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Dismantling America's Alliances
(Tablet) Lee Smith - The Obama Administration's abstention at the UN isn't just about Israel or bilateral relations with a vital partner in a key region. It's also about the prestige of the U.S. and its power - the power, for instance, undergirding international institutions like the UN. Consider how the Obama Administration has used the UN the last several years - to legalize the nuclear program of Iran, a state sponsor of terror, and make it illegal for Jews to build in their historical homeland. At the UN, the White House partnered with sclerotic socialist kleptocracies like Venezuela in order to punish allies, like Israel. Is this American moral leadership? What matters is dismantling the alliance system that has kept America and much of the rest of the world secure in favor of a new system of the President's own devising, in which the U.S. partners with Iran and stands idly by while 500,000 civilians are massacred in Syria, and Russia and China launch cyber-attacks targeting key U.S. institutions without fear of retribution or reprisal - actions that are reserved only for America's friends. The writer is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.