Faulty Allies & Forgotten Friends: Realpolitik


Remember when President Obama first took office and then proceeded immediately on his “International apology to the World” tour?  Instead of making friends, it showed America as a weakened partner.  And the damage has been done.

We have put all of our support behind President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan as the country’s future, despite widespread corruption. We have spent billions of our treasure and thousands of American lives, only to have Karzai threaten to join the very enemy that we are fighting on his behalf.

Then we pick a fight with Israel – the only democracy in the Mideast and a staunch ally that may play a role in stopping Iran’s nuclear program.  It’s folly. We try to make friends with our enemies and ignore our real friends.

The New York Times recently wrote this about the “Obama doctrine.” It is shocking.

“If there is an Obama doctrine emerging, it is one much more realpolitik than his predecessor’s, focused on relations with traditional great powers and relegating issues like human rights and democracy to second-tier concerns. He has generated much more good will around the world after years of tension with Mr. Bush, and yet he does not seem to have strong personal friendships with many world leaders.”

Have we ever had a president who relegated issues like human rights and democracy to second-tier concerns?  As the beacon of world democracy, has our country given up on human rights for the world?  When the rest of the world ignores human rights, it makes the world that much more unsafe.  We have an obligation – a Conscientious Equity – to spread our way of life around the world.  If we do not change course, our way of life and that of the Western World will be forever imperiled.

Comments
One Response to “Faulty Allies & Forgotten Friends: Realpolitik”
  1. arjun says:

    “We have an obligation – a Conscientious Equity – to spread our way of life around the world.

    er..actually the rest of the world doesnt really want your way of life. Im Indian, and there are some things the US does i agree with, and some i just dont. “Spreading”your way of life is something is dont agree with. Thats the fundamental issue with how the US is judged by most of the world – the most important things for most people are stability, security and employment. Ideas like democracy, freedom blah blah are secondary, important only if they provide the basics mentioned earlier. But freedom and democracy of course provide can conveniently provide cover to control oil resources (Iraq) and get into areas where your pipelines have to pass through (Afghanistan).

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