Sophomore literally means "wise fool."

Though they're wise in their own eyes, the title's three leftists – even former Secretary of State Clinton – own America's diminishment and the predictable subsequent chaos around the world.

Skipping over Cuba and Asia, here's your evidence that they act foolishly in the Middle East and Central Asia.

1. Hillary's private email server while secretary of state shows bad judgment.

One exception to our Middle East focus – this folly has gone around the globe.

How dumb can she be?

Be sure that China and Russia and any number of countries have hacked it and now possess compromising secrets about her.  This may (and should) disqualify her from the White House.

2. The worst failure: overthinking, peacenik Obama campaigned on withdrawing military from Iraq and did so.  Now ISIS has swamped the zone.

This is what happened in Vietnam.  We withdrew, and the North overwhelmed and slaughtered countless people in the South.  Kerry has a history of bad foreign policy decisions.

Now the Syrian refugees (and others) are naturally streaming into better places.  Safe havens in the area would have been adequate and less costly until the conflict cooled down.

Let's figure out this ISIS swamp by using the logic of history and our knowledge of Islam.

a. ISIS has set up a caliphate.

b. They have instituted sharia courts and other social benefits, like an education system for boys (not girls).  They even have garbage collection.

c. They are following old Islamic law.  That's why the captives were beheaded – the shariah courts have sentenced them to this punishment, presumably for being infidel spies and enemies of Islam.

d. They have oil money and a tax system.

e. They have weapons, though no jets.

f. Their caliphate established, they are now ready – so they believe – to attack the West and bring it down.

It is the bad decision by the axis of sophomores to withdraw from the region that has led to most of the foreign policy disasters below.

3. They have not adequately supported Israel and its elected prime minister, but treated it as if it were the stumbling block to peace.

The examples are too numerous to give here.  The administration tried to interfere with the Israeli elections to get rid of Netanyahu.

"Wise" fools.

4. Their Iran deal is still a disaster.

It sends $100-150 billion to them, and now the regime can be propped up.  They'll use some of the money to fund more terrorism.  They will always search for a nuclear weapon.

5. They allowed the day-long Benghazi attacks to continue without sending help.

People died; Hillary lied.  It's not her fault, and it wasn't a planned attack on 9/11/12, just before the elections.  It was spontaneous riot over a video no one saw.

But what difference at this point does it make?  He won in 2012, and she'll be the nominee in 2016.

6. ISIS is the "jayvee team," and the attacks in Paris were a "setback," while Kerry said before the attacks that ISIS was "contained."

These are more classic understatements and misstatements by our Zen Commander-in-Chief and his team.

"Misunderestimating" your opponents, especially the deadly ones, is foolish.

7. They didn't impose a no-fly zone over Syria so the Free Syrian Army could have taken out Assad.

It's too late now.  Russian planes are in the skies.

8. They have refused to support Kurds with adequate materiel because they have to run it by Baghdad first.

Too many protocols and niceties.  They're tough fighters, and they need our support.

9. The red lines were crossed in Syria, but nothing was done.

If Assad used chemical weapons, then we would intervene.  He did.  We didn't.

Weakness and passivity embolden our enemies and hurt our interests.

10. They believe there is no military solution with ISIS.

White House bureaucrat Jen Psaki said this recently.  Wrong.  A state that is holed up in a territory can be defeated.  Didn't we drive the Nazis back to Berlin and defeat them?  We have to clear out the rats' nest.  Hillary has now changed her tune and is talking tough.  Never mind that she was secretary of state when the withdrawal from Iraq was taking shape.

In any case, we need the Iraqi Sunnis to fight Sunni ISIS in Iraq and the Syrian Sunnis to fight ISIS in Syria.

A military solution can pave the way for a reestablishment of a political solution.

11. The rules of engagement are too restrictive.

It is true that American fighter jets recently bombed oil transport trucks, but we need to be even more aggressive.  We shouldn't let "environmental justice" (whatever that means) impede our progress.

I realize we can't bomb to smithereens the civilian Sunnis in ISIS territory, because we need them for the future.

If nothing else, we can cut off roads and supply lines and communicate with the people and the possible few dissidents who are tired of ISIS's oppression – even pay them to help the liberation of the area.  It wouldn't take long to see positive results.

12. About twenty militant groups are setting up their own mini-caliphates under ISIS.

This is why the Beirut bombings happened and the Russian plane exploded over Sinai and the Paris attacks could take place.  ISIS is popular, so it is expanding its reach with ready jihadist soldiers.

13. A new axis of evil is beginning to take shape in the Middle East: Iran-Russia-Turkey-Syria.

You can arrange them as you will, but Russia and Iran are the leaders.

Have any of the three sophomores figured out that those four nations don't like Israel very much?  Separately or together, unified or fractured, they'll destabilize the region for decades to come.  If we get rid of Assad (and that's no done deal if Russia has its way), put forward our guy, and hold free elections, there's no guarantee the people will vote for him.

Going farther than the Middle East, now Iran is backing the Taliban with cash and arms in Afghanistan.

By their passivity and mixed messages, the axis of sophomores has allowed this new axis of evil to emerge.

The solution is to have an American military base in northern Iraq after the rats' nest has been cleared out, just as we have troops along the Demilitarized Zone in Korea and bases in Japan and Germany.

But "wise" fool Obama won't adequately join Hollande's Grand Coalition.

14. Al-Qaeda is back and on the rise.

Weren't they on the run?

Yet they're taking over old cities they lost in Afghanistan.  They are also on the rise in Yemen and North Africa.

Time to wrap this up.

It has been asked whether we're safer now than before Obama implemented his delicately nuanced and super-sophisticated policies.  These fourteen reasons – and there are more – say no.

Why have these foreign policy disasters happened?  What is the bigger political philosophy and culture behind them?

In their bones, leftists believe that America is the cause of the troubles around the world.  If only she would withdraw or at least be diminished – lead from behind – then the world would be a better place.  This explains why Hollande in his recent visit did not get what he reasonably wanted from Obama.

But how has this misreading of the world and our role in it entered America's psyche?

At least two sources.

Where do leftists dominate?  Colleges and universities.  Who comes out of colleges and universities?  Politicians.  It's beneficial to go to school, but can the students use a little wisdom?  Can they now research the web to find out how they're being indoctrinated?

The second source: the left also dominate the mainstream media, who love the axis of sophomores.

Leftists hold the deep conviction in their hearts that America is the problem.  They're wrong.  She's the solution for the world – insofar as she stands for life and liberty, which is the greatest need around the globe.

James Arlandson's website is Live as Free People, which is updated almost daily and where he has posted Three Universal Values and Thirty Shariah Laws.