IBD points out that the United States is virtually alone in continuing to pressure Honduras:
[The United States] thinks it’s part of a group: “This is a regional and international effort,” a senior administration official told IBD Thursday. “We’ve talked to the Europeans . . . so if anything, we’ll be redoubling efforts moving forward on this. And no, we’re not isolated at all.”
But as Honduras remains firm, the rest of the world, sees this and has started to restore normal ties. If this continues, the U.S. will be left holding the bag as the world’s bad cop bully.
Even Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, by whose influence Zelaya tried to make himself dictator, announced on Sept. 1 that he’d given up hope Zelaya would ever return to office. “Regardless of whether Zelaya returns or not . . . Honduras will keep up the fight,” Chavez said. The Venezuelan strongman can read the obvious: game over.
Meanwhile, the European Union announced it wouldn’t initiate trade sanctions on Honduras as it had threatened earlier. It knew the deal and knew its interests.
Thursday, the International Monetary Fund announced it would extend a $150 million loan to Honduras, a sharp shift from the lending cutoff announced by the World Bank after the June 28 ouster of Zelaya. Again, game over, back to business.
The Organization of American States, which egged on Zelaya’s illegal referendum and helped create the crisis, announced it would now focus on avoiding future “coups” — something that, if they were serious, would mean challenging dictators in democracy’s clothing, an unlikely thing. But they, too, are moving on.
(Previous post.) (Via Instapundit.)
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