised unprecedented inspections as part of the Iran Deal; there are none. The agreement allows Iran to build a bomb in at most 15 years. Iran gets plenty of cash and business ties, and that there is no reasonable way to back away from the agreement. Why would any good negotiator do that ? Plenty of smart people make decisions that they are sure of, yet find out later that they were wrong (remember the Time/AOL Merger ? The Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact of WW II ? The Viet Nam War ? IBM not going after the PC market ? the Internet bubble ?) Why not keep your options open, in case the Iran Deal was really not such a good idea ? Mr. Obama and Mr. Kerry are too arrogant to think that their decision might eventually turn out wrong.
On the Israel/Palestinian issue, the single-minded focus on settlements has been exactly the wrong strategy to follow. It ought to be quite obvious by now that the settlements are merely an excuse for Palestinians to continue their struggle to murder every Jew in the Middle East. The Palestinian leadership is in no hurry; if it takes another hundred years of their people's suffering, they don't mind, as long as they eventually take all of the land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean, with no Jews allowed.
The list goes on.
The only good part of this article is that it ought to be the last for Obama and Kerry.
We can only hope that they don't try to come back.
Obama promised unprecedented inspections as part of the Iran Deal; there are none. The agreement allows Iran to build a bomb in at most 15 years. Iran gets plenty of cash and business ties, and that there is no reasonable way to back away from the agreement. Why would any good negotiator do that ? Plenty of smart people make decisions that they are sure of, yet find out later that they were wrong (remember the Time/AOL Merger ? The Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact of WW II ? The Viet Nam War ? IBM not going after the PC market ? the Internet bubble ?) Why not keep your options open, in case the Iran Deal was really not such a good idea ? Mr. Obama and Mr. Kerry are too arrogant to think that their decision might eventually turn out wrong.
On the Israel/Palestinian issue, the single-minded focus on settlements has been exactly the wrong strategy to follow. It ought to be quite obvious by now that the settlements are merely an excuse for Palestinians to continue their struggle to murder every Jew in the Middle East. The Palestinian leadership is in no hurry; if it takes another hundred years of their people's suffering, they don't mind, as long as they eventually take all of the land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean, with no Jews allowed.
The list goes on.
The only good part of this article is that it ought to be the last for Obama and Kerry.
We can only hope that they don't try to come back.
16
Gee, Trump could have said all this in 140 characters, including grammatical errors.
5
Thank you, Sen Kerry, for your military service, and your decades of political service. The people claiming Obama's years are years of decline should be ashamed of themselves, but these types of persons know no shame. This morning on NPR, Peter Wehner was ranting about how the Obama years have irreparably hurt the US. The taste of sour grapes has apparently withered the American right, withered us into the nation of Trump.
4
You allowed ISIS to rise under your nose to claim substantial areas of control in Iraq and Syria and you want credit for belatedly responding? You helped cause the refugee crisis with your idiotic policies, and you are going to pat yourself on the back? You threatened Syria with an unbelievably small strike in response to their war crimes, and you want to be taken seriously? You failed to show your face at the Charlie Hebdo march and had James Taylor sing "You've got a friend" in a farcical effort to make up for your inexcusable absence, and you think we should applaud? You were an absolute disaster as Secretary of State and your only hope is to be measured against the prior occupant of the office.
9
John Kerry and Barack Obama's leadership must be admired for not only refusing to negotiate with the bloody murderers Vladimir and Bashar Russia and Syria -, but also ignoring both Israel and Saudi Arabia - to make a deal with Iran preventing its nuclear breakout. Now, it has left Israel and the Palestinian to stew in their own juices, but that is after all what both sides seemed to want - to keep fighting a destructive never-ending conflict.
A few years of Trump and the world will be begging for American leadership, Obama coolness again.
A few years of Trump and the world will be begging for American leadership, Obama coolness again.
10
What else would one expect John Kerry to say?
At least he acknowledges there are some...who see nightmares wherever they look.
What we've got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it. I don't like it any more than you men. - Strother Martin
At least he acknowledges there are some...who see nightmares wherever they look.
What we've got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it. I don't like it any more than you men. - Strother Martin
Great job, John, of thinking yourselves into a paper bag on so many issues, to the point you were virtually paralyzed with inaction (see, e.g., Syria).
I especially commend you on speaking out about Israel in the last 30 seconds of your administration.
I especially commend you on speaking out about Israel in the last 30 seconds of your administration.
7
What a crock, do these guys ever look at what they get wrong? If one just counts one's success (in this case as diminutive as they are) and ignore failures then one does not grow.
1. ISIS - The administration thought they were a "JV" team, when it turns out that the Obama was "JV" leadership over a world class team. They created ISIS.
2. Syria - the Administration's insistence on the regime change of Assad and timid support of the resistance resulted in tragedy, horror, and millions of refugees in Syria.
3. Libya - regime change resulted in a vacuum filled by ISIS and a failed nation. Played right into the hands of the Jihadists.
4. Iran - The narrative that it was the failed deal or war is deceptive, seldom on complex subjects are binary choices all that is available. Iran is still on the path to nuclear weapons and are actively developing delivery systems.
5. The climate apocalypse pushed by this administration is bologna and China knows it. That is why they never really agreed to anything of substance.
They have left the world in a mess that Trump and his administration will have to clean up.
1. ISIS - The administration thought they were a "JV" team, when it turns out that the Obama was "JV" leadership over a world class team. They created ISIS.
2. Syria - the Administration's insistence on the regime change of Assad and timid support of the resistance resulted in tragedy, horror, and millions of refugees in Syria.
3. Libya - regime change resulted in a vacuum filled by ISIS and a failed nation. Played right into the hands of the Jihadists.
4. Iran - The narrative that it was the failed deal or war is deceptive, seldom on complex subjects are binary choices all that is available. Iran is still on the path to nuclear weapons and are actively developing delivery systems.
5. The climate apocalypse pushed by this administration is bologna and China knows it. That is why they never really agreed to anything of substance.
They have left the world in a mess that Trump and his administration will have to clean up.
10
Thank you Secretary Kerry. You have been extraordinarily diligent in every pursuit on behalf of this nation.
11
Dear Mr. Kerry,
Thank you for being a champion of democracy and a wise voice on all issues. History will show you to be one of the best Secretary of State and in my mind infinitely better than any recent one including henry Kissinger.
May God always shine his light on you and your family.
Thank you for being a champion of democracy and a wise voice on all issues. History will show you to be one of the best Secretary of State and in my mind infinitely better than any recent one including henry Kissinger.
May God always shine his light on you and your family.
10
Thank you for your service, Mr. Secretary. You've made the world a better place.
15
A better place for whom?
5
World is such a better place than it was eight years.
And the Republicans can't remember the economy eight years ago ha ha! They have selective amnesia.
And the Republicans can't remember the economy eight years ago ha ha! They have selective amnesia.
4
What you, Obama and the United Nations did to Israel was despicable. Your ideological vision of peace between the two sides is delusional. You have no idea what it is like to live daily with the notion of millions who surround you wanting nothing less than the total destruction of the Jewish State and all of its inhabitants. They do not want to live side by side in peace. You think that a kumbaya moment will magically occur after thousands of years of pure hatred that has been instilled generation after generation. If you think eradicating the spread of settlements is the solution, you have no idea what issue truly is.
12
Thank you, Secretary Kerry.
You and President Obama did a great job for All Americans and the good People of the World.
I proudly voted for you every time you ran for what ever office you ran for.
Today is the last day, you and President Obama will be leading our country - I am feeling deeply sad - but - deeply grateful for all you both have done in service to our country and to the world.
Thank you for speaking up - in defense of a Two State Solution for Israel and Palestine - this is the only solution for the continued health and safety for all Israelis and Palestinian people.
I am deeply thankful, you clearly stated your support for a Contiguous Two State Land Agreement....
My wish is - that someone - would talk out loud about - Water - how the Israeli settlements are being built upon the underground water streams in a non-contiguous land pattern following the flow of this water - leaving the arid, no water land for the Palestinian people - which is not fair.....no one owns the water or the air - the water and air belong to ALL to share equally.
Thank you, again - Thank you!
You and President Obama did a great job for All Americans and the good People of the World.
I proudly voted for you every time you ran for what ever office you ran for.
Today is the last day, you and President Obama will be leading our country - I am feeling deeply sad - but - deeply grateful for all you both have done in service to our country and to the world.
Thank you for speaking up - in defense of a Two State Solution for Israel and Palestine - this is the only solution for the continued health and safety for all Israelis and Palestinian people.
I am deeply thankful, you clearly stated your support for a Contiguous Two State Land Agreement....
My wish is - that someone - would talk out loud about - Water - how the Israeli settlements are being built upon the underground water streams in a non-contiguous land pattern following the flow of this water - leaving the arid, no water land for the Palestinian people - which is not fair.....no one owns the water or the air - the water and air belong to ALL to share equally.
Thank you, again - Thank you!
9
Did Mr. Kerry encouage democracy and human rights in the world? Did the administration loudly encourage womens' rights in Saudi Arabia and Iran? LGBT rights? No. Did Mr.Kerry allow Iran progress toward nuclear weapons? Yes. Did Mr. Kerry achieve peace in the middle east? The middle east and northen Africa are aflame with conflist and chaos. Did Mr.Kerry continue to equate 'peace in the middle east' with Israeli-Palestinian peace? Yes. Did Mr.Kerry contain Chinese cyber aggression and aggression in the Pacific? No. Did Mr.Kerry save Crimea or Ukraine from Russian aggression? No. Summing up, failure after failure.
13
Thank you John Kerry, you did as good a job as secretary of state as could have been asked of you.
I am proud to have had you represent my country for the last four years, you navigated many difficult situations with the appropriate sense of respect and thoughtfulness, and you got real results.
I fear for what will happen when the new team takes over.
Thanks again, we'll miss you even though some of us may not realize it yet.
I am proud to have had you represent my country for the last four years, you navigated many difficult situations with the appropriate sense of respect and thoughtfulness, and you got real results.
I fear for what will happen when the new team takes over.
Thanks again, we'll miss you even though some of us may not realize it yet.
5
OBAMA/KERRY'S LONG GAME
Putin has been sucked into quagmires in Syria and Ukraine that weaken his economy and his international goodwill. The threats to others in those regions have motivated sanctions and alliances between the US and the EU and the Sunni Arabs to counter his actions.
The sanctions, oil price declines, and discouragement of business investment in an adversarial Russia have put the ruble and with it, the Russian economy, into a state of collapse. Meanwhile, by saving our blood and treasure from military interventions in those reasons we have strengthened our economy and capacity for long-term support of our military.
I challenge the critics of Obama/Kerry "weakness" to offer alternative policies and actions what would have yielded superior results!
Putin has been sucked into quagmires in Syria and Ukraine that weaken his economy and his international goodwill. The threats to others in those regions have motivated sanctions and alliances between the US and the EU and the Sunni Arabs to counter his actions.
The sanctions, oil price declines, and discouragement of business investment in an adversarial Russia have put the ruble and with it, the Russian economy, into a state of collapse. Meanwhile, by saving our blood and treasure from military interventions in those reasons we have strengthened our economy and capacity for long-term support of our military.
I challenge the critics of Obama/Kerry "weakness" to offer alternative policies and actions what would have yielded superior results!
3
You threw Israel under the bus. The 1967 war, lest you forget, was a war of annihilation.
10
"We are engaged in a climactic effort to free the largest remaining strongholds in Iraq (Mosul) and Syria (Raqqa). "
It sounds like your shock and awe campaign started this morning. Man you're leaving Trump a bloody mess to sort out!
It sounds like your shock and awe campaign started this morning. Man you're leaving Trump a bloody mess to sort out!
3
John Kerry, you have been a hero to me since your courageous opposition to the Vietnam War. Because of that, yours was the first presidential campaign I ever worked in, along with my then teenaged son.
No one reveres you more than I do.
I salute you - you are only one tiny notch below Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama to me. Thank you so much for all your service, from Vietnam to Washington. You inspire me every day.
No one reveres you more than I do.
I salute you - you are only one tiny notch below Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama to me. Thank you so much for all your service, from Vietnam to Washington. You inspire me every day.
3
Thanks for throwing Israel under the bus, who faces an opponent whose ultimate goal is to destroy it.
7
Sec Kerry has a long list of things that are keeping him busy. But did you notice the one thing left off the list? No mention of the "peace negotiations" in Syria. Why? The US was not invited.
That is all you need to know about the decline of US prestige and power during the Obama/Clinton/Kerry years.
That is all you need to know about the decline of US prestige and power during the Obama/Clinton/Kerry years.
3
This was a very instructive exercise in spinning history---perhaps Kerry would've done well as press secretary. Diplomatic failures, debacles & abdication of power all emerge as quiet manipulation, thoughtful engagement, and strength used wisely.
Things are goin' just great! Witness the fascinating case of Israel v the Palestinians, in which the good nations of the UN came together with touching unity of purpose, to help bring peace to the troubled region by viciously cutting down a successful, courageous, liberal democracy and canonizing the alternate history invented by the perennial darlings of world victimhood, The Palestinians.
Bravo!
It's reminiscent of the never-ending glowing reports of victory in Orwell's 1984---Peace feels closer than ever!
And as with Israel, so too Obama & Kerry presided over fantastic, happy endings in Russia, Syria, and elsewhere around the globe! Would it be too much to award Obama another Nobel Prize?
Things are goin' just great! Witness the fascinating case of Israel v the Palestinians, in which the good nations of the UN came together with touching unity of purpose, to help bring peace to the troubled region by viciously cutting down a successful, courageous, liberal democracy and canonizing the alternate history invented by the perennial darlings of world victimhood, The Palestinians.
Bravo!
It's reminiscent of the never-ending glowing reports of victory in Orwell's 1984---Peace feels closer than ever!
And as with Israel, so too Obama & Kerry presided over fantastic, happy endings in Russia, Syria, and elsewhere around the globe! Would it be too much to award Obama another Nobel Prize?
9
I'm sad to see the Obama Era end, too. Do all good things really come to an end? I think, though, that the way to sum it up might be he said lots of good things but he - and the repukelicans - didn't achieve lots of what he said. Gitmo, for example, still exists. And Medicare and the ACA might be dismantled. Where does that leave "americans"? Or are we really supposed to believe that we should be afraid? Be very very afraid? And Kerry? Drinking the Koolaide is what he's all about.
1
Thank you for your service, Sec. Kerr. You accomplished more than recent secretaries, including Hillary Clinton.
5
Well, the bar was pretty low, particularly with Clinton.
4
Mr. Kerry,
You are so wrong! There is no better way to say the unpleasant things…
Let me put it shortly in a few sentences. If I were the Secretary of the State there would be no ISIS because I knew how to solve the problems and how to preempt them…
Even more embarrassingly to the Obama Administration, I offered the expertise in the timely manner to the White House how to preempt the problems and avoid the wars in Syria and Ukraine…
Where is the power of Al-Baghdadi and the ISIS coming from? Why are they in position to recruit the young Arabs across the West?
The Obama Administration left them the monopoly on the interpretation of the Koran. Remember, the Koran is not THEIR private property. If you can interpret those verses better and more accurately than Al-Baghdadi, then the Arab youth will listen and follow YOU.
The most important thing to point out is that in the Koran there are no Hadiths. The Hadiths are the books written long after the death of Prophet Mohammed, thus without his approval or supervision and without any connection to divine origins.
Those books are full of the ancient Arab cultural habits, customs, dogmas and tribal loyalty from the 6th century that have nothing in common with the true faith. All the conservatism and the retrograde behavior associated with the Arab world is stemming from the Hadiths.
The faith is coming from God and not from the Arabs.
It was you job to make that point to the Arabs and stop the ISIS recruitment efforts…
You are so wrong! There is no better way to say the unpleasant things…
Let me put it shortly in a few sentences. If I were the Secretary of the State there would be no ISIS because I knew how to solve the problems and how to preempt them…
Even more embarrassingly to the Obama Administration, I offered the expertise in the timely manner to the White House how to preempt the problems and avoid the wars in Syria and Ukraine…
Where is the power of Al-Baghdadi and the ISIS coming from? Why are they in position to recruit the young Arabs across the West?
The Obama Administration left them the monopoly on the interpretation of the Koran. Remember, the Koran is not THEIR private property. If you can interpret those verses better and more accurately than Al-Baghdadi, then the Arab youth will listen and follow YOU.
The most important thing to point out is that in the Koran there are no Hadiths. The Hadiths are the books written long after the death of Prophet Mohammed, thus without his approval or supervision and without any connection to divine origins.
Those books are full of the ancient Arab cultural habits, customs, dogmas and tribal loyalty from the 6th century that have nothing in common with the true faith. All the conservatism and the retrograde behavior associated with the Arab world is stemming from the Hadiths.
The faith is coming from God and not from the Arabs.
It was you job to make that point to the Arabs and stop the ISIS recruitment efforts…
1
Cue the tearful applause, overwrought eulogies and insanely exaggerated songs of praise.
All it takes is one well-written essay, rewriting recent history in the pleasing language of diplomacy, global outreach & anti-military-anything.... and the genteel, one-note liberals who hate war and love peace summits, hate American assertiveness but love the patriarchal criminals who run the UN, who devour the NY Times like daily Bible readings.... all those gentle, educated, undeplorable New Yorkers rise up as one, believers to the last....
All it takes is one well-written essay, rewriting recent history in the pleasing language of diplomacy, global outreach & anti-military-anything.... and the genteel, one-note liberals who hate war and love peace summits, hate American assertiveness but love the patriarchal criminals who run the UN, who devour the NY Times like daily Bible readings.... all those gentle, educated, undeplorable New Yorkers rise up as one, believers to the last....
7
Dear John Kerry,
Thank you for your excellent summary of a brilliant record of achievement. Yes, its easier to saber rattle, rush into war and waste the lives of young people in unnecessary wars. Be assured that millions of Americans are indeed happy that their loved ones are not on battlefields to fight and lose their lives, limbs and minds for what intelligent diplomacy can readily accomplish.
We love you and we thank you for efforts on behalf of the American people and the Obama Administration.
Walle A Amusa
Thank you for your excellent summary of a brilliant record of achievement. Yes, its easier to saber rattle, rush into war and waste the lives of young people in unnecessary wars. Be assured that millions of Americans are indeed happy that their loved ones are not on battlefields to fight and lose their lives, limbs and minds for what intelligent diplomacy can readily accomplish.
We love you and we thank you for efforts on behalf of the American people and the Obama Administration.
Walle A Amusa
5
Brilliant achievement???? Wow!!
Lost my job to 1HB, paying nearly $2,000 a month for health insurance (just my wife and I), decaying infrastructure (though our Governor is improving things), complex tax structure, huge deficits, entitlement programs which are not being addressed, unrest throughout the world, civil unrest in many of our urban city-centers, high cost of living, opiate usage is at all time high.....and Kerry and Obama appear on all sorts of television shows telling everyone what a great job they've done. Sorry but many of us here are hurting financially and in other ways. Glad to see both him and Bush go!!!
Lost my job to 1HB, paying nearly $2,000 a month for health insurance (just my wife and I), decaying infrastructure (though our Governor is improving things), complex tax structure, huge deficits, entitlement programs which are not being addressed, unrest throughout the world, civil unrest in many of our urban city-centers, high cost of living, opiate usage is at all time high.....and Kerry and Obama appear on all sorts of television shows telling everyone what a great job they've done. Sorry but many of us here are hurting financially and in other ways. Glad to see both him and Bush go!!!
4
Dear Mr. Kerry,
You don’t have to be a Muslim to enjoy the Koran. You just have to be a literate person capable of reading.
Al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, has no monopoly on the Koran. That book belongs to anybody willing to read it.
If you were capable of offering the better and more innovative interpretation of the Koran to the Arab youth in the West, they would not travel to Syria to fight against the locals they never knew and never met!
Why should the young Arabs listen to you and not to Al-Baghdadi?
Because the Koranic verses support your call to the peace and not his invitation into the bloody conflict.
The Koran bans the aggressive wars and authorizes only the strict self-defense at your own home.
By definition, anybody traveling across the oceans looking to participate in the middle-eastern civil war does not believe in the Koranic verses. If you don’t not believe in something then you are not the believer, are you?
One cannot travel overseas to participate in the Sunni-Shiite religious war because there is no concept of the Sunnis and the Shiites in the Koran. This claim should be extremely simple to verify!
Thus it was unnecessary to authorize the hundreds of drone attacks killing the thousands of the innocent bystanders in order to stop the ISIS.
It was enough to better understand the Koran than the ISIS…
That was your job Mr. Kerry, wasn’t it?!
You don’t have to be a Muslim to enjoy the Koran. You just have to be a literate person capable of reading.
Al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, has no monopoly on the Koran. That book belongs to anybody willing to read it.
If you were capable of offering the better and more innovative interpretation of the Koran to the Arab youth in the West, they would not travel to Syria to fight against the locals they never knew and never met!
Why should the young Arabs listen to you and not to Al-Baghdadi?
Because the Koranic verses support your call to the peace and not his invitation into the bloody conflict.
The Koran bans the aggressive wars and authorizes only the strict self-defense at your own home.
By definition, anybody traveling across the oceans looking to participate in the middle-eastern civil war does not believe in the Koranic verses. If you don’t not believe in something then you are not the believer, are you?
One cannot travel overseas to participate in the Sunni-Shiite religious war because there is no concept of the Sunnis and the Shiites in the Koran. This claim should be extremely simple to verify!
Thus it was unnecessary to authorize the hundreds of drone attacks killing the thousands of the innocent bystanders in order to stop the ISIS.
It was enough to better understand the Koran than the ISIS…
That was your job Mr. Kerry, wasn’t it?!
3
That is a very selective reading of the Koran. Other verses are incredibly bellicose, and they are read by the Islamists every day.
1
Joseph,
Many years ago I played this game with another person. I had no access to the Koran nor I read it at that time.
I asked that person to share those disputable verses with me. He did it. I asked him afterwards to share a few verses ahead of those misconstrued sentences.
After several those instances it was clear to him that the Koran authorizes the violence exclusively in direct self-defense and allows the victim to protect own life. In no other situation the Koran authorizes the murder.
If you are capable of sharing any Koranic verse that proves me wrong, you would certainly help me a lot.
Can you invoke some Koranic verses that proves my understanding of that book wrong?
Thank you in advance for your efforts!
Many years ago I played this game with another person. I had no access to the Koran nor I read it at that time.
I asked that person to share those disputable verses with me. He did it. I asked him afterwards to share a few verses ahead of those misconstrued sentences.
After several those instances it was clear to him that the Koran authorizes the violence exclusively in direct self-defense and allows the victim to protect own life. In no other situation the Koran authorizes the murder.
If you are capable of sharing any Koranic verse that proves me wrong, you would certainly help me a lot.
Can you invoke some Koranic verses that proves my understanding of that book wrong?
Thank you in advance for your efforts!
Joseph,
One of the Koranic verses I still remember from that discussion is that the Koran directed the believers not to take the Christians and the Jews for the allies.
I know that this verse might sound extremely hateful and biased to you. I would like to offer an alternative explanation and understanding of this message.
The key word is “ALLIES”. The Koran doesn’t direct us not to befriend the Christians and the Jews. Actually, it directs us to be friendly toward everybody including the people of the Book (the different term the Koran uses for the Jews and the Christians)
What does the word “ALLY” imply? That somebody is getting ready to wage a war. Our duty is to stop anybody from waging the bloody wars. We have to do our best in explaining to our neighbors that the disagreements could be solved peacefully in everybody’s best interest.
If even in spite of our best efforts the other countries decide to wage the wars, the Koran prohibits the believers from joining any side in the conflict.
If Europe heeded this noble advice in 1914, a miniscule problem between the Habsburg Empire and Serbia over assassination of a single person would not result in waging the WWI and colossal human suffering.
That’s why I claimed the Koran belongs to everybody and not just to the Muslims…
If the Christian European countries in 1914 followed this recommendation, there would be no WWI and maybe no WWII that was just a second halftime of the initial conflict…
One of the Koranic verses I still remember from that discussion is that the Koran directed the believers not to take the Christians and the Jews for the allies.
I know that this verse might sound extremely hateful and biased to you. I would like to offer an alternative explanation and understanding of this message.
The key word is “ALLIES”. The Koran doesn’t direct us not to befriend the Christians and the Jews. Actually, it directs us to be friendly toward everybody including the people of the Book (the different term the Koran uses for the Jews and the Christians)
What does the word “ALLY” imply? That somebody is getting ready to wage a war. Our duty is to stop anybody from waging the bloody wars. We have to do our best in explaining to our neighbors that the disagreements could be solved peacefully in everybody’s best interest.
If even in spite of our best efforts the other countries decide to wage the wars, the Koran prohibits the believers from joining any side in the conflict.
If Europe heeded this noble advice in 1914, a miniscule problem between the Habsburg Empire and Serbia over assassination of a single person would not result in waging the WWI and colossal human suffering.
That’s why I claimed the Koran belongs to everybody and not just to the Muslims…
If the Christian European countries in 1914 followed this recommendation, there would be no WWI and maybe no WWII that was just a second halftime of the initial conflict…
The heck with Kerry and his boss Obama. Let's show true force - military engagement around Iran, South Korea, Syria, the China Sea, the Ukraine...everywhere. A universal draft with no exemptions will put real teeth in it. Write the generals requesting that the boots your son or granddaughter is wearing be the first on the ground.
4
Secretary Kerry's analysis is fair and sober. Looking forward, what we have been shown to date offers little hope for continued sobriety, from Washington or from other national capitals. For example, real progress has been made against ISIS. As we enter an era of bromantic entente between the President-elect and Vladimir Putin we can expect a repeat of Aleppo, soon with mass war criminality against our loyal allies, the Kurds, in northern Syria and Iraq.
With a compliant Washington puppet, Aleppo-like atrocities will be pursued cynically by Putin and Erdoğan in the name of combating ISIS. Trump will happily sacrifice our Peshmerga allies, the only effective regional anti-ISIS force, to some warped image of spheres of influence carved up among more powerful forces. Consequently, we will likely become accessories to mass murder.
Not to worry, though. We'll soon have massive July 4th military parades in the style of Pyongyang, Moscow or Nuremberg. We'll show 'em!
Kurds? Aren't they some kind of cheese?
www.endthemadnessnow.org
With a compliant Washington puppet, Aleppo-like atrocities will be pursued cynically by Putin and Erdoğan in the name of combating ISIS. Trump will happily sacrifice our Peshmerga allies, the only effective regional anti-ISIS force, to some warped image of spheres of influence carved up among more powerful forces. Consequently, we will likely become accessories to mass murder.
Not to worry, though. We'll soon have massive July 4th military parades in the style of Pyongyang, Moscow or Nuremberg. We'll show 'em!
Kurds? Aren't they some kind of cheese?
www.endthemadnessnow.org
2
This statement (lie) made me retch: "[T]he formula we pursued to end the agonizing conflict in Syria was, and remains, the only one with a realistic chance." What a complete and total lie. The sad thing is Kerry probably believes it. We (the USA) armed and trained some of the worst Islamists this side of Mecca and baldly lied about it, again and again. The Green Berets were training headchoppers in Jordan on behalf of Kerry and Brennan's buddies, the Saudis. Go to pasture, Lurch. Your wars and lies brought us very low and we now have to clean up your and Obama's messes. --a Democrat
11
Thanks for your service Mr. Kerry. You guys did the best you could. How sad it will be to see it all shortly dismantled.
6
Hopefully it will improve!
Lost my job to 1HB, paying nearly $2,000 a month for health insurance (just my wife and I), decaying infrastructure (though our Governor is improving things), complex tax structure, huge deficits, entitlement programs which are not being addressed, unrest throughout the world, civil unrest in many of our urban city-centers, high cost of living, opiate usage is at all time high.....and Kerry and Obama appear on all sorts of television shows telling everyone what a great job they've done.
Sorry but many of us here are hurting financially and in other ways. Glad to see both him and Bush go!!!
Lost my job to 1HB, paying nearly $2,000 a month for health insurance (just my wife and I), decaying infrastructure (though our Governor is improving things), complex tax structure, huge deficits, entitlement programs which are not being addressed, unrest throughout the world, civil unrest in many of our urban city-centers, high cost of living, opiate usage is at all time high.....and Kerry and Obama appear on all sorts of television shows telling everyone what a great job they've done.
Sorry but many of us here are hurting financially and in other ways. Glad to see both him and Bush go!!!
4
Mr. Kerry, no matter how you spin it, no matter how many times you paint your picture of your reality, the world has become a much more dangerous place on Mr. Obama's and your watch. Iran sleeps now, waiting patiently to be fully unleashed, because you have made this possible. Cuba smiles because of its new ability to be recognized, without changing any of its long standing repressive behavior. Russia, always aggressive and ambitious, has become even more so because of your and BHO's inability to forge any kind of positive diplomatic relationship with Putin. Syria has been converted into a cemetery because of your administration's ongoing paralysis by analysis. Israel, with all its faults, has been hung out to dry by your administration's inability to broker any kind of peace deal, but also your inability to build any type of working relationship with Netanyahu. Your UN vote/non vote, essentially promoted the cause of the Palestinians.
14
It was not too long ago that all those flowing with accolades today were once the naysayers and pessimists. In the midst of the Obama presidency I remember so many comments here from NY TIMES readers about how they were disappointed with a "weak and indecisive Obama administration...he had done nothing and was spineless. My elderly mother, a staunch Democrat and a tenacious New York Times reader, in her most disheartened state, started to believe the naysayers. I kept reassuring her that history would be kind to President Obama, and, with his grace under pressure, he would pull through.. He is a last minute kind of guy." I would tell her. He always rights the ship when nobody believes that the sinking ship can be saved. President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry, I never once doubted your abilities to make the world a better place, and your ability to make the United States that "shining city on the hill." Thank you!...from a never doubting loyalist! Let's hope that Trump can rise to the occasion and fill the big shoes that were left in the Oval Office. I am not optimistic, but I do not want him to fail, even though he is just a plane rude, I'll-bred, self centered man. "Unpolitically correct" be damned...this is just plane rudeness and incivility. However, I hope he succeeds, because if he doesn't we all lose.
4
Thank you for your service Mr. Kerry.
4
Thank you, Mr. Kerry, for all of your hard work on our, and the world's behalf. Diplomacy is always preferable and you've represented the United States admirably.
Thank you for your service. I know we're all a bit safer - for now.
Thank you for your service. I know we're all a bit safer - for now.
5
I can answer Kerry's question: nothing, bubkes, zilch, nada. This administration leaves the world in much much worse shape. You did nothing right.
No administration, certainly not Democratic presidents like Kennedy and Roosevelt, ever felt the need to abandon our place as a force for morality and good in the world and leave Russia the dominant power in the Middle East. No administration ever felt the need to apologize for previous actions and then let fear paralyze them. No administration turned on our allies, Israel, Colombia, Ukraine and then opened relations with totalitarian police states like Cuba in exchange for nothing. Iran is stronger, North Korea is stronger, Russia dominates Ukraine, terror is everywhere, NATO is weaker, China is dominating the South China sea and nothing is done to stop them, and even allies such as the Philippines are looking elsewhere for help.
Kerry opens relations with Cuba and they imprison more dissidents. He calls the foreign minister of Iran by his first name and signs an agreement which allows them to continue funding terror...no in fact it gives them money, in cash, to fund terror. He leaves with a UN Resolution so one sided against Israel the Simon Weisenthal foundation called it the most anti-Semitic act of 2016.
His tenure was a disaster and his inability to recognize it and his desire to bloviate about rationalizations cements his reputation as a blithering idiot.
No administration, certainly not Democratic presidents like Kennedy and Roosevelt, ever felt the need to abandon our place as a force for morality and good in the world and leave Russia the dominant power in the Middle East. No administration ever felt the need to apologize for previous actions and then let fear paralyze them. No administration turned on our allies, Israel, Colombia, Ukraine and then opened relations with totalitarian police states like Cuba in exchange for nothing. Iran is stronger, North Korea is stronger, Russia dominates Ukraine, terror is everywhere, NATO is weaker, China is dominating the South China sea and nothing is done to stop them, and even allies such as the Philippines are looking elsewhere for help.
Kerry opens relations with Cuba and they imprison more dissidents. He calls the foreign minister of Iran by his first name and signs an agreement which allows them to continue funding terror...no in fact it gives them money, in cash, to fund terror. He leaves with a UN Resolution so one sided against Israel the Simon Weisenthal foundation called it the most anti-Semitic act of 2016.
His tenure was a disaster and his inability to recognize it and his desire to bloviate about rationalizations cements his reputation as a blithering idiot.
12
The Ukraine fiasco would not have happened at all without Victoria Nuland and the neocon loons who used $5 billion to meddle in its domestic politics.
Own that, before claiming credit for saying more in way of objection than Bush did in Georgia.
Of course, Bush's Admin urged on the Georgia lunacy too, and always lied about that. Obama's Admin did better than that bottom crawling example, used by Kerry here. That is not much of a boast, to do better than that awfulness.
Own that, before claiming credit for saying more in way of objection than Bush did in Georgia.
Of course, Bush's Admin urged on the Georgia lunacy too, and always lied about that. Obama's Admin did better than that bottom crawling example, used by Kerry here. That is not much of a boast, to do better than that awfulness.
4
Thanks for your work, John. Dad had it right; he called you a "fine young officer"
when you were his naval aide and you've been a fine SecState. He would be proud of your accomplishments.
I hope you're not done - "Kerry for President, 2020!"
when you were his naval aide and you've been a fine SecState. He would be proud of your accomplishments.
I hope you're not done - "Kerry for President, 2020!"
3
Notice that John Kerry tries to sum up his biggest failure which was trying to sell that pitiful two state solution at the Israelis and the Palestinians who clearly didn't want it in one itty bitty paragraph? Kerry can try to sugarcoat that disaster all he wants but he just can't admit that he failed to get Israel to make a lot of unfair concessions. Kerry didn't understand that Israel is located in the middle of a dangerous neighborhood and all the neighbors dedicated to its destruction have itchy trigger fingers. Bibi Netanyahu outmaneuvered John Kerry to the bitter end.
6
"An assertive diplomacy" as our foreign policy tool? Is this what used to be called "leading from behind?" Such effective foreign policy that what was once a claimed success story under Obama, i.e., Iraq, is now a shambles. As well as Yemen. Half a million dead in Syria and Libya in chaos. The Mid-east a total shambles. That Russia "reset" button was so adorable that Putin matched right into Crimea. So "19th Century" according to Kerry. China has also become more aggressive. Israel completely undermined and backstabbed. The support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt a grave miscalculation. The Iran Deal empowering the Mullahs with money and a faux agreement and no support for the Green Revolution, pure idiocy. Could this failed administration just go quietly into the night before the populace rises up for a tar and feathering?
9
Mr. Kerry, you're dreaming. Putin now runs the show thanks to the spineless President Obama and you. Clinton had a spine and it's unfortunate that President Obama never thought to indulge her expertise and know how to leave the world in a better place. However, here we are with Crimea annexed, the Chinese have begun taking over the South China Sea by building naval and air bases. Furthermore, Pacific allies have looked for American leadership and only had a lame duck. They are now cozying up to China. Nice work! You should be proud of your legacy of weakness.
6
For whatever it's worth, your bumper sticker is still on the back of my truck, albeit kind of faded and tattered.
2
"He leaves the world, and the country"? I know what you mean, Mr. Kerry, and it's true: I'd certainly rather relive these past eight years than the previous eight. But could you phrase it so it doesn't sound like President Obama is dying and/or defecting?
Thank God for John Kerry. He deserves, and will likely receive, the Nobel Peace Prize. This is what "diplomacy" is supposed to look like, but rarely does. It's not a particularly starting insight that the chaos in the Middle East can ONLY be resolved (if it can be resolve at all) through cooperation with Russia, which has long-standing commitments/interest in Syria and is far closer to the chaos than we are. I hold my breath to see how much of his work his carping Republican critics will see fit to try to undo.
2
Obviously Mr. Kerry has not seen the dead body of Alan Kurdi lying on that Turkish beach. And perhaps he is not aware that Russia and Turkey are now allies. Or perhaps he is not aware that China has built a military base in the South China sea. Or perhaps he is not aware that the UK is leaving the EU.
Obama is a nice man, far nicer than Mr. Trump. But in terms of performance, he has set such a low bar that it would be difficult for Donald Trump not to vault over it.
This is not Mr. Kerry's fault. He tried to undo the damage done by the hawkish Secretary of State who preceded him. But there was no way to bring Muammar Gaddafi back to life, or to bring back to life the hundreds of thousands of Syrians who died because Mr. Obama kept saying "Assad must go." Assad is still here but many of the Syrians who died are no longer here.
Obama is a nice man, far nicer than Mr. Trump. But in terms of performance, he has set such a low bar that it would be difficult for Donald Trump not to vault over it.
This is not Mr. Kerry's fault. He tried to undo the damage done by the hawkish Secretary of State who preceded him. But there was no way to bring Muammar Gaddafi back to life, or to bring back to life the hundreds of thousands of Syrians who died because Mr. Obama kept saying "Assad must go." Assad is still here but many of the Syrians who died are no longer here.
4
In Savannah there is a clear grassy area right next to the Colonial Park Cemetery, the cemetery from 1750 to 1853. That grassy spot was the dueling grounds. Disagreements were settled here.
Consider the foolishness. Always greater than a 50% chance of loss if weapons drawn.
Of course, everybody ends up as dust, but for some that comes early. A bullet can start the process instantly, and it’s irreversible.
What Kerry so clearly understands is that an early demise is less likely while talking about a disagreement continues. Somebody gets shot if the talking stops.
Thank you John Kerry for your wisdom and patience and service. Now take a little time for yourself if you like. Keep in mind though, your wisdom is a lifetime accumulation that has value way beyond your life as a private citizen. Please find ways to share it if you can.
Consider the foolishness. Always greater than a 50% chance of loss if weapons drawn.
Of course, everybody ends up as dust, but for some that comes early. A bullet can start the process instantly, and it’s irreversible.
What Kerry so clearly understands is that an early demise is less likely while talking about a disagreement continues. Somebody gets shot if the talking stops.
Thank you John Kerry for your wisdom and patience and service. Now take a little time for yourself if you like. Keep in mind though, your wisdom is a lifetime accumulation that has value way beyond your life as a private citizen. Please find ways to share it if you can.
2
Dear wmferree,
That is a very nice post and reflective of Mr. Kerry's good intentions. I wish him well.
That is a very nice post and reflective of Mr. Kerry's good intentions. I wish him well.
1
Mr. Kerry....You caved on everything, that every country that wants us wiped off of the earth, wanted.
Russia gets Syria, Cuba gets money, I ran gets nukes and money, China gets to expand in the S.China sea, Mexico gets to keep millions of their citizens in the USA without permission, the Middle East is in shambles because your administration pulled our troops out (only to send them back too late).
That's the international front.
The domestic front is even worse because it has a direct impact on us, the Americans you're professing to have made life better for.
No, sir. Your administration has not lived up to your essay.
Russia gets Syria, Cuba gets money, I ran gets nukes and money, China gets to expand in the S.China sea, Mexico gets to keep millions of their citizens in the USA without permission, the Middle East is in shambles because your administration pulled our troops out (only to send them back too late).
That's the international front.
The domestic front is even worse because it has a direct impact on us, the Americans you're professing to have made life better for.
No, sir. Your administration has not lived up to your essay.
5
The illustration says it all: A horribly obese peace dove lost in flight.
Mr. Secretary, you, together with your boss, were abysmal foreign policy failures: unable to see friend from foe and frequently lost in the Arabian desert, like Lawrence and Gasim on a camel to nowhere.
Nevertheless, it is good and fitting, that in the concluding days of your tenure as S.o.S, you went back to Vietnam to reflect. Because Vietnam is indisputably a region you understand best, one that in many ways defines your persona and your character, which in turn has always evoked genuine admiration from people all over the world to this very day.
So rest assured, you will be remembered honorably, but only because your service in and through Vietnam easily overpowers the memories of your recent eight years in the Obama administration. Memories of two men forever lost, forever fiddling with a broken GPS, forever putting a brave face on things, forever reaching for a mike and hoping oratory would save the day and make room for a fresh one. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Let us inter all that today, now, this very instant.
Mr. Secretary, thank you for your service and happy retirement.
Mr. Secretary, you, together with your boss, were abysmal foreign policy failures: unable to see friend from foe and frequently lost in the Arabian desert, like Lawrence and Gasim on a camel to nowhere.
Nevertheless, it is good and fitting, that in the concluding days of your tenure as S.o.S, you went back to Vietnam to reflect. Because Vietnam is indisputably a region you understand best, one that in many ways defines your persona and your character, which in turn has always evoked genuine admiration from people all over the world to this very day.
So rest assured, you will be remembered honorably, but only because your service in and through Vietnam easily overpowers the memories of your recent eight years in the Obama administration. Memories of two men forever lost, forever fiddling with a broken GPS, forever putting a brave face on things, forever reaching for a mike and hoping oratory would save the day and make room for a fresh one. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Let us inter all that today, now, this very instant.
Mr. Secretary, thank you for your service and happy retirement.
3
The right wing and Putins army are out in force. The rubes think with their nether regions, it's all they have. Now you own it, let's see if military threats and bluster secure our world and way of life. Drumpf ,your Manchurian candidate is going to stand by while Putin snakes into Eastern Europe with his little green men. Drumpf was a draft dodging playboy and yet the honorable right wing still denounce a real military vet like Kerry and McCain. I guess we should have bombed Syria, China, Iran, Russia, Venezuela and Cuba, with magical freedom bombs that cost nothing and kill only bad guys.
3
Mr. Secretary, this is a spun-sugar fantasy of the foreign policy legacy you and the president wish you were leaving behind, and you have found perhaps the only venue that would publish it with a straight face.
I thank you for your service. I wish you all the best in your coming retirement (/consulting /lobbying /whatever). But please have more respect for our intelligence than this.
I thank you for your service. I wish you all the best in your coming retirement (/consulting /lobbying /whatever). But please have more respect for our intelligence than this.
8
It's a bit early to judge everything the US did via diplomatic means. Kerry is taking the most optimistic view in an attempt at self justification, something akin to patting himself on the back. His characterizations of the situations with Iran, Israel, Vietnam, and Russia seem too rosy for my jaundiced view.
Both Clinton and Kerry were handicapped by having all major foreign policy decisions made by Obama's close advisers in the White House, so we really can't blame or praise either secretary too much.
Both Clinton and Kerry were handicapped by having all major foreign policy decisions made by Obama's close advisers in the White House, so we really can't blame or praise either secretary too much.
2
Add the swiftboating of 2004 to the list of examples of how fake new sways elections. John Kerry would have been a great president. Maybe consider running in 2020?
2
The Yazidi women being sold today into sexual slavery in an ISIS market under your watch would beg to differ that your administration was a success. The unemployed factory or IT worker whose job is being shipped or outsourced concurs.
Sadly, your tenure and that of Obama will be remembered 500 years from now as the time when (1) Christianity was cleansed from its birthplace because of your inability to name the enemy. (2) minor religions and sects in the middle east that have survived for hundreds if not thousands of years have been exterminated, and (3) the ethnic and religious makeup of Europe has been radically changed by the waves of refugees fleeing oppressive religious/economic/cultural systems in their home countries but trying to reestablish the same systems in Europe.... all of this while you watch!
Sadly, your tenure and that of Obama will be remembered 500 years from now as the time when (1) Christianity was cleansed from its birthplace because of your inability to name the enemy. (2) minor religions and sects in the middle east that have survived for hundreds if not thousands of years have been exterminated, and (3) the ethnic and religious makeup of Europe has been radically changed by the waves of refugees fleeing oppressive religious/economic/cultural systems in their home countries but trying to reestablish the same systems in Europe.... all of this while you watch!
8
Doesn't everybody realize that President Obama, John Kerry, and Hillary Clinton have achieved “Peace In Our Time” with their Iran Nuclear (Peace) Treaty.
But only for the next ten years and then Iran can build as many nuclear weapons as Iran wants in accordance with this treaty.
Ten years from now Iran will be manufacturing nuclear WMDs and selling them to the various Islamic terror groups that can afford them in accord with President Obama's Nuclear Treaty with Iran.
Iran, ISIS and the other Islamic groups do not have intercontinental ballistic missile delivery systems, but they can afford to rent a U-Haul van for a WMD suicide bomber to drive a Nuclear Device to Times Square in NYC instead.
This treaty is a great diplomatic victory for the Obama Administration.
The USA, France, Germany, England, Etc., did all get together and then all agreed in essence to "Give away everything that Iran wants in return for a ten year pause before Iran is allowed to have nuclear weapons with the capability to destroy the USA and Europe" including releasing Iran from Iran's previous Nuclear Treaty.
But only for the next ten years and then Iran can build as many nuclear weapons as Iran wants in accordance with this treaty.
Ten years from now Iran will be manufacturing nuclear WMDs and selling them to the various Islamic terror groups that can afford them in accord with President Obama's Nuclear Treaty with Iran.
Iran, ISIS and the other Islamic groups do not have intercontinental ballistic missile delivery systems, but they can afford to rent a U-Haul van for a WMD suicide bomber to drive a Nuclear Device to Times Square in NYC instead.
This treaty is a great diplomatic victory for the Obama Administration.
The USA, France, Germany, England, Etc., did all get together and then all agreed in essence to "Give away everything that Iran wants in return for a ten year pause before Iran is allowed to have nuclear weapons with the capability to destroy the USA and Europe" including releasing Iran from Iran's previous Nuclear Treaty.
7
Another Obama flunky claiming nothing but success. Thanks for saving so many lives in Syria. Thanks for removing Iran sanctions, while telling us that Russian sanctions were working. Mr. Secretary, the unfortunate news for you and your political party is that Americans actually understand and pay attention.
Next!
Next!
7
Secretary and Senator Kerry, I commend you, having done an excellent job in both positions, and I send by highest regards for your dedicated service to country.
I have followed your political career since your days with Vietnam Veterans Against The War. Your eloquent testimony before Congress still rings in my ears and thoughts: Who indeed will be the last person to die in Vietnam? Now make that Afghanistan? Iraq? Syria?
Though not a resident of Massachusetts, I have followed your career in the Senate, and in '04 generously contributed to your campaign for President. I believe it was very generous of you not to contest the results in Ohio. Another "rigged" election. perhaps?
Let me conclude. As I watched on C-Span your interview with Judy Woodruff I was fascinated with your answers as you so thoroughly and accurately painted the word picture of all that you, Secretary Clinton, and President Obama have accomplished in foreign affairs.
I am extremely worried of what calamity is to follow. We will have a completely incompetent buffoon at the helm of the ship of state, with devious minds like Pence and Flynn manning the con, controlling the SS Trump's rudder. God help US.
Again, for your dedication and determination, thank you. John F. Kerry. You are a man of action.
DD
Manhattan
I have followed your political career since your days with Vietnam Veterans Against The War. Your eloquent testimony before Congress still rings in my ears and thoughts: Who indeed will be the last person to die in Vietnam? Now make that Afghanistan? Iraq? Syria?
Though not a resident of Massachusetts, I have followed your career in the Senate, and in '04 generously contributed to your campaign for President. I believe it was very generous of you not to contest the results in Ohio. Another "rigged" election. perhaps?
Let me conclude. As I watched on C-Span your interview with Judy Woodruff I was fascinated with your answers as you so thoroughly and accurately painted the word picture of all that you, Secretary Clinton, and President Obama have accomplished in foreign affairs.
I am extremely worried of what calamity is to follow. We will have a completely incompetent buffoon at the helm of the ship of state, with devious minds like Pence and Flynn manning the con, controlling the SS Trump's rudder. God help US.
Again, for your dedication and determination, thank you. John F. Kerry. You are a man of action.
DD
Manhattan
5
The world is aflame with conflict. China is aggressively claiming much of the ocean around them, vexing and scaring neighbors as China ramps up military and puts arms on islands they don't own. Russia has over-run Crimea and part of Ukraine, while building up troops on NATO's border. Syria, Iraq, Lybia and Yemen are in chaos and war. Turkish and Philippine presidents run roughshod over rule of law, executing and imprisoning their own citizens. Islamic extremism and terrorism is clearly spreading, more than one attack per day worldwide. President Obama's lack of deterrence, and lack of backbone to support our allies, has emboldened thugs and bullies worldwide. We need deterrence, as history clearly shows.
7
I urge you to carefully re-read and reflect on what Secretary of State Kerry wrote. Surely then you will arrive at a different set of opinions than those laid out in your immediate comments. I certainly hope that proves to be the case. Failing that and as one considers all of life's crises and trials, I believe it is unfailingly important to retain some semblance of a sense of humour.
Did Mr. Kerry encouage democracy and human rights in the world? Did the administration loudly encourage womens' rights in Saudi Arabia and Iran? LGBT rights? No. Did Mr.Kerry allow Iran progress toward nuclear weapons? Yes. Did Mr. Kerry achieve peace in the middle east? The middle east and northen Africa are aflame with conflist and chaos. Did Mr.Kerry continue to equate 'peace in the middle east' with Israeli-Palestinian peace? Yes. Did Mr.Kerry contain Chinese cyber aggression and aggression in the Pacific? No. Did Mr.Kerry save Crimea or Ukraine from Russian aggression? No. Summing up, failure after failure.
You comment of "surely then", smacks of persuasive writing and straw dogs.
You comment of "surely then", smacks of persuasive writing and straw dogs.
1
Kerry followed Obama's long game plan that requires more than 4 yrs to unfold. Trump is king of short term thinking and will not play out the chess board that Obama set up.
Trump claims he will break the establishment but Obama was master at doing that without rocking the boat. He forced the rest of the world's countries to take responsibility for the extremism in their states and to participate in events not wait for the US to react. When a country participates, it owns the results.
Diplomacy is first messy and evolves. Trump brings people to the table to humiliate one side so he can exploit them. He leads to chaos.
Syria's problems began with the first Bush not talking to the king and allowing it to fall under Russian influence.
The present horror in Syria has to be laid at the feet of the Syrian people. One side, with little planning or committed support chose to go to war with the government. The democratic movement weak, extremist Islamic movement stronger and Assad was friends with Russia and it would not let the West force Assad out. Euro and US could not save Syria fighting a proxy war with Russia. Obama's mistake was tough talk without organized Euro/Arab support for a diplomatic solution.
Kerry promoted American principles abroad because ultimately they are all the US has to keep it out of the swamp of primordial ooze.
Trump starts all negotiations at a point of discord and superiority. Good luck getting an honest deal.
Trump claims he will break the establishment but Obama was master at doing that without rocking the boat. He forced the rest of the world's countries to take responsibility for the extremism in their states and to participate in events not wait for the US to react. When a country participates, it owns the results.
Diplomacy is first messy and evolves. Trump brings people to the table to humiliate one side so he can exploit them. He leads to chaos.
Syria's problems began with the first Bush not talking to the king and allowing it to fall under Russian influence.
The present horror in Syria has to be laid at the feet of the Syrian people. One side, with little planning or committed support chose to go to war with the government. The democratic movement weak, extremist Islamic movement stronger and Assad was friends with Russia and it would not let the West force Assad out. Euro and US could not save Syria fighting a proxy war with Russia. Obama's mistake was tough talk without organized Euro/Arab support for a diplomatic solution.
Kerry promoted American principles abroad because ultimately they are all the US has to keep it out of the swamp of primordial ooze.
Trump starts all negotiations at a point of discord and superiority. Good luck getting an honest deal.
58
You, Obama, Power and Clinton missed the big issues your time: the fact that paternity of an infant is now as easily established as maternity for the first time in world history. This was a Copernican advance of the English Midlands Reformation and Enlightenment, the same women and men who framed the US Constitution and its antecedents.
Had Obama acknowledged that he held dual citizenship with Kenya as a child, that he had a "right of the child" claim against his father for not taking equal responsibility for him, and that systems in Kenya, and his father's having had too many children were most at fault in the harms to Obama Jr. as a child, he could have soleved a lot of problems.
Instead you reinforced the "virgin birther" Cult of Isis of the Abrahamic religions.
Had Obama acknowledged that he held dual citizenship with Kenya as a child, that he had a "right of the child" claim against his father for not taking equal responsibility for him, and that systems in Kenya, and his father's having had too many children were most at fault in the harms to Obama Jr. as a child, he could have soleved a lot of problems.
Instead you reinforced the "virgin birther" Cult of Isis of the Abrahamic religions.
1
Mr. Secretary, thank you and President Obama for not engaging in wars in all corners of the world because of the ineptitude of neighboring countries to intervene. Syria is the prime example where the US policy of indirect engagement was the only sane one that avoided another long war followed by governing a foreign country and nation building that would have followed that.
Sanity, cool heads, and solid reliance on diplomacy will likely be sorely missed. Thank you for your service to the country, be well, be proud of the work you all have done for the nation.
Sanity, cool heads, and solid reliance on diplomacy will likely be sorely missed. Thank you for your service to the country, be well, be proud of the work you all have done for the nation.
It is often a virtue to speak one's mind. Unless one is an idiot (President-elect) in which case keeping quiet might at least lead some to give the benefit of the doubt. We are a laughing stock.
We will miss you dearly Sec. Kerry
We will miss you dearly Sec. Kerry
I voted for this guy when he ran for President. Given his poor judgement as S.O.S., I think we dodged a bullet that Kerry was never President.
Unfortunately, Bush was not better.
Obama gave us two very disappointing Secretaries of State. I watched the confirmation hearings of Tillerson and hope that he will be able to sort out some of this mess created in the past 16 years under Bush and Obama.
Unfortunately, Bush was not better.
Obama gave us two very disappointing Secretaries of State. I watched the confirmation hearings of Tillerson and hope that he will be able to sort out some of this mess created in the past 16 years under Bush and Obama.
8
Thank you, Secretary Kerry. It was reassuring to have an administration that understood the power of diplomacy and did not use force as a first reaction. I hope wise leaders such as you and our current president will come to be the standard in all future administrations and around the world.
1
Overall, the Obama administration, including Secretary of State Kerry, has a solid record of accomplishment, not least of which was restoring America's standing in the world following the tumultuous Bush years. Daesh is reeling, Iran's nuclear weapon ambitions have been curbed and Russia's interventions and meddling in the Baltics and Ukraine stymied.
It is the nature of our political and media environment today that the administration will receive little credit and that emphasis will be placed on what was not accomplished. But the fact is the Obama administration did well with the fierce challenges it faced and deserves our gratitude.
It is the nature of our political and media environment today that the administration will receive little credit and that emphasis will be placed on what was not accomplished. But the fact is the Obama administration did well with the fierce challenges it faced and deserves our gratitude.
3
No doubt that the Obama administration has had successes but when we look at the overall balance, the final number is negative.
Compared to 2008, the world is a royal mess today. We have managed to reverse our relationship with Russia 40 years and have a quasi Cold War II now: We mass troops along Russia's borders just the same as the Germans did before Barbarossa. Who with a drop of common sense and some basic knowledge of history can deny that Crimea is essentially Russian? We supported the wrong side in Syria and that led to the surge of Daesh. We took apart Libya, supported the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and now have betrayed Israel.
Internally, the Obama administration has been the great disappointment: Obama gave free loans to banks and high interest ones to students; he favored free trade over good jobs at home; the income gap is as wide as ever, and the nation is as polarized along racial lines as it was in the late 60's.
Just look at the pitiful state of the Democratic party today: That is Obama's legacy.
I am beginning to think that some conservatives are right in saying that the liberal elite is living in a fantasy world.
Compared to 2008, the world is a royal mess today. We have managed to reverse our relationship with Russia 40 years and have a quasi Cold War II now: We mass troops along Russia's borders just the same as the Germans did before Barbarossa. Who with a drop of common sense and some basic knowledge of history can deny that Crimea is essentially Russian? We supported the wrong side in Syria and that led to the surge of Daesh. We took apart Libya, supported the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and now have betrayed Israel.
Internally, the Obama administration has been the great disappointment: Obama gave free loans to banks and high interest ones to students; he favored free trade over good jobs at home; the income gap is as wide as ever, and the nation is as polarized along racial lines as it was in the late 60's.
Just look at the pitiful state of the Democratic party today: That is Obama's legacy.
I am beginning to think that some conservatives are right in saying that the liberal elite is living in a fantasy world.
4
As I read these important words from Mr. Kerry, I notice that I breathe quietly and easily. Then, the instant I imagine our possible future, stress rises and I prepare to feel a disturbing chill in this otherwise warm room. Meantime, our little puppy naps peacefully.
I expect many responses and reactions to Mr. Kerry will criticize him. Never mind. We have seen outstanding, responsible and responsive human beings do their best for this nation and the world.
I have to hope--maybe all I have is hope, with a foundation that is not coherent and clear, I fear--that our government'd new leaders will resume with its new administration to do its best for all the nation, all the world, and not see their position as the opportunity to twist, distort, lie and harm. We await the news, and the newspaper of record--this one!
I expect many responses and reactions to Mr. Kerry will criticize him. Never mind. We have seen outstanding, responsible and responsive human beings do their best for this nation and the world.
I have to hope--maybe all I have is hope, with a foundation that is not coherent and clear, I fear--that our government'd new leaders will resume with its new administration to do its best for all the nation, all the world, and not see their position as the opportunity to twist, distort, lie and harm. We await the news, and the newspaper of record--this one!
The restoration of multilateral economic sanctions, carried out in conjunction with like-minded democracies, was truly the hallmark of the Obama administration.
I'm afraid that tool will fall out of the foreign policy toolbox once again from tomorrow.
I'm afraid that tool will fall out of the foreign policy toolbox once again from tomorrow.
I am contrasting the measured yet energetic approach to U.S. foreign policy with Secretary Kerry leading State and what the incoming administration promises. In an interview aired yesterday with Mike Pence, VPOTUS-E spoke about America's "disengagement" and that a Trump administration would once again "demand" respect. Apparently Mr. Pence believes that U.S. engagement in the world always implies the use of military force -- the standard, traditional Republican response to any externality in the world. A note to Mr. Pence: no person or nation can demand respect. respect is earned through policy and deeds. Of course what he meant was that the U.S. must be feared.
I'll take the Obama administration stance of, as Churchill said, "jaw jaw is better than war war" ably executed by Secretary Kerry over the chicken-hawk bellicosity of Trump and Pence any day.
I'll take the Obama administration stance of, as Churchill said, "jaw jaw is better than war war" ably executed by Secretary Kerry over the chicken-hawk bellicosity of Trump and Pence any day.
2
I agree that this administration got many things right. President Obama's response to the Ebola crisis was exceptional and has not received nearly the attention it deserves. Burma, Cuba and the Iran deal were all initiatives which deserve credit.
Syria, however, is this administration's great failure. President Obama, Secretary Kerry and Samantha Power are all spinning the narrative that their only other option from their anemic policy was to go to war and that they considered"all options." This is not true. In 2012 there was an opportunity, as Assad was teetering and Iran and Russia were unsure how far the U.S. would go, to significantly step up support to moderates and use that leverage to forge a peace agreement that would have undercut the rise of IS and demanded Assad step down.
With that opportunity lost, the President's decision not to enforce his "Red Line" green lighted the killing of hundreds of thousands and opened the door for Russia to emerge as a much stronger (and destabilizing) force on the world stage. At the time the administration said it was a good thing as it would destabilize Russia. But as with all their miscalculations on Syria: the size and impact of the refugee crisis, it's duration (which now appears permanent), the level of violence the Assad government and its allies where willing to unleash, the scale and impact of IS, and the ramifications of the crisis on U.S. National security interests and our allies--consequences were underestimated.
Syria, however, is this administration's great failure. President Obama, Secretary Kerry and Samantha Power are all spinning the narrative that their only other option from their anemic policy was to go to war and that they considered"all options." This is not true. In 2012 there was an opportunity, as Assad was teetering and Iran and Russia were unsure how far the U.S. would go, to significantly step up support to moderates and use that leverage to forge a peace agreement that would have undercut the rise of IS and demanded Assad step down.
With that opportunity lost, the President's decision not to enforce his "Red Line" green lighted the killing of hundreds of thousands and opened the door for Russia to emerge as a much stronger (and destabilizing) force on the world stage. At the time the administration said it was a good thing as it would destabilize Russia. But as with all their miscalculations on Syria: the size and impact of the refugee crisis, it's duration (which now appears permanent), the level of violence the Assad government and its allies where willing to unleash, the scale and impact of IS, and the ramifications of the crisis on U.S. National security interests and our allies--consequences were underestimated.
I am genuinely dismayed by the extreme lack of respect by many of the posters here for a man who dedicated his life to the service of their country, by all measures honestly and faithfully. You may disagree with some of his political views, but to disparage him in such an ugly fashion is really despicable.
The U.S. is heading toward a major crisis because a majority of Republicans seem to have forgotten that we are all on the same team. If the amount of energy spent on the right trying to demonize Obama, Kerry, HRC and other faithful public servants had been channeled into a constructive loyal opposition, there is no end to what could have been accomplished both at home and abroad. Instead, the snake continues to eat its own tail, to the point of putting a frighteningly unqualified person in the White House.
But don't take my word for it, just ask John Boehner or Eric Cantor...
The U.S. is heading toward a major crisis because a majority of Republicans seem to have forgotten that we are all on the same team. If the amount of energy spent on the right trying to demonize Obama, Kerry, HRC and other faithful public servants had been channeled into a constructive loyal opposition, there is no end to what could have been accomplished both at home and abroad. Instead, the snake continues to eat its own tail, to the point of putting a frighteningly unqualified person in the White House.
But don't take my word for it, just ask John Boehner or Eric Cantor...
3
Put yourself in my shoes. Lost my job to 1HB, paying nearly $2,000 a month for health insurance (just my wife and I), decaying infrastructure (though Cuomo is improving things), complex tax structure, huge deficits, entitlement programs which are not being addressed, unrest throughout the world, civil unrest in many of our urban city-centers, high cost of living, opiate usage is at all time high.....and Kerry and Obama appear on all sorts of television shows telling everyone what a great job they've done.
Sorry but many of us here are hurting financially and in other ways. Glad to see both him and Bush go!
Sorry but many of us here are hurting financially and in other ways. Glad to see both him and Bush go!
2
As I sit here....a casualty of 1HB layoffs (our positions went to India), pay nearly $2,000 a month in health care insurance for my wife and I.....I'm scratching my head wondering what planet is Kerry living on.
Opiate addiction is at an all time high, seems like there is little respect for the law these days too. The unemployment numbers which are published hide the fact that there are tens of thousands of under-employed or people who have simply dropped out of the work-force.
Since being let go late 2016 I have applied to about 500 positions (Technology) and I am appalled at the application process. Why should the companies care what my gender, military service or race/ethnic background is.....or whether or not I have a disability (which I do)?
Though our Governor in NY has been making great strides on the infrastructure side, our airports and Amtrak systems are "third-world".
I personally believe that both Bush and Obama were failures. Foreign policy was and is a mess, no coherent energy policy, dysfunctional tax structure.... Huge deficits, inability to compromise with Congress on major legislation, unwillingness to deal with entitlement programs!
It's unfortunate that both Kerry and Obama are trying to rewrite history. Fact is our Country is in trouble and the world is a far less safe place to live.
Opiate addiction is at an all time high, seems like there is little respect for the law these days too. The unemployment numbers which are published hide the fact that there are tens of thousands of under-employed or people who have simply dropped out of the work-force.
Since being let go late 2016 I have applied to about 500 positions (Technology) and I am appalled at the application process. Why should the companies care what my gender, military service or race/ethnic background is.....or whether or not I have a disability (which I do)?
Though our Governor in NY has been making great strides on the infrastructure side, our airports and Amtrak systems are "third-world".
I personally believe that both Bush and Obama were failures. Foreign policy was and is a mess, no coherent energy policy, dysfunctional tax structure.... Huge deficits, inability to compromise with Congress on major legislation, unwillingness to deal with entitlement programs!
It's unfortunate that both Kerry and Obama are trying to rewrite history. Fact is our Country is in trouble and the world is a far less safe place to live.
9
It might be best not to confuse things in place before the Obama administration, changes that the Republicans would not support, initiatives that the Republicans would not join, the cause of underemployment (and the fact that official employment figures always concealed this -- so to compare you would have to add those numbers to historical statistics, your personal employment situation -- not to be dismissed, but not necessarily typical or what can be controlled from the White House, an inherited complex tax code -- developed over a long time, incorporating many changes as our world has changed, and needing to be complicated to limit loopholes and to not penalize folks with special circumstances, the difficulty of solving energy needs while keeping us working and healthy, and some pie in the sky assumption of easy solutions -- "make America great again"? Is it best to work day by day to improve what we have (and we are pretty lucky to be in the US and at this time) or is there some benefit to leveling it all and starting again -- what would that even mean?
2
US jobs have relocated and "high unemployment" was caused by the US government creation of all of the FTAs, MFNs, PNTRs and H1b visas.
This lack of employment opportunities created by the US Government has caused "grinding poverty" in the USA.
The majority of the Democrats and Republicans are both probably equally guilty of creating legislation that economically requires that US jobs relocate to foreign nations and/or US STEM educated foreigners being imported as “indentured servants” to businesses until their “Green Cards” expire. This requires that US STEM educated individuals compete with the salaries and costs of STEM educated “indentured servants” with “Green Cards.” Thank you President Clinton for increasing the H.1.b. visas by almost ten fold!
This lack of employment opportunities created by the US Government has caused "grinding poverty" in the USA.
The majority of the Democrats and Republicans are both probably equally guilty of creating legislation that economically requires that US jobs relocate to foreign nations and/or US STEM educated foreigners being imported as “indentured servants” to businesses until their “Green Cards” expire. This requires that US STEM educated individuals compete with the salaries and costs of STEM educated “indentured servants” with “Green Cards.” Thank you President Clinton for increasing the H.1.b. visas by almost ten fold!
2
We now have a model for doing it right.
And we must remember that we cannot have our way just because we might be right or well-intentioned. So the fact that many things going on in the world are not how we would hope for them to be, is not due to some policy we carried out or didn't carry out. Most often these bad things are due to forces out of our control - either the consequences of historical activities begun long ago and/or due to the actual people involved. Just as we cannot be held responsible for every act of a sociopath or mentally deranged individual, so we cannot be held responsible for the actions of violent, brutal, selfish people doing bad things to others across the world. We can try to help. But even that is hard. Let's not set a bar so high for foreign policy success that it leads to extravagant measures (like warfare) to avoid saying that there just wasn't anything we could do that would not make things worse. We must learn that we are not able to get our way, even if we are right. We know that in our personal lives. Why can't we understand that in the even more complicated world of nation-states?
And we must remember that we cannot have our way just because we might be right or well-intentioned. So the fact that many things going on in the world are not how we would hope for them to be, is not due to some policy we carried out or didn't carry out. Most often these bad things are due to forces out of our control - either the consequences of historical activities begun long ago and/or due to the actual people involved. Just as we cannot be held responsible for every act of a sociopath or mentally deranged individual, so we cannot be held responsible for the actions of violent, brutal, selfish people doing bad things to others across the world. We can try to help. But even that is hard. Let's not set a bar so high for foreign policy success that it leads to extravagant measures (like warfare) to avoid saying that there just wasn't anything we could do that would not make things worse. We must learn that we are not able to get our way, even if we are right. We know that in our personal lives. Why can't we understand that in the even more complicated world of nation-states?
2
President Barack Obama and his Team, both the members of his current and earlier Administration, have always put America, and the American People first. As yet, it remains to be seen how Donald Trump, and his ideologues, can pursue a draconian agenda, while not, at least, being aware of the outcomes.
Attacking Planned Parenthood, one of the few sources of Women's Health Care, which accepts Medicaid, is a good example of the GOP's penny-wise and pound foolish attitude. Family Planning is not taught in Sex Education in the High Schools, in states that are under Republican Control.
While the GOP cuts-back on the full range of health care for women, middle class women, with health insurance, take their daughters to their doctors for contraceptives, and other needs. This results in a Teen Pregnancy problem that is overwhelmingly skewed toward the Poor--black and white.
Ironically, while clamping-down on various Family Planning services, as well as restricting Poor Women's access to health care, the GOP is ruining too lives--the Teen's and the young child's, by being born to a mother who cannot properly raise the child--emotionally or financially. Of course, the wealthy blame the poor for the unfortunate outcomes.
In time, however, the demographic is gradually changing from Red State-to Purple-to Blue.
https://thetruthoncommonsense.com
Attacking Planned Parenthood, one of the few sources of Women's Health Care, which accepts Medicaid, is a good example of the GOP's penny-wise and pound foolish attitude. Family Planning is not taught in Sex Education in the High Schools, in states that are under Republican Control.
While the GOP cuts-back on the full range of health care for women, middle class women, with health insurance, take their daughters to their doctors for contraceptives, and other needs. This results in a Teen Pregnancy problem that is overwhelmingly skewed toward the Poor--black and white.
Ironically, while clamping-down on various Family Planning services, as well as restricting Poor Women's access to health care, the GOP is ruining too lives--the Teen's and the young child's, by being born to a mother who cannot properly raise the child--emotionally or financially. Of course, the wealthy blame the poor for the unfortunate outcomes.
In time, however, the demographic is gradually changing from Red State-to Purple-to Blue.
https://thetruthoncommonsense.com
He did ? I felt as though He put illegal alien priorities ahead of mine. My healthcare premiums skyrocketed. I saw violence and property destruction in Ferguson, Baltimore , and Charlotte which he did very little to stop . He was whitehouse buds with Al Sharpton and praised black lives matter. He put all americans first NO WAY!
3
We are not in decline. The rest of the world is on the rise, thanks to our decades of assistance.
We are not “One nation, with liberty and justice for all.” We are less focused on competing with the rest of the world than on competing with our fellow countrymen. We are losing our stature on the world stage providing an opening for the remainder of the world to catch up and take a leadership role. This in turn has led to our frustration.
The people of the country are changing philosophically. The country is more divided than it has been for generations. The wrestling match within revolves around how do we keep our world dominance. The GOP, believes we can bully our way back to dominance and implement an austerity program geared towards the working class and poor. The Democrats are not addressing the problem at all but rather want to buy their popularity with programs and no means of paying for them.
No one is thinking long term. The rest of the world is catching up.
The United States was not considered a world power at the beginning of the 1900’s. It was a nation mostly made up of people with roots in Europe. It was still a struggling nation. The 1918 flu pandemic infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide. It killed more people than all the wars of the twentieth century combined, It ravaged families. In my Dad’s family alone more than half of his brothers and sisters were killed by this influenza before he was a teen.
http://lstrn.us/1nw9m6f
We are not “One nation, with liberty and justice for all.” We are less focused on competing with the rest of the world than on competing with our fellow countrymen. We are losing our stature on the world stage providing an opening for the remainder of the world to catch up and take a leadership role. This in turn has led to our frustration.
The people of the country are changing philosophically. The country is more divided than it has been for generations. The wrestling match within revolves around how do we keep our world dominance. The GOP, believes we can bully our way back to dominance and implement an austerity program geared towards the working class and poor. The Democrats are not addressing the problem at all but rather want to buy their popularity with programs and no means of paying for them.
No one is thinking long term. The rest of the world is catching up.
The United States was not considered a world power at the beginning of the 1900’s. It was a nation mostly made up of people with roots in Europe. It was still a struggling nation. The 1918 flu pandemic infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide. It killed more people than all the wars of the twentieth century combined, It ravaged families. In my Dad’s family alone more than half of his brothers and sisters were killed by this influenza before he was a teen.
http://lstrn.us/1nw9m6f
1
This is imbecilic writing. Just because you want the world to be a better and safer place after your 8 year watch, does not mean that it is. Kerry, like Obama, has somehow convinced himself that failure across the board on the foreign relations front is really a success. Iraq was abandoned, and ISIS was the result. They and their followers have wreaked terrorism and havoc internationally. Iran was appeased with a one sided treaty that gives them a clear path to nuclear weapons in 12 years or less, and a gift of $150 billion to speed them on their way, as their mullahs continue to chant death to America. The "red line in the sand" that Obama drew in Syria was obliterated by Russian missiles and bullets, resulting in mass emigration of Muslim refugees to an already overwhelmed Europe. Meanwhile the Chinese continue to build artificial islands in the Sea of Japan which they are using as military bases to threaten commercial and military sea traffic well outside their territorial waters. These are the facts, not the revisionist history of Kerry and Obama. Avoiding confrontation for eight years has not produced a safer world. It has only postponed confronting the bad guys until a responsible president faces reality.
7
Of all the Obana's two-term cabinet, mr. Kerry will be the hard to miss about.
He was indeed the most result-oriented as chief dplomatic negotiatior, and in such a role he was very much implicitily praised even from the next president, mr.Trump- who else were the inspiration for his "try to resolve" claim of the israel-palestinian issue?
Mr. Kerry did the unthinkable, to make a deal with Iran on and only on its nuclear asset. He did engage, he persisted, and finally he obtained a firm greater interval of the clock time to produce a nuclear weapon, a steadily confinement of the militarized nuclear development, sealed by the country's leader to dissuade the previous president ( and the mastermind of its nuclear hostile weaponizing's rush) to re-candidate himself any time soon. He did that in spite of an increasing sabotaging congress which finally worked out in the very notorious letter sent to iran's leaders with the ex-post untimely warning that presidents pass congressmen stay ( revealing in the way their very unsympathetic ignorance of the iranian political system, which works exactly the opposite way, and maybe ending up perversely bolstering assurance into the iranian political structure ).
Mr. Kerry was best when he was ready for assertive diplomacy, as negotiator; and decreasingly so the more he went farther into ideological field, He did not persuaded rm. Netanyahu and mr. Abbas to sit at the table, the Russia to oust Assad from Syrya, China to restraint its influence
He was indeed the most result-oriented as chief dplomatic negotiatior, and in such a role he was very much implicitily praised even from the next president, mr.Trump- who else were the inspiration for his "try to resolve" claim of the israel-palestinian issue?
Mr. Kerry did the unthinkable, to make a deal with Iran on and only on its nuclear asset. He did engage, he persisted, and finally he obtained a firm greater interval of the clock time to produce a nuclear weapon, a steadily confinement of the militarized nuclear development, sealed by the country's leader to dissuade the previous president ( and the mastermind of its nuclear hostile weaponizing's rush) to re-candidate himself any time soon. He did that in spite of an increasing sabotaging congress which finally worked out in the very notorious letter sent to iran's leaders with the ex-post untimely warning that presidents pass congressmen stay ( revealing in the way their very unsympathetic ignorance of the iranian political system, which works exactly the opposite way, and maybe ending up perversely bolstering assurance into the iranian political structure ).
Mr. Kerry was best when he was ready for assertive diplomacy, as negotiator; and decreasingly so the more he went farther into ideological field, He did not persuaded rm. Netanyahu and mr. Abbas to sit at the table, the Russia to oust Assad from Syrya, China to restraint its influence
1
It's a pity the Obama administration did not do more to free the people of Venezuela from Chavismo, a failed so-called socialist project that has plunged the country into chaos, with runaway inflation, perilous shortages of food and medicine, high levels of criminality and violence, and entrenched corruption and allegations of military involvement in narcotrafficking.
With Trump's disdain for nation building, it's unlikely the US will take a more active role in restoring democracy, economic stability and law and order in the beleaguered country.
But who knows - some day Trump may wake up feeling feisty, or he may feel the need to distract the American public from the catastrophic state of his administration, and he'll send the Marines to Caracas to clean house there the way the US did when it dislodged General Manuel Antonio Noriega.
With Trump's disdain for nation building, it's unlikely the US will take a more active role in restoring democracy, economic stability and law and order in the beleaguered country.
But who knows - some day Trump may wake up feeling feisty, or he may feel the need to distract the American public from the catastrophic state of his administration, and he'll send the Marines to Caracas to clean house there the way the US did when it dislodged General Manuel Antonio Noriega.
1
"The new administration will .......... be armed with many advantages to meet challenges" says Secretary of State John Kerry.
And to think a couple of adolescent tweets could blow that right out of the water.......
And to think a couple of adolescent tweets could blow that right out of the water.......
3
Is it delusional thinking or just not intelligent: UN resolution 242 guaranteed secure borders through negotiations (they did not want to get involved in the minutae), and now Resolution 2334 guarantees no secure borders and no direct negotiations (why should the Palestinians now negotiate anything-they have just be given everything?), placing six million Jews in direct genocide surrounded by Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, PLO Turkey, ISIS etc., again pulling the rug out from under the US's middle east allies (thank gd Al Sisi saved Egypt), supporting revolutionary movements everywhere (I believe Kerry has been freaked out over Vietnam-he has simply drawn the wrong conclusions about how the world works, placing out country in grave danger)
17
Dear correcto: Israel ignored 242 and still refuses to define its own borders. Is is the only nation on Earth that refuses to define it borders. UNR 2334 does indeed define the borders, the only internationally recognized borders, of Israel and Palestine.
The words "genocide" and "grave danger" reflect on the paranoid mind of the writer, not on reality.
The words "genocide" and "grave danger" reflect on the paranoid mind of the writer, not on reality.
1
Thank you, John Kerry, for your many years of dedicated service as a Senator, presidential candidate, and Secretary of State. God bless you. I hope you remain a presence in the public sphere. We will need to hear voices such as yours more than ever in the coming years.
24
Thank you Mr. Secretary.
17
Thank you for your service to the country now and in Vietnam. However, I respectfully disagree with what you have written here, the world has become a more dangerous place with the policies and stances of the Obama Administration.
Congratulations on a job well done Secretary Kerry. While not perfect, and in international affairs what is ever perfect, you, your predecessor, and President Obama have made America proud and made the world a safer place. We look forward to welcoming you home to Boston.
7
Thank you, Secretary Kerry, for your years of quiet, dogged diplomacy. You have, and undoubtedly will continue to serve your country well. I wish you well and look forward to a comprehensive description of your years as Secretary of State in an upcoming memoir.
9
Mrs. Clinton's time in that position made even Kerry look good. Like most politicians, he likes to be caught trying.
2
Diplomacy should always be the first course of action as Secretary Kerry notes. And, it really is action that saves lives. But, diplomacy without a strategic vision, as in Syria, leads to catastrophe. Unfortunately, the United States was too quick to take sides supporting the radical Sunni regime in Saudi Arabia (the true home of "radical Islamic terrorism") both in its goal of "regime change" in toppling Russian puppet, Bashar al-Assad in Syria as well as in the civil war in Yemen. In Israel as well, President Obama missed an opportunity to correct 50 years of failed policy, as he did in Cuba, by recognizing a demilitarized State of Palestine within the the 1967 borders. How the Trump Administration will handle this ongoing turmoil with it's oil-oriented Secretary of State is concerning as is it's posture toward Russia (too friendly) and China (too hostile).
5
Thank you for leaving our country and the world a better place than the one you found.
3
A truly outstanding statesman and diplomat. Americans should be grateful for Mr Kerry's effort and multi-dimensional performance. Of course there were more fragile spots. Except for the repaired relations with Cuba, most Latin America countries have seen American soft power directed against democracy and the opening up of their economies to high financial predators. Traumatic regime change in Brazil, in particular, not to be attributed to direct US intervention but blessed with a passive and cinical recognition of fait accompli, does not fit into the nice picture of those diplomatic accomplishments.
For people who seek peace first in this world Kerry and the Obama administration has not only given us hope, but has shown us that time and time again peace and unity with our allies can achieve more in this world than unbridled wars. Thank you Secretary Kerry for your years of service to our country.
5
We lost a critical Mid-East Partner: Turkey. Shame on us.
5
Excuse me? The gov't of Turkey has imprisoned hundreds of thousands of journalists, academics, political opponents, and anyone who glances sideways. It seems Erdogan wants to recreate the Ottoman Empire. Shame on whom?
2
Erdogen has shown his true colors. He was never a dependable ally. he seeks power to subdue the Kurds. We should never desert the Kurds.
2
We "lost" Turkey b/c of what is going on in Turkey. Plus having the temerity to stand with the Kurds.
3
Thank you, Secretary Kerry. We will miss you.
4
Diplomacy trumps war mongering. Thank you Mr. Kerry for your work for peace throughout the world. It has not gone unnoticed.
8
Obama promised and delivered ... as Kerry says, there are no answers to some situations ... I say let water seek its own level in the Mideast ...
3
Thanks to Secretary Kerry and President Obama for showing us how much more powerful honest diplomacy can be than war.
6
Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for all your accomplishments. You will be missed.
2
It's hilarious that Kerry says this - the Mideast is worse, ISIS JV team still at it, the Russkies and Chinese doing whatever they want, key Allies like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel distrust us, and the EU on the verge of collapse. Yet, Kerry's self congratulatory note just completely glosses over it. Totally unreal.
19
Average American,
Ten years from now Iran will be making and selling Nuclear WMDs to ISIS and any other Islamic organizations as allowed by President Obama's nuclear treaty with Iran.
What are the USA and Russia expected to do when this occurs? They must repeal this treaty and also destroy the Nuclear WMD capability of Iran.
Iran is now able to and are replacing their aging commercial air liners with new Boeing and Airbus airliners since President Obama also lifted the US trade Sanctions against Iran as a part of his nuclear treaty with Iran.
Iran might use and/or sell their older airliners for one-way suicide deliveries of nuclear devices to selected targets in Europe and the USA, by flying with additional fuel tanks in the passenger compartment instead of passengers and seats to approximately double the flying time and range of these older airliners.
Iran might market a disposable airliner with a nuclear device as a package to Islamic organizations that have enough cash to buy these items as a single package.
Ten years from now Iran will be making and selling Nuclear WMDs to ISIS and any other Islamic organizations as allowed by President Obama's nuclear treaty with Iran.
What are the USA and Russia expected to do when this occurs? They must repeal this treaty and also destroy the Nuclear WMD capability of Iran.
Iran is now able to and are replacing their aging commercial air liners with new Boeing and Airbus airliners since President Obama also lifted the US trade Sanctions against Iran as a part of his nuclear treaty with Iran.
Iran might use and/or sell their older airliners for one-way suicide deliveries of nuclear devices to selected targets in Europe and the USA, by flying with additional fuel tanks in the passenger compartment instead of passengers and seats to approximately double the flying time and range of these older airliners.
Iran might market a disposable airliner with a nuclear device as a package to Islamic organizations that have enough cash to buy these items as a single package.
1
Weakness has always resulted in a more dangerous world and nobody has been more feckless than the Obama/Kerry/ Clinton non-leadership. Everything they touched became a diplomatic nightmare from ISIS, Libya, Egypt, Iran, Israel , Russia and China. The world is a much more dangerous place than 8 years ago proving again that weakness aways encourages enemies.
9
Why did John Kerry and President Obama also agree to release Iran from Iran’s treaty obligations under the existing non-nuclear-proliferation treaty that Iran previously signed.
Why did John Kerry and President Obama also agree to lift trade sanctions against Iran that were implemented against Iran for Iran’s capture of the US embassy in Iran and Iran's failure to comply with Iran’s obligations that Iran agreed to comply with as a part of the previous non-nuclear-proliferation agreement that Iran signed.
This will give Iran the economic capability to arm and finance many more Muslim religious fanatics around the world.
How will the USA ever deal with a bunch of John Kerry and President Obama’s nuclear armed religious Islam fanatics ten years from now?
Why did John Kerry and President Obama also agree to lift trade sanctions against Iran that were implemented against Iran for Iran’s capture of the US embassy in Iran and Iran's failure to comply with Iran’s obligations that Iran agreed to comply with as a part of the previous non-nuclear-proliferation agreement that Iran signed.
This will give Iran the economic capability to arm and finance many more Muslim religious fanatics around the world.
How will the USA ever deal with a bunch of John Kerry and President Obama’s nuclear armed religious Islam fanatics ten years from now?
2
May I point out that ISIS was caused by a vacuum left by Bush's entry and exit from Iraq? Keep in mind that the Iraq withdrawal date was chosen by Bush, not Obama. "Weakness" is overextending yourself with imperial war.
Normalizing relations with Cuba? What has that accomplished? Have all the political prisoners been freed?
8
Prsdt Obama inherited two conflicts and a major economic crisis, as well as a Congress using a block-and-blame strategy to deny him any success. This, to put it mildly, was an enormous handicap. But we should not distort what occurred in Syria (I'm thinking of White House policymakers, not John Kerry). Diplomacy was of course essential, but without some engagement to produce an incentive for Assad and Putin to negotiate it was simply a curtain covering up our inaction and irrelevance. This does not mean the U.S. should have been "the world's policeman." It does mean that the U.S. had to take the lead, getting out in front of an international effort. We'll never know if the U.S. (with others) holding up a clear and credible stop sign would have altered matters. But there was little or no chance of doing so otherwise.
Thank you Mr Kerry for you service to our Nation, from serving in the military to serving the people of the United States. You are an exemplar of what it means to be a responsible citizen and member of the community. We could only hope that the new occupants ( the entire family ) would have some modicum of what you have exhibited throughout your life. I hold little hope for that. Hopefully it will be your example that is our future and not the havoc they are about to wreak.
1
I think that we did the right thing in Syria. All of the options were bad and going to war with the Russians on the side of a disunified opposition was unthinkable. What we should do, is insist that the Russians supply the majority of the money to rebuild Syria. They broke it with huge loss of civilian life. They should pay to fix it.
3
"Diplomacy requires creativity, patience and commitment to a steady grind, often away from the spotlight. Results are rarely immediate or reducible to 140-character bites. But it has helped build a world our ancestors would envy — a world in which children in most places are more likely than ever before to be born healthy, to receive an education and to live free from extreme poverty."
Secretary Kerry, I thank you for your service. I simply don't buy the Trump line that America's reputation and standing in the world order was destroyed by you and President Obama. Did you guys make mistakes? Absolutely, but show me any presidential administration that hasn't done the same.
The balance sheet remains in your favor. Let's see how quickly it gets rewritten once a bombast with an inferiority complex starts throwing his weight around the world. His supporters will love it--a new "sheriff" in town.
But unless US citizens have completely lost their minds, I think they'll quickly find out that slow and steady beats crazy and reckless every time.
Secretary Kerry, I thank you for your service. I simply don't buy the Trump line that America's reputation and standing in the world order was destroyed by you and President Obama. Did you guys make mistakes? Absolutely, but show me any presidential administration that hasn't done the same.
The balance sheet remains in your favor. Let's see how quickly it gets rewritten once a bombast with an inferiority complex starts throwing his weight around the world. His supporters will love it--a new "sheriff" in town.
But unless US citizens have completely lost their minds, I think they'll quickly find out that slow and steady beats crazy and reckless every time.
57
John Kerry was a good Secretary of State whose hands were tied by a warmongering master. "Assertive democracy" is not dropping 26,000 bombshell in 2016. It is not training, arming and funding Syrian terrorists in a war that was never authorized by congress and had nothing to do with the US. Illegal regime change in Libya, which Obama affectionately called a kinetic action, has destabilized the entire continent. The illegal Yemeni war, in which Obama uses illegal cluster bombs, kills 72 children every single day. The Obama backed illegal coup in Ukraine poked Russia and started a new Cold War. It is the height of intellectual dishonesty to say that because Obama chose not to send in ground troops in the ME/NA, but rather used special ops and drone bombs to rain death down on people with whom we are not at war, he is therefore a good and benevolent president. Obama is a warmonger, same as Bush. We have 8 years of proof by which to judge him.
10
Obama faced a dilemma; commit ground troops of a nation fatigued by 8+ years of war or do nothing and observe further disintegration of the ME. By choosing coalition building and tactical deployment (e.g., drones, special forces) he chose the lesser of two undesirable choices. Nuanced shades of gray vs. the simplified black / white of those with little patience, impulsive behavior and simplistic unlearned views. Warmongers seek military solutions at each turn, BHO sought diplomacy and resorted to military as last option. Big difference.
2
Where are you getting your statistics from? I would question the authenticity of more than a few of the numbers you have claimed, given that nearly all of the UCAV operations you have mentioned are conducted by the CIA, which does not release information, statistics included, on active operations. For good reason, only JSOC and the DoD do so. Further, if the measure of a leader's effectiveness is solely made by end result, and not intention, then there has never been successful head of state in the history of mankind.
Kerry is right about what he pointed out, however left out a great failing - the DNC is in tatters. Liberals and all who care about humanity are left in the lurch. If the DNC could have led in lieu of being negative and self absorbed with self importance, reached out to promote facts and truth, focused on the primary controlling issues, and also not supported the disingenuous Sanders - we might not be facing Trump and his cabinet of swamp dwellers he dredged from the bottom of his drained swamp and put in his cabinet. The next 2 years must be about the values of Liberalism. Liberalism created the New Deal, all the social welfare in place and programs of beneficial interest to our society. Progressive is concept of Eugene V. Debs Marxist Socialism, Sanders life long hero and the hero of The Nation's Katrina... We are not going to embrace a failed economic philosophy en masse. And America is not going to turn to employee ownership of everything, so it is time to be proud of being for: humanity, flexibility of open critical thought, and against prejudice. It is time for all humanists, including liberals, republicans, and independents to join together against the path toward fascism.
4
Huh? DNC did not support Sanders, quite the opposite. Also, what does the DNC have to do with Kerry and foreign policy?
1
Unfortunately I lost my bet that Kerry would run for president again...
Well said Mr Kerry. I believe you have served our country so well for so long. With dignity, transparency, honor and true courage. I Thank-you for making our country and our world a better place.
15
Pure fantasy, this piece bears no resemblance to reality.
20
The US training and arming rebels, inflicting itself in civil conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Libya helped create a crushing refugee crisis that is undermining the center left in Europe and was in good part the reason that Donald Trump is now President.
I have a feeling arming the Vietnamese as a counter weight to China is going to be one of the biggest mistakes in the diplomatic history of this country.
Russia not only took Crimea, it kept us out of both Syria and Iran. Iran and Russia along with Assad and rebels encouraged by President Obama and armed and trained by the US destroyed Syria and the crushing refugee crisis is destroying Europe.
It could have been worse but it sure ain't good.
Meanwhile you waited to respond to Netanyahu until you were walking out the door looking like you supported settlements during Mr. Obama's Presidency and had a thin skin about him dissing your administration for 8 years.
I have a feeling arming the Vietnamese as a counter weight to China is going to be one of the biggest mistakes in the diplomatic history of this country.
Russia not only took Crimea, it kept us out of both Syria and Iran. Iran and Russia along with Assad and rebels encouraged by President Obama and armed and trained by the US destroyed Syria and the crushing refugee crisis is destroying Europe.
It could have been worse but it sure ain't good.
Meanwhile you waited to respond to Netanyahu until you were walking out the door looking like you supported settlements during Mr. Obama's Presidency and had a thin skin about him dissing your administration for 8 years.
9
Drawing lines in the sand in Syria created a whole new way to look at the United States in a different light, one which we will spend decades reversing. Giving the Iranian 120 Billion $$ to stop their nuclear program for a few short years save for building nuclear reactors that Iranians awarded France and other countries instead of us was surely a brilliant idea to endanger the world in a few short years? What else, oh and having Hillary know her Libyan Ambassador Stevens, dragged behind a truck by a rope till he was scraped to death occurred because of her caring ways for her immediate lieutenants. We have given away our rights in the Paris climate change accords while China is considered a developing nation who's smoke stacks pollute the world and will continue to do so until China decides to do otherwise? What have we become under the outgoing administration? Stupid and foolish - good bye and good riddance!
12
Climate change? Seriously?
I'd gamble those Syrian refugees overrunning Europe really could care less.
And what was that Libyan thing all about? I know it was your predecessor, but on the surface Benghazi appears to be some sort of cover up.
And the Red Line. Oh, my!
Once we took out Bashar al-Assad's airfields, and installed a no-fly zone, those Russian barrel bombs would have never rained down upon the innocents in Aleppo. Tens of thousands are dead, thousands of orphaned children. Millions more overrunning Europe. That was a massive fail.
Now it is like herding kittens. No, your job was not easy Senator, running around the world three steps behind the next move. And that deal with Iran?
I hope you're right, but right now it doesn't look good.
In closing, enjoy your retirement sir. Will you be sailing out of Newport or Nantucket?
I'd gamble those Syrian refugees overrunning Europe really could care less.
And what was that Libyan thing all about? I know it was your predecessor, but on the surface Benghazi appears to be some sort of cover up.
And the Red Line. Oh, my!
Once we took out Bashar al-Assad's airfields, and installed a no-fly zone, those Russian barrel bombs would have never rained down upon the innocents in Aleppo. Tens of thousands are dead, thousands of orphaned children. Millions more overrunning Europe. That was a massive fail.
Now it is like herding kittens. No, your job was not easy Senator, running around the world three steps behind the next move. And that deal with Iran?
I hope you're right, but right now it doesn't look good.
In closing, enjoy your retirement sir. Will you be sailing out of Newport or Nantucket?
14
While the Obama administration did a remarkable job on the home front, it gets a D+ when it comes accomplishments in the international arena.
The biggest failure was not using our leadership to solve the Syria cicil war. By us sitting on our hands, we caused the death of hundreds of thousands, gave rise to ISIS and caused the biggest refugee crisis in recent memory.
Next on the list of foreign policy failure was our weakness toward Russia, allowing it to annex Crimea, invade the Ukraine and support the killers who shot down a civilian airline.
And finally, what can I say about our relations or lack thereof with Israel? By distancing ourselves from the Middle East, we only created the environment which emboldened Bibi to expand the territories and in so doing effectively killing a two state solution and possibly setting the stage for the next Middle East war.
So, Mr Kerry don't ride off into the sunset patting yourself on the back about how you and Obama made the world a better place. In fact you've probably created he conditions for armed conflict, a calamity that the incoming administration will only be too glad to carry out.
The biggest failure was not using our leadership to solve the Syria cicil war. By us sitting on our hands, we caused the death of hundreds of thousands, gave rise to ISIS and caused the biggest refugee crisis in recent memory.
Next on the list of foreign policy failure was our weakness toward Russia, allowing it to annex Crimea, invade the Ukraine and support the killers who shot down a civilian airline.
And finally, what can I say about our relations or lack thereof with Israel? By distancing ourselves from the Middle East, we only created the environment which emboldened Bibi to expand the territories and in so doing effectively killing a two state solution and possibly setting the stage for the next Middle East war.
So, Mr Kerry don't ride off into the sunset patting yourself on the back about how you and Obama made the world a better place. In fact you've probably created he conditions for armed conflict, a calamity that the incoming administration will only be too glad to carry out.
7
Bang our friends and cuddle up with our enemies. That's not a foreign policy but a road map to handing our government over to right wing extremists. Thanks John!
14
A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke.
--- Rudyard Kipling
President Obama and Secretary Kerry are genuinely fine men, but fine men utilizing blockbuster bombs would have got the Iran deal done right.
--- Rudyard Kipling
President Obama and Secretary Kerry are genuinely fine men, but fine men utilizing blockbuster bombs would have got the Iran deal done right.
7
Monday morning quarterbacking at its finest. Too bad about America's Team!
Dear A. Stanton,
As my eigth grade football coach said to me, "You're a good boy... there's just no demand for good boys. Next time knock the stuffing out of him."
As my eigth grade football coach said to me, "You're a good boy... there's just no demand for good boys. Next time knock the stuffing out of him."
Mussolini got the trains to run on time (and even that is debatable).
2
Thank you Mr. Secretary for setting the record straight. Cuba and the Iran deal, which despite some comments here does have a chance to succeed were certainly highlights. It is unfortunate that you were not elected President in 2004. We missed a good one. Mostly I appreciate the fact that both you and President Obama resisted committing the mistake of sending ground forces to Syria, a certain disaster.
The common consensus among many at the time was the Secretary Clinton had been a good Secretary of State in the first Obama term. When you came along I felt that the difference was noticeable. You got a lot done.
If our party felt it needed a Secretary of State to run for President in 2016 we should have nominated you.
Thank you for all your hard work during your political career, starting with your appearance on the Dick Cavatt show years ago to speak out against the Vietnam War.
The common consensus among many at the time was the Secretary Clinton had been a good Secretary of State in the first Obama term. When you came along I felt that the difference was noticeable. You got a lot done.
If our party felt it needed a Secretary of State to run for President in 2016 we should have nominated you.
Thank you for all your hard work during your political career, starting with your appearance on the Dick Cavatt show years ago to speak out against the Vietnam War.
24
Mr. Kerry, Thank you for your long years of travel, intelligent diplomacy, and patience. I'm grateful for this detailed, positive summary of America's significant role in international negotiations over the last four years, and grateful to you, to President Obama, and to Hillary Clinton, your predecessor, for your service.
But the tone of your review is so even and reassuring that it works on the reader like a fatherly twilight rendition of "Goodnight, Moon." Good night chairs. Good night bears (Russian?). Good night ...
Of course there's a problem.
We've all been tightly strapped into the cars of a rickety and immense roller coaster. The Trump Train. The bell will ring soon, and the cars released down the first awful slope. People warn this ride is not well maintained ... the tracks are slippery with oil, the loops and curves unbalanced, untested, construction materials substandard, and there are gaps in the rails caused by looters.
Passengers are already screaming. One of them is me.
So long. Farewell.
But the tone of your review is so even and reassuring that it works on the reader like a fatherly twilight rendition of "Goodnight, Moon." Good night chairs. Good night bears (Russian?). Good night ...
Of course there's a problem.
We've all been tightly strapped into the cars of a rickety and immense roller coaster. The Trump Train. The bell will ring soon, and the cars released down the first awful slope. People warn this ride is not well maintained ... the tracks are slippery with oil, the loops and curves unbalanced, untested, construction materials substandard, and there are gaps in the rails caused by looters.
Passengers are already screaming. One of them is me.
So long. Farewell.
22
Not making John Kerry the secretary of State from day 1 of his presidency, president Obama made a big mistake. Secretary Clinton should have been secretary of Health and Human Services. John Kerry got right what President Obama did not in his first term. Kerry can be credited with the Iran deal, the Cuba normalization, the strategic relation of the century with the world's largest democracy, India and finally putting Netanyahu on notice that America will not give up on the peace between Israel and the Palestinians or the 2 state solution. John Kerry would have been a better president than GW and I was overseas and returned during the presidential election to just cast my vote for Kerry. In all fairness, GW did try to somewhat rectify the biggest blunder of his first term, the war in Iraq by stabilizing Iraq with the surge. Also GW has shown class by ensuring a smooth transition and not commenting during the Obama years and had given him a free reign. Well done John Kerry you got quite a bit right. Hope you stay on for another run for the presidency of the USA.
24
I want to thank you very much for service to our country going back to your time as a soldier in Vietnam and through your tireless efforts as Secretary of State. I am sure your focus has always been to work in fair and thoughtful negotiations for a just and lasting peace. I congratulate you on a career of accomplishments that have represented the United States with honor!
65
Dear Mr. Kerry,
Your ability to wrongly analyze the problems is unprecedented. You have repeatedly interpreted your failures and incompetence as the astonishing achievements!
You are taking the enormous credit for “containing” the ISIS. It should have never been created. It is much easier to preempt the problems than letting them grow out of control! You should not be taking the credits for the existence of the new terrorist organization that grew into the state-like entity under your supervision…
Regarding the crisis in Ukraine, that’s again your failure. Just imagine if the situation were completely opposite. Imagine that there is no NATO but the Warsaw Pact is actively recruiting Canada and Mexico to join them while never inviting or courting us. Would we as the nation feel threatened by such a foreign policy?
Let me provide you with a short historic lesson. Russia fought the prolonged bloody wars with the former Ottoman Empire for the control of that peninsula. During the USSR it gave the administrative control to Kiev under assumption they would stay together forever.
You should understand that policy as an engagement ring. As long as a couple stays together the ring is hers. If she changed her mind and likes another person more, the proper thing is to return a ring to the ex-fiancée…
Mr. Kerry, there is a bloody conflict between Russia and Ukraine because you failed to promptly advise Kiev to correctly understand all the bad consequences of the missteps…
Your ability to wrongly analyze the problems is unprecedented. You have repeatedly interpreted your failures and incompetence as the astonishing achievements!
You are taking the enormous credit for “containing” the ISIS. It should have never been created. It is much easier to preempt the problems than letting them grow out of control! You should not be taking the credits for the existence of the new terrorist organization that grew into the state-like entity under your supervision…
Regarding the crisis in Ukraine, that’s again your failure. Just imagine if the situation were completely opposite. Imagine that there is no NATO but the Warsaw Pact is actively recruiting Canada and Mexico to join them while never inviting or courting us. Would we as the nation feel threatened by such a foreign policy?
Let me provide you with a short historic lesson. Russia fought the prolonged bloody wars with the former Ottoman Empire for the control of that peninsula. During the USSR it gave the administrative control to Kiev under assumption they would stay together forever.
You should understand that policy as an engagement ring. As long as a couple stays together the ring is hers. If she changed her mind and likes another person more, the proper thing is to return a ring to the ex-fiancée…
Mr. Kerry, there is a bloody conflict between Russia and Ukraine because you failed to promptly advise Kiev to correctly understand all the bad consequences of the missteps…
26
Although your analogy is an oversimplification, I'll try to put my response in similar terms. I'm not sure how it is done in the poster's home country, but when a woman in the U.S. decides to break off an engagement and start dating a new guy, she is perfectly within her rights to do so. There is no legal obligation to return the engagement ring, although the parties can certainly discuss it, and even seek the opinion of an objective third party. However, if the jilted fiancé punches her in the face and takes it under the cover of darkness, and then lies about it to the whole world, there will be a price to pay.
What we have learned from tough guy attitudes such as this one, which seems reflective of Vladimir Putin himself, is that they lead to an autocratic state which, in turn, leads to global isolation and domestic misery. I think that the poster may learn over time that Americans value fairness over strength, and compassion over vengeance. All this silly tough guy stuff is counterproductive in the long run.
What we have learned from tough guy attitudes such as this one, which seems reflective of Vladimir Putin himself, is that they lead to an autocratic state which, in turn, leads to global isolation and domestic misery. I think that the poster may learn over time that Americans value fairness over strength, and compassion over vengeance. All this silly tough guy stuff is counterproductive in the long run.
1
Kenan Porobic -
ISIS was created during, and as a result of, the forced disbanding of the Iraqi Army following our illegal invasion of that country under the regime of President George W. Bush.
That said, I like your discussion of the Crimean situation and more or less agree with it.
Cheers.
ISIS was created during, and as a result of, the forced disbanding of the Iraqi Army following our illegal invasion of that country under the regime of President George W. Bush.
That said, I like your discussion of the Crimean situation and more or less agree with it.
Cheers.
Kenan Porobic.
I total;ly agree with you, but did you intend to say,"You should BE taking the credits for the existence of the new terrorist organization that grew into the state-like entity under your supervision…"
I total;ly agree with you, but did you intend to say,"You should BE taking the credits for the existence of the new terrorist organization that grew into the state-like entity under your supervision…"
1
Mr. Kerry,
First and foremost, I want to thank you for your dedicated service to this nation, both as a senator and as a secretary of state.
I couldn't agree more that on the foreign policy front a cautious but firm approach was - and still is - in the best interest of the US. Blunderous adventures in show of force occurred all to often, with dire consequences to life a treasure.
The only regret I always had, since the first Iraq war, is that the US did not stand up more to Turkey and armed Kurdish rebels in Syria and Iraq. Unlike so many other groups, the Kurds are represented by a political force. Even if you don't agree with their political goals, the chance is that there is more accountability. Kurds have never threatened American interests and know the idea of a compromise. Islamist extremists don't.
First and foremost, I want to thank you for your dedicated service to this nation, both as a senator and as a secretary of state.
I couldn't agree more that on the foreign policy front a cautious but firm approach was - and still is - in the best interest of the US. Blunderous adventures in show of force occurred all to often, with dire consequences to life a treasure.
The only regret I always had, since the first Iraq war, is that the US did not stand up more to Turkey and armed Kurdish rebels in Syria and Iraq. Unlike so many other groups, the Kurds are represented by a political force. Even if you don't agree with their political goals, the chance is that there is more accountability. Kurds have never threatened American interests and know the idea of a compromise. Islamist extremists don't.
What a wonderful diplomat, as well as a grand Administration. Our country is unfortunately in for a big let-down.
1
Only a craven appeaser could wear such rose colored glasses; only a fawning journal would print such drivel and only a moonstruck liberal would accept a syllable of this tripe.
10
This is delusional and dishonest. Take a paragraph with more truth than most. I favored normalization with Cuba. But the way it was done almost nothing has changed there and we may have helped solidify a 2d generation of Castros who still control everything. What did we or the Cuban people gain in comparison? Yes, Colombia was once a disaster and now is a tourist destination. But this started with Clinton. The brilliant Operation Jaque was in Bush's terms. This was the work of sacrifice of so many Colombians and our military support. What did Pres. Obama do? I do give him some credit re: Ebola, but if you review the facts, Bush did far more than Obama in Africa.
And that is the end of the administration's supposed "successes."
In most everything else, their efforts failed or made it worse. Putin played on his failure to engage; we offered nothing for Ukraine as it was dismembered, China's power has spread, Iran is empowered, our relationship with Israel survives in spite of him; he wasted of our efforts in Afgh. and in Iraq which led to ISIS's gains and he had us stand idle while they grew in power - we fight only now and let others lead. His red line blunder with Syria and his screw up with the hostages in Iran has made us look weak; Libya was a disaster and he didn't help push the Arab Spring in the right direction. Virtually every enemy is stronger, many of our alliances are weaker. For a time Merkel would not even take his calls. If I had more space, I'd write more.
And that is the end of the administration's supposed "successes."
In most everything else, their efforts failed or made it worse. Putin played on his failure to engage; we offered nothing for Ukraine as it was dismembered, China's power has spread, Iran is empowered, our relationship with Israel survives in spite of him; he wasted of our efforts in Afgh. and in Iraq which led to ISIS's gains and he had us stand idle while they grew in power - we fight only now and let others lead. His red line blunder with Syria and his screw up with the hostages in Iran has made us look weak; Libya was a disaster and he didn't help push the Arab Spring in the right direction. Virtually every enemy is stronger, many of our alliances are weaker. For a time Merkel would not even take his calls. If I had more space, I'd write more.
13
Obama Administration: Biggest Joke in the History of Diplomacy
Send planes of cash to the enemies (Iranians) who won't accept your offers of unconditional surrender (TB). Give up kings for pawns (Bergdahl) and lie about every conflct you are illegally involved in (Libya, Yemen, Somalia, etc.).If I had more time, I'd write more...
Send planes of cash to the enemies (Iranians) who won't accept your offers of unconditional surrender (TB). Give up kings for pawns (Bergdahl) and lie about every conflct you are illegally involved in (Libya, Yemen, Somalia, etc.).If I had more time, I'd write more...
4
Assertive Diplomacy? How about using another concept invented by the Obama administration, "Strategic Patience" which led to impotence in the middle east. Secretary Kerry lauds the administrations accomplishments on climate change, especially the deal with China, China was given a 30 year waiver until they have to comply with climate change restraints. Also, what happens in less than 20 years with Iran? Won't they be able to rev up the centrifuges and build a nuclear bomb? Secretary Kerry is correct on one thing, he is not objective.
7
John Kerry and President Obama’s proposed JCPOA treaty (IAW p34, JCPOA article J. URANIUM STOCKS AND FUELS, par 34.v.) grants Iran permission to store 300kg of enriched uranium for 15 years (or until this treaty expires (after 10 years IAW p19, JCPOA article A. ENRICHMENT, ENRICHMENT R&D, STOCKPILES, par 34.v. and after 10 years IAW p158, JCPOA article E. UNSCR Termination Day, par 23., 24., and 25.). http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/world/full-text-of-the-iran-n...
This treaty is not in the best interest of the USA.
The French, Germans and other Socialist European "Nanny States" that sold Iran their nuclear material production enrichment equipment would benefit with more new sales if the USA bombed and destroyed Iran’s existing nuclear weapons factories, or maybe these same Europeans would be mad at the USA if the Iranians had not yet fully paid for that nuclear material production equipment.
Yes, I have also heard that Iran is manufacturing (copying) that nuclear material production equipment (centrifuges) in Iran, and no longer needs to buy their nuclear material production equipment from any of the Socialist European "Nanny States" anymore.
This treaty is not in the best interest of the USA.
The French, Germans and other Socialist European "Nanny States" that sold Iran their nuclear material production enrichment equipment would benefit with more new sales if the USA bombed and destroyed Iran’s existing nuclear weapons factories, or maybe these same Europeans would be mad at the USA if the Iranians had not yet fully paid for that nuclear material production equipment.
Yes, I have also heard that Iran is manufacturing (copying) that nuclear material production equipment (centrifuges) in Iran, and no longer needs to buy their nuclear material production equipment from any of the Socialist European "Nanny States" anymore.
2
Mr. Kerry should continue to live in his fantasy world, it is obviously much better and safer than the real world that he and Mr. Obama leave for us.
12
Thank you Mr. Kerry for doing the arguably hardest job on earth with dignity, intelligence, resilience, (no doubt complete lack of normal sleep) and demonstrating genuine diplomacy to a generation. What a contrast to the preceding administration engaging in 2 wars. You will be missed as a hero who sought little self praise. As a professor, we will use these situations of aggressive diplomacy over war for many years. Asante Sana.
3
I appreciate the efforts of John Kerry; however, his time in the senate as well as the past four years, places him way, way about the president elect's current choice for the job of Secretary. How could I possibly be optimistic for the next four years?
1
Effective diplomacy requires fairness, subtlety, and finesse, three qualities not yet evident in Trump's behavior or his nascent administration.
1
You have those controlling the world meeting to address the inequality they have so far propagated and ignored. You have those on the ground, socially alienated, fighting among themselves, raging at unseen forces they can not control. This are not right and things are not better.
1
Face facts. In spite of his work and good intentions, the Obama Admin ended up being the only Administration in our country's great history to be at war every single day of their eight years in office. Goodnight Sweet Prince.
8
I'm always skeptical of people who feel the need to beat their own drum.
17
We've never seen an Administration as desperate to justify their existence as this one. Kind of funny when you get past the desperation. They are witnessing the collapse of the post-WWIII stable world order that they caused, watching their lunch be eaten by a cagey judo-master, and watching the US economy devolve into millionaires and food stamp recipients. Go donkey party of Hollywood and Wall Street!
5
Mr. Kerry, from the Vietnam War to the present day, the world has benefited greatly from your diplomatic skills and tireless energy to stand up for doing the right thing. On this cold, foggy morning before the inauguration of a frightening demagogue and his destructive administration, I am angry and disappointed that you were Swiftboated by the same forces that ushered in this era of radical change for the worse. Had you been our president once-upon-a-time, it is easy to imagine a vastly preferably alternate reality to where we wake up every morning now.
Thank you for your service. You deserve a rest after your decades of difficult work, but I hope you won't disappear from public discourse. We desperately need your voice of reason.
Thank you for your service. You deserve a rest after your decades of difficult work, but I hope you won't disappear from public discourse. We desperately need your voice of reason.
8
Dear Mr. Kerry,
Within the realm of foreign policy you seem to overlook the fact that nearly 500,000 Syrians have lost their lives as a result of the civil war. Actions the United States could have taken would have saved lives but the U.S. did not want to take sides in the conflict. You mentioned how we put Russia in its place through sanctions but you did not mention that Russia was allowed to operate freely in support of Assad's government. And at the same time you take pride in the United States having the most powerful military and economy in the world. Where were your priorities?
Within the realm of foreign policy you seem to overlook the fact that nearly 500,000 Syrians have lost their lives as a result of the civil war. Actions the United States could have taken would have saved lives but the U.S. did not want to take sides in the conflict. You mentioned how we put Russia in its place through sanctions but you did not mention that Russia was allowed to operate freely in support of Assad's government. And at the same time you take pride in the United States having the most powerful military and economy in the world. Where were your priorities?
6
Thank you Secretary Kerry for your public service and commitment to integrity and peace. Thank you, too, for this column which serves as a reminder to all of us of the important accomplishments of the Obama administration. In the hurly burly world of politics, it's easy to get lost in the negative rhetoric and forget the significant steps that the President and his team have taken to advance solutions that benefit all citizens, not only of our country, but of the world. In deep gratitude.
9
Noam Chomsky describes the Russian support for Russian speaking Ukrainians attacked by their own government via native quasi-Fascist paramilitaries, "... a response to a coup that however unfortunate is understandable." He further warns that, "... the single biggest threat to the safety of Europe is the buildup of NATO along the Russian border." The noble Dr Chomsky is no friend of dictators, but he is admirably, almost singularly, committed to justice.
One wonders where the equally noble Sec Kerry gets his information, but it's no surprise it's lockstep with the Democrat Party that just blew the election for us liberal progressives who actually think for ourselves and don't parrot the strange brew that has Democrats parroting John McCain on Europe.
I was very impressed by Kerry's recent speech on the Occupied Territories, which he characteristically screwed-up (for communication purposes) by letting go on too long, allowing a press on a leash to tear it apart in bites. During that excellent presentation, if you watch the vid, you will see Sec. Kerry interact with the audience with the, double handed palm-to-palm "namaste" greeting, an expression of warmth by an overly sophisticated Secretary that, where it did not set eyes rolling across America, went over heads. Again, one wonders ....
One wonders where the equally noble Sec Kerry gets his information, but it's no surprise it's lockstep with the Democrat Party that just blew the election for us liberal progressives who actually think for ourselves and don't parrot the strange brew that has Democrats parroting John McCain on Europe.
I was very impressed by Kerry's recent speech on the Occupied Territories, which he characteristically screwed-up (for communication purposes) by letting go on too long, allowing a press on a leash to tear it apart in bites. During that excellent presentation, if you watch the vid, you will see Sec. Kerry interact with the audience with the, double handed palm-to-palm "namaste" greeting, an expression of warmth by an overly sophisticated Secretary that, where it did not set eyes rolling across America, went over heads. Again, one wonders ....
4
Kudos for your effort to steer the United States away from military intervention. You have been a truly exceptional Secretary of State.
I suppose hypocrisy if the bane of diplomacy, but to oversimplify Russia's involvement in the Ukrainian civil war and annexation of Crimea and ignore American involvement in the disastrous demonstrations in Kiev and subsequent overthrow of a democratically elected President, does you a disservice.
Your success with the Iran Agreement and ending the American hostility toward Cuba is good enough for you to gain entry into the Hall of Fame of American Secretaries of State.
I suppose hypocrisy if the bane of diplomacy, but to oversimplify Russia's involvement in the Ukrainian civil war and annexation of Crimea and ignore American involvement in the disastrous demonstrations in Kiev and subsequent overthrow of a democratically elected President, does you a disservice.
Your success with the Iran Agreement and ending the American hostility toward Cuba is good enough for you to gain entry into the Hall of Fame of American Secretaries of State.
9
There are ways to describe a feckless and almost wholly ineffective foreign policy record such that it does not offend any of the policy makers and uses soft and cuddly language - just like the feckless and almost wholly ineffective foreign policy - to ensure that safe spaces are not required to read it.
Mr. Kerry has penned such a screed, and congratulations to him, this is what a statesman is supposed to be able to do: twist facts with words, such that an entirely different and fictitious image is put forth, to detract attention from reality.
Based on publicly available video, I cannot think of a single world leader other than Angela Merkel, who does not openly snicker - if not laugh outright - when asked about the foreign policy of Barack Obama, and the implementation by Clinton and Kerry.
China is running roughshod over our allies (and our businesses), Russia is running roughshod over our allies, the madmen in charge of Iran are laughing openly, the strife in the Middle East is as bad as it has ever been - and Obama's childish attempt to ensnare the Russians in another Afghanistan has failed. The Colombian problem was settled long before Obama came to office. In fact, I cannot think of a single thing that anyone other than a sycophant would call successful.
Quiet strength works when people fear action and as a result, talk. When they (correctly) assess quiet spinelessness instead of quiet strength, we see a record such as that of the last eight years.
Mr. Kerry has penned such a screed, and congratulations to him, this is what a statesman is supposed to be able to do: twist facts with words, such that an entirely different and fictitious image is put forth, to detract attention from reality.
Based on publicly available video, I cannot think of a single world leader other than Angela Merkel, who does not openly snicker - if not laugh outright - when asked about the foreign policy of Barack Obama, and the implementation by Clinton and Kerry.
China is running roughshod over our allies (and our businesses), Russia is running roughshod over our allies, the madmen in charge of Iran are laughing openly, the strife in the Middle East is as bad as it has ever been - and Obama's childish attempt to ensnare the Russians in another Afghanistan has failed. The Colombian problem was settled long before Obama came to office. In fact, I cannot think of a single thing that anyone other than a sycophant would call successful.
Quiet strength works when people fear action and as a result, talk. When they (correctly) assess quiet spinelessness instead of quiet strength, we see a record such as that of the last eight years.
11
All that's required here is to say: thank you.
Thank you for approaching the world with intelligence, not blundering bravado. Thank you for recognizing a world colored in shades of gray, not black and white. Thank you for taking decisions that were correct rather than politically expedient. Thank you for recognizing and advancing America's interests as a member of the global community, rather than pretending it is somehow exempt from responsibility.
And, as we enter a terrifying new era with an administration already exemplified by incompetence and corruption, thank you for rebutting the armchair critics who claim superior judgment with the benefit of hindsight, yet are unable to explain what they would have done that would have proved more effective.
Thank you for approaching the world with intelligence, not blundering bravado. Thank you for recognizing a world colored in shades of gray, not black and white. Thank you for taking decisions that were correct rather than politically expedient. Thank you for recognizing and advancing America's interests as a member of the global community, rather than pretending it is somehow exempt from responsibility.
And, as we enter a terrifying new era with an administration already exemplified by incompetence and corruption, thank you for rebutting the armchair critics who claim superior judgment with the benefit of hindsight, yet are unable to explain what they would have done that would have proved more effective.
357
Not interfering in Ukraine and Syria for a start would have saved the EU from meltdown and a new Cold War and the Middle East from chaos. That's what this Democrat would have done. Professor Obama had an illogical understanding of human nature and particularly Islamic literalist human nature.
1
Well said Mr Kerry. There is no point to disagree. Every democratic action will have some price to pay. But that is the best way. As long as stone can be pelted without using excessive force, then be it.
US economy back on track, More jobs, Successful Iran deal, hunting of Osama Bin Laden are successful outcomes of Obama administration.
Muslim and China on rise is are universal factor. I think no US administration can give a break to it. There are some ways to deal with these issue, but you can not find its solution in Political history book.
US economy back on track, More jobs, Successful Iran deal, hunting of Osama Bin Laden are successful outcomes of Obama administration.
Muslim and China on rise is are universal factor. I think no US administration can give a break to it. There are some ways to deal with these issue, but you can not find its solution in Political history book.
2
A standard in history that marks political achievement is war. We have not been exposed to new wars in this world filled with many opportunities for the past eight years. This is a legacy that is befitting of our President, and his choices of diplomatic solutions. The mark of a great society and its leadership is "peace" and its accomplishment is both allusive and complex and easily defeated by war. We have peace and stability brokered by John Kerry. For that, at this moment, we mark time.
11
"As the departing secretary of state, I cannot claim objectivity. But I will leave office convinced that most global trends remain in our favor and that America’s leadership and engagement are as essential and effective today as ever." essential, yes. effective - Kerry is self-delusional. but then, we already knew that form the Iranian 'deal' (good deal for the Iranians. bad deal for everyone else).
3
The man is as demented as his boss;
I wanted to embellish on that, with examples and more examples of how destructive the duo has been, but the simplest statement seems the most articulate.
I wanted to embellish on that, with examples and more examples of how destructive the duo has been, but the simplest statement seems the most articulate.
2
Mr. Kerry is trying to paint a positive picture which is delusional at best.
The JCPOA was a very good thing indeed, but only because it was neither on Kerry's terms nor on the US's strategy.
This point goes to other players such as Russia, Iran and the EU.
IS may not have an area in which is still rules as a state but as IS has morphed into a cult that knows no geographical boundaries, the US has lost its war on terror.
IS these days is a global threat instead of the localized terrorist group is started as - thanks to a complete misunderstanding of IS as such by the US government and Kerry.
Syria is the worst mistake the US has made and has destabilized the entire region for many years to come.
For this alone Kerry is entitled to stand trial in The Hague, together with the rest of the Obama administration.
The Arab Spring and the US plans for regime change through killing off those despots that were anchor points of of stable countries is another massive failure of Kerry, Obama and Clinton.
Sorry, Mr. Kerry, your attempts to sell four years of war, illegal and extra judicial drone killings, the destabilization of an entire region and the subsequent flooding of Europe with migrants as some kind positive success are pure fantasies.
Not even G.W. Bush and his team of liars and cronies had such a bad balance on their hands.
And we have not yet even been touching the role you played in demonizing Russia for no further reasons that the expansion of US political influence.
The JCPOA was a very good thing indeed, but only because it was neither on Kerry's terms nor on the US's strategy.
This point goes to other players such as Russia, Iran and the EU.
IS may not have an area in which is still rules as a state but as IS has morphed into a cult that knows no geographical boundaries, the US has lost its war on terror.
IS these days is a global threat instead of the localized terrorist group is started as - thanks to a complete misunderstanding of IS as such by the US government and Kerry.
Syria is the worst mistake the US has made and has destabilized the entire region for many years to come.
For this alone Kerry is entitled to stand trial in The Hague, together with the rest of the Obama administration.
The Arab Spring and the US plans for regime change through killing off those despots that were anchor points of of stable countries is another massive failure of Kerry, Obama and Clinton.
Sorry, Mr. Kerry, your attempts to sell four years of war, illegal and extra judicial drone killings, the destabilization of an entire region and the subsequent flooding of Europe with migrants as some kind positive success are pure fantasies.
Not even G.W. Bush and his team of liars and cronies had such a bad balance on their hands.
And we have not yet even been touching the role you played in demonizing Russia for no further reasons that the expansion of US political influence.
4
If so much was accomplished, and a great deal was, how come I do not feel better, today? And for that matter, please note, I am not alone. As a new crisis of epic proportions unfolds few will feel safe and secure in our Home Land, a title I have never liked. We are at war with ourselves. The war of Greed against Compassion. The Haves against the Have Not. The Healthy and Wealthy against those that can be savaged and disregarded. I tire of the constant disfigurement of truth and good values. The fines accessed because of the transgression of the guys in the corner office paid for by the "shareholders" which has become synonymous with the sucker class. I tire of request for "donations" to yet another group that is "fighting" to right the wrongs of those in charge of our country and welfare. Yes, on the eve of this new Era, I find little to feel grateful much less fortunate about.
1
This is a good example of Kerry's delusional and ineffective run as Secretary of State. He completely fails to recognize the mess he and his boss added to preexisting messes in foreigh affairs. Despite his frenzied posturing all over the world he has clearly been accomplished little of value and has contributed to major erosions of U.S. interests everywhere you look.
4
We live in a complex world and the ensuing complexity requires a, well, what else?, a complex approach to addressing and resolving the issues that are pressing, be that climate change or fighting islamic extremism in all its forms. "Deal making" is obsolete, it is primitive, because of the very nature of complexity, which can only be addressed through a process, a continuum in which dialogue and a multipolarity of interests will supersede the gungho diktats of the likes of Trump or the maligned decision of the Brits to break away from the EU, or the inchoate structure of the EU, or the bullying of Russia, or the madness of dictators and potentates, be them corporations or strongmen...
Obama's elegant approach came at a time of great upheavals, when the tectonic plates of globalizations bumped into a resurgence of localism and nationalism, the detritus of sick wars caused in good part by the Bush administration, a sudden and ill controlled refugee problem, and the tsunamis of fake news on the internet as well as a dormant media which distracts a dormant audience with not much else but ...noise!
In spite of all these and the ungodly obstruction Obama's policies met from a vicious Republican block and armies of ignorant supporters, Obama's legacy will be remembered as one of reason in face of hardship, elegance and humor to soften the rejection and hatred that was directed at him and his team. Obama will be a pleasing sound when history will remember him.
Obama's elegant approach came at a time of great upheavals, when the tectonic plates of globalizations bumped into a resurgence of localism and nationalism, the detritus of sick wars caused in good part by the Bush administration, a sudden and ill controlled refugee problem, and the tsunamis of fake news on the internet as well as a dormant media which distracts a dormant audience with not much else but ...noise!
In spite of all these and the ungodly obstruction Obama's policies met from a vicious Republican block and armies of ignorant supporters, Obama's legacy will be remembered as one of reason in face of hardship, elegance and humor to soften the rejection and hatred that was directed at him and his team. Obama will be a pleasing sound when history will remember him.
2
International relations conducted by people insulated from adverse consequences because of their individual wealth and who are drawn from a so-called elite class that shares few if any characteristics with common citizens, is cause for concern. Very few of the new appointees have military experience and some of those who do seem quite willing to turn to arms as a knee-jerk first response. Add to that the "Cheney effect" to make money from military expenditures if not war, despite many apparent conflicts of interest. Further add chest-thumping, saber-rattling posturing, relying on a volunteer military, and we have a volatile mix easily ignited by the smallest spark. Yes, diplomacy works, sometimes with an implied use-of-force when necessary, but we need not slam our sabers on the table before negotiations even begin as I fear the new administration will do.
3
I can see it happening already. President Trump gives a speech (of sorts) that calls for rushing in, or pulling out (whichever, as long as it shows he shows mistrust of the former policy). Then there is urgent testimony by the current general, a former general, the current Joint Chief of Staff, an ambassador (whichever, as long as it is someone with real experience and understanding of the matter) before a Congressional hearing or even leaked news of a private discussion with President Trump. Trump ignores the advice and..... (place your favorite comic book exclamation noise here).
1
The image of a dove with olive branch is an excellent example of the insidiousness of government propaganda. Obama was at war every day of his eight years in office. It's the only time it's happened in our country's history. The Atlantic dubbed him the "Drone Warrior".
3
Barack Obama has been a great president. The only thing he failed to do was perhaps the most important: assure that this step in the right direction for our country would continue with the next elected president. This is, in my opinion, because ultimately he, and the Democratic Party, could not move past the Clintons, who maintained control of the party throughout Obama's term. The Clinton's - and thus the DNC's - focus was in getting Hillary elected, not building a strong progressive movement within the party.
2
I have often felt humbled by the depth and breadth of the human qualities John Kerry has employed when serving us for years around the world in an effort to craft a lasting peace and prosperity. It is an elusive goal, but he has done about as good a job as is possible for any human. I would like to express my sincere gratitude.
Comments from everyone who was not there, did not debate how to proceed, or make the decision to or not to put boots on the ground around the globe. (Chose to have your sons and daughters killed -- not mine.) All Monday morning quarterbacks. One must walk a mile in Kerry's shoes to hear what he heard in those situation room debates. Pundits and naysayers alike suggest failure upon failure begat failure. However, all ignore the political devastation the Bush Administration wreaked upon the diplomatic core, State Department, and the US reputation in the world. The outgoing Administration, through patience, persistence, and diplomacy, not military intervention, accomplished more in 8 years than the last 40 years of failed military interventionist policies. Trying to solve the worlds problems through military based leadership (guns and mortars) failed time and time again. Peaceful, assertive, respectful, negotiating diplomacy accomplished more in 8 years than any self-respecting Republican hoped, imagined, or could even actually achieve. So what do they do? Say all of the achievements (Cuba, Iraq, Iran) are failures which conclusion they base upon half-baked truths, condescension, and lies. Let's see how 4 years of that works out?
4
what else is john kerry to say?
"...most global trends remain in our favor..." (but like a dwindling bank account, what remains is slight compared to what there was) and
"...that America’s leadership and engagement are as essential and effective today as ever," a denial of that shrinking account.
when kerry had his voice, before his spirit was damaged by the "swift boating" attacks, he told us truths, unvarnished, and, more important, did not serve as cover for the criminals who looted our treasury, spilling the blood of thousands in the heist.
bush/cheney and their street shill, colin powell,
did their deed in broad daylight, rather abetted than obstructed by a compliant citizenry and its congress, (many now so exercised over trump!) and leaving the mid-east in flames, and their successors nearly bankrupt, materially and
morally.
it is the failure to recognize the extent of this deficit and its adverse effects on our credit/credibility that marks the obama administration...in other words, its passivity in the face of emergency.
when a bank fails the treasury has crews that come in and clean up the mess, in days if not hours, impose order and reopen for business...instead we the people got (as in the current commercials) "monitors" who would tell us that we were being robbed or that we had serious dental problems, ever warning and admonishing, pointing out the obvious as the obvious continued/continues, to take its toll.
"...most global trends remain in our favor..." (but like a dwindling bank account, what remains is slight compared to what there was) and
"...that America’s leadership and engagement are as essential and effective today as ever," a denial of that shrinking account.
when kerry had his voice, before his spirit was damaged by the "swift boating" attacks, he told us truths, unvarnished, and, more important, did not serve as cover for the criminals who looted our treasury, spilling the blood of thousands in the heist.
bush/cheney and their street shill, colin powell,
did their deed in broad daylight, rather abetted than obstructed by a compliant citizenry and its congress, (many now so exercised over trump!) and leaving the mid-east in flames, and their successors nearly bankrupt, materially and
morally.
it is the failure to recognize the extent of this deficit and its adverse effects on our credit/credibility that marks the obama administration...in other words, its passivity in the face of emergency.
when a bank fails the treasury has crews that come in and clean up the mess, in days if not hours, impose order and reopen for business...instead we the people got (as in the current commercials) "monitors" who would tell us that we were being robbed or that we had serious dental problems, ever warning and admonishing, pointing out the obvious as the obvious continued/continues, to take its toll.
3
Within the few comments posted so far there are already opinions both that Obama's State Dept. intervened too little and that it intervened too much. But the armchair quarterbacks only serve to convince me that the toxic political environment created largely by Republican disfunction in Washington must end. I hoped that the people would lead them out of this morass in November, but we are instead headed toward rock bottom. Maybe we can find our way upward from there.
I for one am grateful for the thoughtful hard work done by this administration in the face of unprecedented opposition at home. Right or wrong, their foreign policy decisions were always carefully weighed, and were always made with the best interests of the country at heart. I wish I could believe that about the incoming administration, but the signs aren't good. Whatever else happens, at least the Obama haters will have to stop whining for a while.
I for one am grateful for the thoughtful hard work done by this administration in the face of unprecedented opposition at home. Right or wrong, their foreign policy decisions were always carefully weighed, and were always made with the best interests of the country at heart. I wish I could believe that about the incoming administration, but the signs aren't good. Whatever else happens, at least the Obama haters will have to stop whining for a while.
3
Kerry (and Obama) are admirable in many ways, but their leadership is a poisoned apple when they persist in pushing scams like TPP. Our government obviously values world peace and domestic prosperty far less than it does the narrow interests of a tiny (0.1%) idiot elite.
The "electoration" (he lost by 3 million votes) of a malevolent orange tufted twitterer is a clear indication of a revolt brewing among the US masses. Actually, the "brewing" stage is pretty much over. It's starting to bubble over the rim, and obviously the Kerry, Obama, Clinton, Pelosi Dems have no idea how to manage, restrain, or get in front of it.
Unfortunately, the Bannon, trimp, and Koch types are well poised to manipulate this "people power" to their advantage. What's really infuriating is that the Dem establishment would rather let that happen than combat inequality and corporate irresponsibility in any serious way.
Anyone who thinks America is a force for peace and justice in the world has only to look at Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Brazil, Indonesia, etc. etc. Anyone who thinks the US government is working to build prosperty and justice at home need only look at our inner cities, our rusting industrial base, and the wide opiate prairies of our rural wastelands.
The Tea partiers are correct to blame the "gubmint" for their ills because they sense (correctly) that "the state" includes "our" gargantuan corporations dizzily engaged in financial arbitrage instead of productive investment.
The "electoration" (he lost by 3 million votes) of a malevolent orange tufted twitterer is a clear indication of a revolt brewing among the US masses. Actually, the "brewing" stage is pretty much over. It's starting to bubble over the rim, and obviously the Kerry, Obama, Clinton, Pelosi Dems have no idea how to manage, restrain, or get in front of it.
Unfortunately, the Bannon, trimp, and Koch types are well poised to manipulate this "people power" to their advantage. What's really infuriating is that the Dem establishment would rather let that happen than combat inequality and corporate irresponsibility in any serious way.
Anyone who thinks America is a force for peace and justice in the world has only to look at Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Brazil, Indonesia, etc. etc. Anyone who thinks the US government is working to build prosperty and justice at home need only look at our inner cities, our rusting industrial base, and the wide opiate prairies of our rural wastelands.
The Tea partiers are correct to blame the "gubmint" for their ills because they sense (correctly) that "the state" includes "our" gargantuan corporations dizzily engaged in financial arbitrage instead of productive investment.
3
Can't believe I forgot to mention Vietnam. We really are some piece of work.
1
Every administration tries to re-write history. Obama's is no exception. To be fair, his foreign policy was different in form but not in kind from that of his predecessors. Democrats and Republicans are both servants of American empire. They disagree, sometimes vehemently over how to carry out that role, but never falter over what their mission is.
Since 1945 the US has proclaimed its goal to control the energy resources of the Middle East. That hasn't changed. Bush did it through direct US wars, Obama saw this as a drain on both our economy and the our military forces and decided on proxy wars, drone warfare and special forces warfare.
While our military claims it doesn't keep track of Arab casualties, best estimates are that since 92 we have killed over a million people and dislodged another 5 million who have fled this violence.
Control of energy access is not an abstraction. American corporations now control 1/4 of the worlds wealth and are hungry for more. They found in Obama a smart, willing servant able to pivot the empire from Bush's clumsy and costly occupation to a more efficient form of military control.
The Clinton emails reveal that while we claim to be fighting ISIS, our allies Turkey and the Saudi's are funding them. Hardly a coincidence. Russia is a sideshow, but makes for good media. We need enemies to distract us from looking too deeply. The media dutifully follow along like lapdogs while US strategic plans are being made for China. This is not democracy
Since 1945 the US has proclaimed its goal to control the energy resources of the Middle East. That hasn't changed. Bush did it through direct US wars, Obama saw this as a drain on both our economy and the our military forces and decided on proxy wars, drone warfare and special forces warfare.
While our military claims it doesn't keep track of Arab casualties, best estimates are that since 92 we have killed over a million people and dislodged another 5 million who have fled this violence.
Control of energy access is not an abstraction. American corporations now control 1/4 of the worlds wealth and are hungry for more. They found in Obama a smart, willing servant able to pivot the empire from Bush's clumsy and costly occupation to a more efficient form of military control.
The Clinton emails reveal that while we claim to be fighting ISIS, our allies Turkey and the Saudi's are funding them. Hardly a coincidence. Russia is a sideshow, but makes for good media. We need enemies to distract us from looking too deeply. The media dutifully follow along like lapdogs while US strategic plans are being made for China. This is not democracy
7
I am very sad to see the Obama era end and I am frightened to death of what is likely to occur during the next administration. While it is clear that the Obama administration lead with its heart as well as with its head, I fear that the incoming administration will undo all or most of what the Obama administration has worked so hard to accomplish, often against all odds. The incoming administration appears poised to destroy or seriously weaken healthcare through significant cuts to ACA, Medicare and Medicaid. The new administration is likely to erase most if not all environmental protections and it is likely to weaken education. Whereas the Obama administration showed restraint, the incoming president has demonstrated time and again a "ready-shoot-aim" approach to most things. Trump's ultra-thin skin and narcissism are likely to lead to damaged relationships around the world before his first year is over. While the Obama administration had heart, it is clear that the incoming administration and its cabinet picks have no heart. Thank you, President Obama for all the good that you have done for the country and for the world.
133
John Kerry was an effective Secretary of State. President Obama decision to use diplomacy as a first resource foreign policy tool was crucial.
The question is what comes next with Donald Trump in the realm of the country. His first Tweet-announced intentions do not bode well.
Trump is humiliating a neighbor, Mexico, and destabilizing the most important allied, friend and economic trading partner, Germany, and the EU.
Besides, Trump's defensive economic policy proposals are opening the way for China to occupy the US place as the global leader in trade and economic integration. The international position of the US will certainly weaken. The welfare of the American people cannot be advanced in such scenario.
The question is what comes next with Donald Trump in the realm of the country. His first Tweet-announced intentions do not bode well.
Trump is humiliating a neighbor, Mexico, and destabilizing the most important allied, friend and economic trading partner, Germany, and the EU.
Besides, Trump's defensive economic policy proposals are opening the way for China to occupy the US place as the global leader in trade and economic integration. The international position of the US will certainly weaken. The welfare of the American people cannot be advanced in such scenario.
98
With this checklist of such significant accomplishments which furthered America's interests around the world, it will be interesting to see how quickly the Trump administration will dismantle them, for it is Trump's main intent to be the anti-Obama. Diplomacy requires a nuanced understanding of how to project American strength into global regions of conflict, led by a long-term assurance of stability and leadership based on cultivation of mutual interests for all factions. These are skills which are far away from Trump's abilities. Instead, we will see an increase in defeatist rancor, an erosion of America's global standing, and ultimately, involvement in more costly, unwarranted, and entirely avoidable bloodshed.
Thank you, Mr. Kerry, for your contributions to peace and stability. Your efforts, and the policies of President Obama, have had significantly beneficial impacts for more than just America. Now, we await the morass of catastrophic mistakes and amateur blunders which approach us.
Thank you, Mr. Kerry, for your contributions to peace and stability. Your efforts, and the policies of President Obama, have had significantly beneficial impacts for more than just America. Now, we await the morass of catastrophic mistakes and amateur blunders which approach us.
155
Thank you, Senator Kerry.
You would have made a truly exceptional president.
You would have made a truly exceptional president.
134
Strange...the omission of allowing China to annex the entire South China Sea.
No mention of the tragedy of millions of immigrants from the Middle East.
No mention of allowing Russia to annex the Crimea.
No mention of the tragedy of millions of immigrants from the Middle East.
No mention of allowing Russia to annex the Crimea.
5
And your alternative to "allowing" is what, exactly?
Honest people understand that when your adversary also has the ability to end civilization it tempers one's desire to shoot first.
Honest people understand that when your adversary also has the ability to end civilization it tempers one's desire to shoot first.
1
I agree completely. Unfortunately those who would be the best president, are often not the best candidate.
I very much appreciate Secretary Kerry's dedication to diplomacy first as well as his hard work. In many ways, for a good Secretary of State the work is thankless and behind the scenes. We have been served well.
Though international agreements are often messy and never perfect, I am proud that this administration got the Iran deal done. The alternatives were always worse. Though many sneer at it because Iran can still make a bomb in future years, they rarely present good alternatives for there are none short of all out war.
I support the TPP, but think that it is dead with this protectionist and short-sighted incoming president. What will happen instead is that China will develop a trading sphere with those same countries. The US will be excluded. So, we will have to pay much more to bring our goods to Asian markets and will pay dearly for theirs (attention Walmart shoppers)...
I firmly believe in diplomacy first. In our violent world, the last thing we need are leaders who are filled with machismo, prize themselves as strong-men, bristle at every insult or perceived slight, and essentially operate on a shoot-ready-aim agenda.
Though international agreements are often messy and never perfect, I am proud that this administration got the Iran deal done. The alternatives were always worse. Though many sneer at it because Iran can still make a bomb in future years, they rarely present good alternatives for there are none short of all out war.
I support the TPP, but think that it is dead with this protectionist and short-sighted incoming president. What will happen instead is that China will develop a trading sphere with those same countries. The US will be excluded. So, we will have to pay much more to bring our goods to Asian markets and will pay dearly for theirs (attention Walmart shoppers)...
I firmly believe in diplomacy first. In our violent world, the last thing we need are leaders who are filled with machismo, prize themselves as strong-men, bristle at every insult or perceived slight, and essentially operate on a shoot-ready-aim agenda.
76
Forget about machismo, what about the 500,000 Syrians who were slaughtered over the last six years? Would military intervention have saved their lives? I hope you enjoy your bargains at Walmart.
1
Imagine if the British Empire, then the most dominant power on the planet, had intervened more forcefully in the American Civil War.
In those days, cotton was what oil is today, the stuff that drove the global economy. The British would have justified their self serving and massive military assistance to the South as a fight for freedom from a repressive Northern regime.
The war might have lasted twice as long and left a divided and weakened nation, with a brutal, authoritarian leader was propped up by British occupying forces. And slavery would have continued as an economic system to fuel the British textile empire.
When the interventionists, whether Democrat and Republican, have been in charge of the US government since the end of WWII, many millions of lives and many trillions in US taxpayer dollars have been wasted in foreign lands.
It would appear that as of Jan 20, the interventionists are back in charge.
In those days, cotton was what oil is today, the stuff that drove the global economy. The British would have justified their self serving and massive military assistance to the South as a fight for freedom from a repressive Northern regime.
The war might have lasted twice as long and left a divided and weakened nation, with a brutal, authoritarian leader was propped up by British occupying forces. And slavery would have continued as an economic system to fuel the British textile empire.
When the interventionists, whether Democrat and Republican, have been in charge of the US government since the end of WWII, many millions of lives and many trillions in US taxpayer dollars have been wasted in foreign lands.
It would appear that as of Jan 20, the interventionists are back in charge.
100
Obama did intervene in Syria just enough to add his finger prints to the extension of the civil war.
3
The British did intervene, on the side of the North. They were instrumental in a a blockade of the South. The British had outlawed slavery decades earlier.
The slavery laws of the South originally derived from Papal decrees in the 1440s-1500s enslaving islamists and all Africans in revenge for the Islamic invasion of Constantinople.
The slavery laws of the South originally derived from Papal decrees in the 1440s-1500s enslaving islamists and all Africans in revenge for the Islamic invasion of Constantinople.
3
"It would appear that as of Jan 20, the interventionists are back in charge."
I find this sentence amazing. Trump has said repeatedly, yes repeatedly, that he is opposed to regime change.
But you pay no attention to what Trump says, nor to what Obama DID.
As interventionist president, Obama would surely give George W. Bush a run for his money. Bush destabilized Iraq. Obama did "better", destabilizing Libya, Syria and destroying the friendship between Ukraine and Russia.
It will be good to see that the NYT will no longer be "running the country." I do not want the US to be led by the blind.
I find this sentence amazing. Trump has said repeatedly, yes repeatedly, that he is opposed to regime change.
But you pay no attention to what Trump says, nor to what Obama DID.
As interventionist president, Obama would surely give George W. Bush a run for his money. Bush destabilized Iraq. Obama did "better", destabilizing Libya, Syria and destroying the friendship between Ukraine and Russia.
It will be good to see that the NYT will no longer be "running the country." I do not want the US to be led by the blind.
3
I was getting prepared to pen an appreciation for what appeared to be a very appropriate expression of modesty at what the Obama administration had accomplished in foreign affairs, particularly over the four years of Secretary Kerry’s tenure. But, as I got into it, it turned out not to be at all modest but an exercise in suggesting new language redefining failure as success.
“Assertive diplomacy”. That’s a great euphemism for the unwillingness to act, for fear that the action might precipitate a response – any response. But the conviction that vacillation and ceding history to adversaries for eight years was a GOOD thing was almost as entertaining as Harry Reid’s valediction in these pages. But Secretary Kerry, it must be admitted, is a MUCH better writer (with MUCH better hair).
It’s just astonishing how rosy Sec. Kerry’s view of the world is when someone just getting back from an eight-year assignment in the Asteroid Belt prospecting for Democratic humility might conclude that the world is in the biggest mess we’ve seen since the run-up to WWII.
We should thank all our public servants who gave so much of themselves over the past four and eight years as they go gentle into that good night. But it’s now time to look forward, not backward, and I suspect that America is getting excited again at the prospects of a new sec. of state when they consider Rex Tillerson and the likelihood of a VERY long list in eight years of what HE got right.
“Assertive diplomacy”. That’s a great euphemism for the unwillingness to act, for fear that the action might precipitate a response – any response. But the conviction that vacillation and ceding history to adversaries for eight years was a GOOD thing was almost as entertaining as Harry Reid’s valediction in these pages. But Secretary Kerry, it must be admitted, is a MUCH better writer (with MUCH better hair).
It’s just astonishing how rosy Sec. Kerry’s view of the world is when someone just getting back from an eight-year assignment in the Asteroid Belt prospecting for Democratic humility might conclude that the world is in the biggest mess we’ve seen since the run-up to WWII.
We should thank all our public servants who gave so much of themselves over the past four and eight years as they go gentle into that good night. But it’s now time to look forward, not backward, and I suspect that America is getting excited again at the prospects of a new sec. of state when they consider Rex Tillerson and the likelihood of a VERY long list in eight years of what HE got right.
28
You are truly delusional. Most Americans are frightened at the prospect of Trump and Vlad.
Rex might not get past Marco.
Thanks for the chuckles.
Rex might not get past Marco.
Thanks for the chuckles.
90
"'Assertive diplomacy'. That’s a great euphemism for the unwillingness to act, for fear that the action might precipitate a response – any response."
Herein lies the heart & soul of conservative foreign policy: bomb first, ask questions later. What Mr. Luettgen and most opponents of Obama's foreign policy fail to understand is that "aggressive diplomacy" is NOT "an unwillingness to act," it is the more difficult, painstaking and infinitely more productive action. Only Jimmy Carter can claim to be more of a peacemaker than Obama - and Carter has been singularly ridiculed for his unwillingness to drop bombs at the first hint of trouble. And yet the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty brokered by President Carter is the only peace treaty in the Middle East that has never been violated.
If we are to find fault with Obama's foreign policy, let's focus on the use of drones to carry out state-sponsored executions that often murdered innocent children and other bystanders. Now THAT is a legitimate complaint. But complaining because we found a way to slow Iran's progress towards a nuclear weapon without dropping bombs is ludicrous. Two traditional enemies - Iran and Cuba - are now joining Vietnam as friends and trading partners of the US, and conservatives howl that we're showing the world how weak we are.
Every time we choose a military solution, children die. And I am adamantly opposed to the deaths of children caused by US weapons.
Herein lies the heart & soul of conservative foreign policy: bomb first, ask questions later. What Mr. Luettgen and most opponents of Obama's foreign policy fail to understand is that "aggressive diplomacy" is NOT "an unwillingness to act," it is the more difficult, painstaking and infinitely more productive action. Only Jimmy Carter can claim to be more of a peacemaker than Obama - and Carter has been singularly ridiculed for his unwillingness to drop bombs at the first hint of trouble. And yet the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty brokered by President Carter is the only peace treaty in the Middle East that has never been violated.
If we are to find fault with Obama's foreign policy, let's focus on the use of drones to carry out state-sponsored executions that often murdered innocent children and other bystanders. Now THAT is a legitimate complaint. But complaining because we found a way to slow Iran's progress towards a nuclear weapon without dropping bombs is ludicrous. Two traditional enemies - Iran and Cuba - are now joining Vietnam as friends and trading partners of the US, and conservatives howl that we're showing the world how weak we are.
Every time we choose a military solution, children die. And I am adamantly opposed to the deaths of children caused by US weapons.
237
Tillerson will need all our hope for a successful term but running a Nation is not the same as running a large Corporation. Nations are required to work with other Nations, each have an agenda to advance. This is indeed the diplomacy of the game of State, mostly give some and get some. The ideal result is that all participates leave the table feeling respected and that they have maintained some of their own needs. Good negotiations usually avoid the conflict of war, war is never a good result for any Nation. Even if you may be lucky enough to "win" the price in human blood and monies are always losers.
Corporations needs are different and usually concern wheedling deals to create larger profits, usually at the feet of lesser Nations.
Most importantly, all negotiations should benefit the citizens of each Nation and not the agenda of the political party currently in power.
Corporations needs are different and usually concern wheedling deals to create larger profits, usually at the feet of lesser Nations.
Most importantly, all negotiations should benefit the citizens of each Nation and not the agenda of the political party currently in power.
15
In short, Mr. Kerry argues intelligently in favor of the Obama administration's preference for diplomacy rather than military intervention. It does take patience and commitment to reduce America's tendency - under certain administrations - to overreach militarily. Most would say that the results of the foreign policy of Obama were mixed, leaning toward negative in the Middle East. Nonetheless, the attempt to slowdown our propensity to use muscle militarily is laudable - for all the reasons Kerry writes. The most unfortunate result of the Obama/Kerry foreign policy, however, is the overaggressive foreign policy backlash of the next administration that we MAY have to experience in future. That could be tragic and much worse.
101
Thank you John Kerry for your many diplomatic efforts to keep America safe without putting our military in danger with boots on the ground. I know you have logged millions of miles around the world to perform in person negotiations. Both you and a President Obama will be missed!
309
President Obama tried to forge a new path after the disaster of the Bush years...often against impossible odds. He inherited a mess. But his foreign policy initiatives were not much better and in some cases appalling. Look at the Mid-East... it's a disaster. It is much worse than what it was in 2008. The State Dept. made blunder after blunder. Syria and Libya are a good examples. In Syria the focal point of the Western policy has been that “Assad must go!” But he hasn't and the whole country has been reduced to rubble, with refugees over running Europe. More than 220,000 people have been killed. Didn't anyone in the State Department see this coming? Qaddafi and his regime were ousted from power in September 2011. Five years later country is ruled by terrorists. Why did we allow this to happen with Iraq already tottering and Syria stumbling into civil war? It will take decades to restore even a semblance of stability to this region. How can anyone call this anything but a total complete failure. Sec. Kerry and President Obama are good men. But they need to admit the truth: We Got More Wrong than We Got Right.
22
We could add the military coup in Honduras and the subsequent and continuing bloodbath there.
5
Deciding on how something was gotten wrong as defined by the actions of an unpredictable madman doesn't strike as the best of all yardsticks.
2
Pray tell, what would you have done if you were in their shoes?
2
"all while maintaining an often mutually beneficial relationship with Beijing"
This looks like it has an early expiration date.
Tomorrow looms!
The polarity vacuum that China has filled since the collapse of the Soviet Union will be returned to stasis by the return of Russia. This time, with a hungry Vladimir Putin at the helm.
Clearly when Trump cried , " No, You're the puppet"...he was projecting!
This looks like it has an early expiration date.
Tomorrow looms!
The polarity vacuum that China has filled since the collapse of the Soviet Union will be returned to stasis by the return of Russia. This time, with a hungry Vladimir Putin at the helm.
Clearly when Trump cried , " No, You're the puppet"...he was projecting!
18
The grab of the south china sea with manmade islands and military bases is hardly a mutually beneficial relationship. The Chinese evaluated the administration and decided they were so weak that China could be aggressive without regard to consequences. Tomorrow, the feckless US policies ends.
3
I have been so very proud of John Kerry. The Vietnam war hero and public face of the anti war movement, the senator with a enduring dedication to the public service, the Presidential candidate, who should, could, ought to have derailed a second W presidency, but for the horrible obscenity of being "swift boated" --- the secretary of state who performed his duties with intelligence, eloquence, and grace-- he defines for us what public service is, on the highest level of dignity and self sacrifice--- I, for one, could not be more indebted to you for the long arc of your public service and personal self sacrifice for the public good.
419
Ditto! Oops, that response has already been made worthless by the blowhard. So, terrific response that represents my thoughts precisely. Kerry is a great human being who worked tirelessly for America's values.
4
The Vietnamese communist party is and was very appreciative of John Kerry's support 40 years ago and now. Chona ppreciates Johns vacillation and non action on their military base adventurism in the South China Sea. They are one base away from having the means to control the entire South China Sea by A2D2. The Iranians appreciate their reentry into Middle East power politics thanks to the nuclear "deal" and Assad appreicyes US non action as they bombed Aleppo out pushing back the majority faction in Syria. Russia appreciates American inaction in Crimea and Ukraine. The Castro family appreciates their ability to remain in power after leading Cub through 60 years of poverty and repression under communist rule. Mr Kerry also fails to mention china's mini me, N Korea which has been threatening Asia and the America with nuclear disaster aggressively lately. Woo hop. Mr Kerry helped America lose Vietnam to communism and he continues to play patsy for the world's worst players.
1
@James Landi,
If Rex Tillerson becomes the next Secretary of State, let's hope he doesn't "swift boat" American diplomacy up the river without a paddle. It's possible that if John Kerry were the Democratic nominee instead of Secretary Clinton, things might have turned out differently on November 8.
If Rex Tillerson becomes the next Secretary of State, let's hope he doesn't "swift boat" American diplomacy up the river without a paddle. It's possible that if John Kerry were the Democratic nominee instead of Secretary Clinton, things might have turned out differently on November 8.
1
What's next for Mr. Kerry?
May I suggest Secretary General of the United Nations? That would give Putin headaches for years.
Thank you sir, for your service and this article. I voted for you in 2004 and reading this article makes me remember why I did.
May I suggest Secretary General of the United Nations? That would give Putin headaches for years.
Thank you sir, for your service and this article. I voted for you in 2004 and reading this article makes me remember why I did.
300
Ben speaks for me, too.
He ran with Edwards, a liar, and menace - not exactly M. Kerry's brightest moment.
1
Of course - what else is he going to say? That our pious meddling just about everywhere in the world has the planet in more turmoil than anyone can ever recall?
Kerry looks depleted and exhausted - now the chairman of Exxon looks to take his place in an administration that promises to set new records for ham-handedness.
What a disgrace.
Kerry looks depleted and exhausted - now the chairman of Exxon looks to take his place in an administration that promises to set new records for ham-handedness.
What a disgrace.
25
You must have skipped the part where he describes the debates in the Situation Room.
1
"Diplomacy requires creativity, patience and commitment to a steady grind, often away from the spotlight". The leader of the next administration can't function unless he is in the spotlight. After all, isn't everything only about him, and him alone? Mr. Kerry, your possible successor, a billionaire oilman who has financial dealings with Russia, has already displayed an ignorance of world affairs during his hearings this week. There were dozens of questions he couldn't or wouldn't answer, claiming that he needed time for study and assessment of the many global issues he must surely deal with as America's top diplomat.
Well, the incoming president boasted at his convention last summer that "I alone can fix it". He knows nothing at all about diplomacy and neither does his nominee for this most important Cabinet post. You, Mr. Kerry, served in Viet Nam while the 45th president received four deferments to avoid military service for his country. That's all anyone needs to know about what this country's diplomatic priorities will be for the next few years.
Well, the incoming president boasted at his convention last summer that "I alone can fix it". He knows nothing at all about diplomacy and neither does his nominee for this most important Cabinet post. You, Mr. Kerry, served in Viet Nam while the 45th president received four deferments to avoid military service for his country. That's all anyone needs to know about what this country's diplomatic priorities will be for the next few years.
181
Goodbye, Mr. Kerry. You have served your country well, providing a solid framework for Iran to continue developing nuclear weapons. Your signature "agreement" - labeled as such so as to avoid a Senate confirmation - provides loopholes for the Persians to scurry through, such as buying conventional weapons from Russia and China, testing ballistic missiles, and increasing their stockpile of uranium. Indeed, Mr. Kerry, one wonders how much safer Americans could be if you had only concluded a similar "agreement" with North Korea.
16
Thank you for your service to this country, Mr. Kerry! We already miss your diplomatic approach to resolving global conflict and your reluctance to shed more American blood. We are a stronger, happier, and healthier (if not wiser) country for it.