Is Now The Time For A New U.S. Secretary Of State?

President Barack Obama talks with Secretary of State John Kerry, National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice, and Phil Gordon, White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa, and the Gulf Region, left, in the Oval Office, Nov. 22, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Kerry’s Folly, Chapter 3 -- Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post

When has a secretary of state been involved in so many disastrous, self-initiated negotiations? First, John Kerry convenes — against all advice and holding no cards — Geneva negotiations to resolve the Syria conflict and supposedly remove Bashar al-Assad from power. The talks collapse in acrimony and confusion.

Kerry’s response? A second Geneva conference that — surprise! — breaks up in acrimony and confusion.

Then, even as Russian special forces are taking over Crimea, Kerry goes chasing after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov — first to Paris, then Rome, then London — offering a diplomatic “offramp.” Lavrov shrugs him off. Russia annexes Crimea.

The crowning piece of diplomatic futility, however, is Kerry’s frantic effort to salvage the Arab-Israeli negotiations he launched, also against all odds and sentient advice. He’s made 12 trips to the region, aiming to produce a final Middle East peace within nine months.

It is month nine. The talks have gone nowhere. But this has been a fool’s errand from Day One. There never was any chance of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas concluding a final peace .

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My Comment: John Kerry is not going to be replaced. Much (if not all) of what U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been doing in the past year has been done with the backing (if not initiative) of President Obama .... and President Obama is not going to fire himself. As for U.S. foreign policy .... expect no changes until after the 2016 Presidential elections.