US President Barack Obama used the New Year�s Eve festivities as a cover for making serious concessions in foreign policy, according to a prominent American journalist.


"If you're going to�engage in�a foreign policy capitulation, might as�well do it when everyone is getting tanked and otherwise occupied. Say, New Year's Eve," Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charles Krauthammer wrote in�a piece for�the Daily Telegraph.


In October 2015, Iran launched a ballistic missile capable of�carrying a nuclear payload, thus violating a UN Security Council resolution, yet Obama did nothing. A month later Iran carried out�another missile launch, but�the US administration only "makes a few gestures at�the UN", the journalist remarks.
And on�December 30, the White House announced the implementation of�several sanctions that are "weak, aimed mostly at�individuals and designed essentially for�show," according to�Krauthammer.


Yet on�the evening of�the same day, the US government relents and cancels these sanctions while Tehran decides to�expedite its missile program. These actions merely fan the anti-American sentiment in�Iran while at�the same time Saudi Arabia may consider it a betrayal, the newspaper adds.
"For years, Iran has been supporting anti-regime agitation among�Saudi Arabia's minority Shiites. The Persian Gulf is Iran's ultimate prize. The fall of�the House of�Saud would make Iran the undisputed regional hegemon and an emerging global power," Krauthammer writes.


But Barack Obama appears willing to�ignore this possibility just as�he ignores China�s attempts to�expand its influence in�the South China Sea, the journalist adds.

Furthermore, despite�previously declaring his intention to �isolate� Russia following�the country�s reunification with�Crimea in�2014, Obama now meets openly with�Russian President Vladimir Putin on�several occasions.

According to�Krauthammer, Obama�s actions effectively undermine Pax Americana. "Our enemies know it. Our allies see it � and sense they're on�their own, and may not survive," the journalist claims.
By Sputnik