Robert O’Brien’s complaint about Obama and the Falklands is overwrought:

The shabby treatment meted out to America’s “special relationship” partner in this instance cannot be seen as a surprise. It is in line with the administration’s treatment of Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (at least prior to Bob Turner winning Anthony Weiner’s Congressional seat in New York). Poland and the Czech Republic suffered similar slights after the Administration unilaterally cancelled ABM sites in those countries as part of its naïve and, so far, unsuccessful attempt to “reset” relations with Russia.

The administration’s actions in connection with the Falklands have not been all that impressive, and I have objected to the clumsy handling of the issue in the past, but this complaint also ignores the long history of U.S. neutrality in this dispute. It isn’t surprising that O’Brien fits the administration’s handling of this issue into the larger, mostly absurd narrative of undermining allies. The U.S. policy of neutrality on the Falklands is a perfectly legitimate one, and it’s one that the U.S. has maintained for decades. The mistake the administration made was not its “failure to back America’s key ally,” but rather the unnecessary insertion of the U.S. into the dispute.