US foreign policy is giant cluster f#ck!! Foreign policy should be conducted based upon the needs and interests of the United States and based upon some feel good notion of what someone thinks is right or wrong.
In order to correct this, a good place to begin would be by studying the most successful countries of the early 21st century. These are Russia and China. While the two nations may not have gained full parity with or surpassed the US just yet, they have made great strides largely because of a very successful and purposeful foreign policy. The US has lost ground largely because of things like you mention in the post!!
Essentially if you want to be the best study the best. Right now there are non better than Russia and China. What have they done differently from us? 1.)They pursue policies based upon the national interests of their countries and not based upon the feel good notions of what some politican or other leader thinks is the right thing to do based upon his or her personal views on the subject. 2.)Since the US is percieved to be the top country, Russian and Chinese policies will pretty near 100% of the time take a position that is opposite of America's interest. The thinking here is any thing that undermines America will help them advance.
In some nations, due to their deep seated cultural outlook that often goes back decades if not centuries, density of population, their basic needs, and other factors extending special rights to memebers of LGBT community may not be compatible with what they can do. To attempt to force something like this on them, would only end in disaster for us.
Besides given how the US routinely allows the rights of Christians and Jews to be violated with impunity and it allows for the wholesale slaughter of unborn babies it is in no position to lecture anyone about human rights. Actions such as trying to push for special rights for certain groups in other countries only serves to undermine our interests and causes us to be even more hated and isolated.
I think you are being sarcastic about expecting aid to be cut to the PA or other Arab nations. Of course the aid will not be cut unless the lenders or Congress force the aid to be cut. So not only do we propose to brow beat certain countries regarding the treatment of certain groups in their countries but we are going to hypocritically apply these rules!! Its no wonder we have become the most hated country in the world. Some times the leaders of America are absolutely disgusting. This is one of those times.
Finally, deciding how one is going to distribute foreign aid based upon someone's idea of right and wrong and not based upon one's national interests sends the message that one is not a serious country and, as such, should not be taken seriously. The country becomes an object of derision among some who are opposed to its interests. This leads to the country being even more disliked and even further isolated. We shoudl take a lesson from Russia and China on things like this. I'm not suggesting we should or could do every thing they do but studying them would be a great place for our leaders to start. They might learn something but to learn requires humility. I could be missing something but right now I'm not seeing much humility in either Barack Obama or America's leadership class.
US foreign policy is giant cluster f#ck!! Foreign policy should be conducted based upon the needs and interests of the United States and based upon some feel good notion of what someone thinks is right or wrong.
ReplyDeleteIn order to correct this, a good place to begin would be by studying the most successful countries of the early 21st century. These are Russia and China. While the two nations may not have gained full parity with or surpassed the US just yet, they have made great strides largely because of a very successful and purposeful foreign policy. The US has lost ground largely because of things like you mention in the post!!
Essentially if you want to be the best study the best. Right now there are non better than Russia and China. What have they done differently from us? 1.)They pursue policies based upon the national interests of their countries and not based upon the feel good notions of what some politican or other leader thinks is the right thing to do based upon his or her personal views on the subject. 2.)Since the US is percieved to be the top country, Russian and Chinese policies will pretty near 100% of the time take a position that is opposite of America's interest. The thinking here is any thing that undermines America will help them advance.
In some nations, due to their deep seated cultural outlook that often goes back decades if not centuries, density of population, their basic needs, and other factors extending special rights to memebers of LGBT community may not be compatible with what they can do. To attempt to force something like this on them, would only end in disaster for us.
Besides given how the US routinely allows the rights of Christians and Jews to be violated with impunity and it allows for the wholesale slaughter of unborn babies it is in no position to lecture anyone about human rights. Actions such as trying to push for special rights for certain groups in other countries only serves to undermine our interests and causes us to be even more hated and isolated.
I think you are being sarcastic about expecting aid to be cut to the PA or other Arab nations. Of course the aid will not be cut unless the lenders or Congress force the aid to be cut. So not only do we propose to brow beat certain countries regarding the treatment of certain groups in their countries but we are going to hypocritically apply these rules!! Its no wonder we have become the most hated country in the world. Some times the leaders of America are absolutely disgusting. This is one of those times.
Finally, deciding how one is going to distribute foreign aid based upon someone's idea of right and wrong and not based upon one's national interests sends the message that one is not a serious country and, as such, should not be taken seriously. The country becomes an object of derision among some who are opposed to its interests. This leads to the country being even more disliked and even further isolated.
We shoudl take a lesson from Russia and China on things like this. I'm not suggesting we should or could do every thing they do but studying them would be a great place for our leaders to start. They might learn something but to learn requires humility. I could be missing something but right now I'm not seeing much humility in either Barack Obama or America's leadership class.