It has been an amazing day on the international news front… These three stories are all tied together, thanks to the skill of the new administration…

1) The opening of dialogue with Cuba.

2) The handshake with Chavez of Venezuela

3) The UN walkout of the president of Iran’s diatribe of Israeli racism…

All three show a break from outdated Republican policies….

First with Cuba… A State Department’s go-slow approach was shocked by the admission of Raul Castro, that he is ready to discuss “human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners… everything.” He said: “We could be wrong.. We admit it. We’re human beings too.

Ok, so how long have we had the embargo? And now…. we get the admission.. If you want progress, you must have dialogue… Those who punish first, expecting capitulation, are just plain wrong.. That of course includes the entire Republican Party…As most of you are now just finding out, they are just plain wrong…

The handshake from Chavez was motivated more by how much Obama is worshiped in Venezuela than by any policy change… Chavez cannot afford the appearance of being the enemy of one so admired by his own constituents… Therefore as long as the US interests do not directly impinge upon the welfare of Venezuela’s citizens, we should have an ally in Chavez who must appear to be on our side, especially since he may have his own domestic challengers… And as most of America knows, the criticism Chavez leveled at our former administration, was shared by 65% of Americans as well… In fact, America went to the polls in record numbers to elect our current president, simply because our last one was so bad…

Now with a simple handshake, we have far more political inroads into Venezuela than we ever would have had Obama dissed Chavez as did Bush… You might remember how stupid every American was seen to be, because Bush would never mention Chavez by name? We were the joke of civilization… and well deserved we should be.. Anyone out there who still thinks we should treat Chavez as a stepchild, is simply ignorant… And yes, they are also all Republicans….

Third, the president of Iran got up and railed against Israel’s racist policies… He was jeered off stage and half of the crowd walked out… Here we gave him the rope, and he hung himself… Today he gave the United States’ cause for the support of Israel, far more credibility than had we as the old administration would have done, forbid him from coming and speaking… The old policy gave him support among his allies… Today, based on his personal implosion, his allies are running away for cover…. He is far more isolated upon the world’s stage, than at any time over the past administration’s misjudgements….

Hence the brilliance of the Biden/ Obama tact… Let our enemies do our work for us.. Let them ruin their stature in the world by themselves, without us damaging ours in the process…

But if one of our former enemies can outmaneuver us on the global stage, so that they truly appear willing to change, and anxious to open new relations up with us, then after all these wasted years it appears they weren’t really our enemies after all…

Of course Republicans will complain they are… But then, by now, we all know that when it comes to governing, Republicans don’t know much of anything.