Years ago, I was talking to Elliott Abrams, about some matter of foreign policy. He was emphasizing the interrelation of things. “The thigh bone’s connected to the hip bone. The hip bone’s connected to the back bone.”

I have thought of this, when writing my “Baltic Journal.” The eighth and penultimate installment is up today.

When I got to Latvia, I met with a national-security official. A man of long, rich, varied experience. He brought up Syria. Syria? We were talking about the Baltics, Russia, and NATO. Yes, but President Obama once declared a red line in Syria. And then Assad crossed it. And the United States did … nothing.

Which was noticed in the Baltics, as in the Kremlin, no doubt. The thigh bone’s connected to the hip bone. In world affairs, things are related. If the American word in Syria meant nothing, what about the American word in Europe? Or the Far East? What are the Japanese and South Koreans to think? What will Beijing make of it? (And good luck to the Taiwanese.)

Now, as another official pointed out to me, in Estonia, there is a big difference between a “political declaration” — i.e., Obama’s words about Syria — and a treaty obligation. Still, the American flinch in Syria is something people remember, understandably.

I thought back to something Obama said to Jeffrey Goldberg, in a long interview about America and the world. He said, “I’m very proud of this moment” — meaning, his drawing back from military action in Syria. Let me quote a comment I made:

I can understand thinking, “It was the right thing to do, grim a decision as it was to make. A hard thing to swallow, given the carnage in Syria. But, in the end, I thought it was the right thing to do. The non-action was right.”
But proud? Really? Nay, very proud? “I’m very proud of this moment”?
There is all too much pride among us humans, and not enough humility.