The Story of the Scorpion and the Frog.... The New U.S. Foreign Policy!

The Scorpion and the Frog

One day, a scorpion arrived at a river and wanted to cross it.  He new he couldn't swim across, but he saw a frog sitting on a rock on the other side. 

The scorpion called to the frog across the river.  "Hello, Mr. Frog.  Since I cannot swim and you can, will you please come here and give me a ride across the river to the other side?" asked the scorpion.

The frog looked startled, but quickly responded, "Oh, no!  You are a scorpion.  If you sting me, I will die."

"But if you give me a ride, I promise, I will not sting you.  I give you my word," responded the scorpion.

"Well now, how do I know that if I try to help you, you won't try to sting me?" asked the frog hesitantly.

"Because," continued the scorpion, "if I sting you, then I will die also because I cannot swim!  If you will kindly give me a ride, I give you my word that I will not sting you."

The frog thought about it, but the scorpion's reasoning made sense, but still questioning it, the frog asked, "What happens if you really don't want a ride, and I get close to the bank? You could sting me and go back to the shore!"

"That's true," agreed the scorpion, "but then how would I get to the other side?"

"Okay, so if I take you to the other side, how do I know that you won't wait until we get to the other side before you sting me?" asked the still uncertain frog.

"Ohhh, do you doubt my word?  I cannot cross the river on my own.  If you give me a ride across the river," said the scorpion in his friendliest voice, "I will be forever grateful to you, so grateful in fact, that I could never sting you.  That wouldn't be very nice of me now, would it?  And we can be good friends!"

After thinking a little bit longer, the frog thought it might be nice to have a scorpion as a friend, so the frog told the scorpion to wait for him ... that he'd be right over to give him a ride.  The frog swam across the river to the bank and told the scorpion to hop on his back.  The scorpion crawled on the frog's back and they started back across the river.  The frog was very careful to stay close to the surface so the scorpion wouldn't drown.

Halfway across the river, the frog felt a sharp, painful sting, and a throbbing numbness coursed through his body.  Realizing that the scorpion had stung him and that death was inevitable, he looked back at the scorpion shocked and bewildered, and asked, "Why did you do that?  You gave my your word!  Now we are both going to die."

"It's my nature!"

So why am I telling you this story?

Russian spies were caught in the United States.  Hurriedly, a deal was struck with Russia to release the spies in a prisoner exchange.  For reasons or strategies that are not obvious to us, this may have been  a gesture of goodwill by the frog, but let's call him a toad instead, with a hope of increased cooperation in the future between the two countries.  Were any promises made or were this administration's expectations unreasonable or inflated?

So who is the toad and who is the scorpion in the story? Actually, barf is the incompetent, inexperienced naive toad, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are the scorpions.  Barf just didn't have the good sense to realize he could not make friends with Russia. Russia will always be Russia, and Russia "[S]ometimes ... [got] the impression that America does not need friends" but only "auxiliary subjects to command."[1]  "... Putin and his administration dramatically curtailed freedoms. His government has shut down TV stations and newspapers, jailed businessmen whose wealth and influence challenged the Kremlin's hold on power, defanged opposition political parties and arrested those who confront his rule."[2]  As a child, one learns that tigers do not change their stripes. Putin is former KGB. Once KGB, always KGB ... It's his nature.

Add Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, into the scorpion nest and it's not looking good for the toad. We have a scorpion able to cajole and appear to entertain the seemingly reasonable requests made by the USA and by the United Nations for inspections.  Instead, the naive, incompetent toad found a disingenuous scorpion that actually takes great pleasure in stinging an unsuspecting victim despite ensuring its own death ... It's his nature!

What is the toad doing?  Barf has neither the competence, nor the experience to deal with such an opportunistic and deadly predator.  The scorpions are working together to ensure the destruction of the toad.  I don't think the toad realizes that he's in over his head.  You can't be nice to scorpions.  The relationship in the real world, as is portrayed in the story, is one of "mutually assured destruction."  There are no winners when a toad tries to be friends with scorpions!

The End

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[1] Ignatius, Adi. "Person of the Year 2007: A Tsar is Born." Time Magazine, http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/personoftheyear/article/0,28804,1690753_1690757_1690766-1,00.htm

[2] Id.