It’s the appeasement paradox.

Negotiations are more likely to begin and go somewhere when there’s a strong position. And that makes sense. Why bother negotiating with someone who has set the market price of their consent so low as to hardly be worth bothering with? It’s why the major Cold War talks were conducted with Reagan and Nixon. It’s also why the Trump administration made more diplomatic progress than Obama.

Biden came into office promising diplomatic breakthroughs. His media keeps claiming that “America is back on the world stage”.

Meanwhile the enemy nations he’s courting keep snubbing him.

Here’s the latest from Iran.

 Iran’s president-elect staked out a hard-line position Monday in his first remarks since his landslide election victory, rejecting the possibility of meeting with President Joe Biden or negotiating Tehran’s ballistic missile program and support of regional militias.

And from North Korea.

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un dismissed prospects for an early resumption of diplomacy with the United States, saying Tuesday that U.S. expectations of talks would “plunge them into a greater disappointment.”

And when America’s enemies aren’t outright humiliating Biden, they’re condescendingly patting him on the head.

“I want to say that the image of President Biden that our and even the American press paints has nothing to do with reality,” Mr. Putin said. “He’s a professional, and you have to be very careful in working with him to make sure you don’t miss anything. He doesn’t miss anything, I can assure you.”

Sure.

It’s a tribute to Biden’s incredible performance that America’s enemies either snub him or condescend to him. Either way, Biden’s accomplishments in foreign policy thus far consist of…

1. Starting a war in Israel

2. Financing Iran’s military reboot that’s destabilizing the region

3. Encouraging China’s push to take Taiwan and a huge chunk of the tech industry with it

4. Having Kamala alienate Latin American countries with a regime change push

5. Picking a fight with the UK, America’s only ally in Europe, before a European trip

Masterful stuff.

Article posted with permission from Daniel Greenfield