July 13, 2009

Here in Rome, the G8 meeting has concluded. Among the accomplishments, if you can call them such, was an agreement deploring the post-election violence in Iran and – get this – if no diplomatic solution is reached by the time the G20 gather in Pittsburgh in late September, leaders will reach new decisions.

There was no call for actually doing anything about Iran’s rapid pursuit of nuclear weapons. No boycott threats and certainly no promise of military action. That will be left, as always, to the United States and Israel. If one or both of these nations actually do something, those who never do anything will wring their hands at best and issue new resolutions denouncing America and Israel. That’s their definition of strength, when in fact it is a demonstration of their own weakness.

Failure to act against tyrants guarantees more tyranny. Failure to confront evil and repel it allows evil to spread and become an even greater threat. It has always been so, but the G8 under the doctrine of negotiation – favored by President Barack Obama – think otherwise. They are desperately wrong and will soon be proven so.

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.