the decline of the wild west
Posted October 25, 2006 on 12:11 pm | In the category U.S. Foreign Policy | by Mackenzie BrothersHow the mighty have fallen – and how fast. Not long aqo a visit by the US Secretary of State would have been a reason for any Asian country to pull out all the stops and to listen carefully. Now Ms Rice makes a quick tour of Asian capitals to rally support for some sort of initiative against loose cannon North Korea and finds only polite indifference. The fact is that the US has given away its poistion of power in Asia with hopelessly (un)planned attack on Iraq, its failure (with some allies who would not have dreamed of getting invoved in Iraq) to solve the endless problem of Afghanistan, where no invading power has ever come out looking well, and its hopelessly one-sided support of Israel. Every Asian diplomat listened politely and played the protocol game, but no one really cared a great deal what she said. Japanese diplomats immediately thereafter suggested it was time to discuss nucear weapons for Japan, China presses on with its own (somewhat confusing) policy on North Korea, Russia clearly acts in its own interests, and, worst of all North Korea makes it perfectly clear that even a dwarf can ignore the demands of the blustering former superpower. Can this be changed? Hard to say but whoever takes over from the present amateurs will have plenty of recuperative work to do in Asia.
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This is Old News that apparently is just now wending its way to the Great North. Conrad Black is obviously slipping – or perhaps MacKenzie Bros’ subscription to the National Post expired. Or, worse, he has left Canada for more serious countries.
But then, he has a point. It is unlikely that the U.S. administration can get anyone, anywhere, to do anything they want done. The Iraqi Prime Minister asks us whom we think we are to even think about telling them to agree to a deadline to accomplish anything. The Dear Leader says he is sorry about the little bomb he set off, but he had to do it because the U.S. told him not to. Iran thumbs its nose. Tony Blair is seriously damaged goods because he actually did do what we told him to do. Italy is about to indict their Head of Intelligence for helping the CIA kidnap an Egyptian. The Canadian government has to apologize for helping the U.S. send one of their innocent citizens to get the crap kicked out of him in a Syrian prison. The Chinese will not help on Sudan or seemingly any other crisis where we could use some help. And Russian democracy has deteriorated into a kind of neo-Stalinism. And let’s not bother mentioning Afghanistan, where we actually had a chance to do some good. It is simply impossible to find anywhere in the world where what we want matters to anyone else.
Given the state of our foreign policy (sic) it is a miracle that Condi Rice wasn’t subjected to full body searches at each border. But off she goes, selling moonshine and liver ointments to a world that ain’t buying. Seymour Hersh was quoted in the aftermath of his Abu Ghraib reporting as saying that Rice had been the most incompetent National Security Advisor in the history of the position. Note the not-so-subtle difference between saying that and saying that she was the least competent… And recall that her competition included McGeorge Bundy, Walt Rostow, Henry Kissinger and John Poindexter.
So we have an administration that refuses to talk directly to people they don’t like but starts a war with no end for a series of ever-changing reasons – none of which are valid. James Baker is apparently trying to beat some sense into the President and there are signs of movement in our policy toward Iraq. But the nonsense that talking to North Korea or Iran in direct bilateral talks would be rewarding bad behavior is junior high school psychology. Bullies have limits to their power and if we did not know that in 2000, we sure know it now.
Comment by Jeff — October 25, 2006 #