The annual U.N. General Assembly gathering is very much like a soccer league's kickoff match. Just as in sports, the season gets underway when diplomatic players arrive with their managers at a pre-determined date to lay out their worldviews. Although not all of their promises are fulfilled over the following 12 months, at least everyone knows where they are heading. This annual event and speeches have become a mechanical routine, and Monday's speakers acted accordingly. Arab leaders and the U.N. secretary-general called for renewing talks between Israelis and Palestinians; Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said she was sick and tired of construction in the settlements. Her speech suggests that Brasilia and Jerusalem may still be at odds over Dani Dayan, a prominent settler who was recently tapped to serve as Israel's next ambassador in the South American country. The Israeli-Palestinian issue took a backseat at the U.N. on Monday, but it will be prominently featured when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas deliver their addresses. As expected, the opening day was dominated by Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin. The two also met privately against the backdrop of the escalating American-Russian relations. The meeting was a clash between an American president who, despite presiding over a recovering economy, has been a weak leader, and a resolved Russian ruler whose economy is in tatters. Who will prevail? The late Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban used to slam Arab leaders over their hostility toward Israel, saying they never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. This is equally true when it comes to Obama's foreign policy. He has been reluctant when it comes to exercising military force, to the point that he is now a borderline pacifist. This policy complicates his desire to see Syrian President Bashar Assad go. How exactly is Obama going to realize this goal now that Russia and Iran are actively propping up the Assad regime? Obama has drawn red lines to check Assad's brutality in Syria, but when Assad breached those lines, the U.S. president looked the other way. Not once, but twice. Now that even German Chancellor Angela Merkel is considering talks with the Syrian dictator to help stem the flow of German-bound refugees, Obama has finally called for Assad's ouster. By expressing that view, Obama publicly poked Putin in the eye. Putin later delivered his rebuttal on the same podium. Putin has lost faith in Obama, and vice versa. Even worse, the Russian leader has interpreted Obama's diplomatic posture as weakness. In 1989, when Australia managed to score a critical goal against Israel in a soccer match, a famous Israeli sportscaster lashed out against his national team. "This is not how you build a wall!" he shouted. In Obama's case, we can say, "This is not how you run foreign policy!" Putin still thinks that his resolve and strength will lead to victory, and just like many other autocrats before him, he is riding high thanks to his aggression. But over time, he could see a reversal of fortunes. As for Obama, it seems that, even seven years after entering the White House, he has yet to fully figure out what is in America's best interest. Either that, or he simply believes no one else in America knows what's best for his country.
