All I know is that back when hip internationalists made fun of George W. Bush every day, American decline wasn’t the buzzword it has become since they started loving Barack Obama. In today’s New York Times, British historian Piers Brendon offers a vaccine for American Decline Flu:
Despite its grave problems, there are some relatively simple steps America could take to recover its position. It could bring its military commitments in line with its resources, rely more on the “soft power” of diplomacy and economic engagement, and, as George Washington said, take advantage of its geographically detached situation to “defy material injury from external annoyance.” Such a policy would permit more investment in productive enterprise and pay for butter as well as guns, thus vindicating Joe Biden’s faith in the recuperative capacities of the Great Republic.
The problem is that Barack Obama is not too keen on guns and the First Lady has it in for butter. The administration is already so caught up in a containment policy of the U.S. that everything external constitutes an “annoyance.”
We’ve got the “soft” part covered; it’s the “power” that’s gone missing. Hard to see how Brendon can suggest a course of retraction from the world when we are, under this administration, already bystanders to most global events. The U.S. has failed to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions; failed to check Russia’s resurgent thuggishness; and accommodated all of China’s provocations. We couldn’t even push around Honduras (good thing, in that case), a poor country in our own back yard.
With the exception of two wars initiated by the previous administration, foreign policy has already become a spectator sport for the U.S. At the very same time, major and minor menaces such as Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela, and Burma are forging deeper and more dynamic ties. Yet it’s somehow prudent for us to capitalize on our “geographically detached situation” and go isolationist.
Embracing powerlessness as a means of conferring power has already failed a year-long experiment. Obama said in his inaugural address: “Our security emanates from the justness of our cause; the force of our example; the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.” Nice thought, but since then Iran has gone enrichment-crazy, there have been multiple terrorist attempts on the U.S. (some successful), and our traditional allies are finding “the force of our example” a little wanting.
There is a clear course of action if Obama wants to halt American decline: U.S.-supported regime change in Iran; definitive victory in Afghanistan; a continued support role in Iraq; hardball with China; an embrace of old democratic allies, like Israel, Poland, and the Czech Republic, and new ones, such as India. Domestically, this means not following, debt-wracked Europe down the socialist sinkhole. Doing all this would, of course, bring the campus liberals back out into the streets and the international naysayers back to the lecterns. That state of affairs, however, does not indicate a country in decline, but rather its opposite: a nation strong enough to absorb internal debate and withstand international denunciation.
While Shalit, Regev and Goldwasser are being used as bargaining chips, Jews elsewhere are also the victims of attacks. A 17-year-old in Paris is in a coma after being attacked on the street, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.
Anti-Zionism, whether in the Middle East, in France, or anywhere, simply means attacking or capturing Jewish individuals.
it’s not hamas and hezbollah who win, it’s the israeli leadership which loses. looks like their own state has not changed the jews too much: they still try to save themselves by appeasement, which has never worked before and will certainly not work now.
the israelis are paying heavily for the blind spot in their political system which is utterly undemocratic and is bringing the nation down.
Yikes, Noah – I thought I couldn’t be more discouraged than I already was. As appalled as I am at the behavior of so many Americans, especially the political class but also the average voter, in the face of what historically are minor difficulties in Iraq, it is literally scary to see a country with as little wiggle room as Israel acting so irresponsibly. Caroline Glick can be a little hyperbolic, but her alarm seems justified in this case.
When the feckless UN rep for the MidEast, for cryin’ out loud, is steaming at Israeli appeasement, it would seem that something extraordinary is happening. Glick and that Scandinavian fellow on the same page is the geopolitical equivalent of animals acting spooked before the big earthquake hits.
Excellent post.
one of the many failings of the Israeli govt in dealing with the kidnapped soldiers is the failure to point out that under international law, prisoners must be allowed access to the International Committee of the REd CRoss. Of course, I don’t whether the ICRC cares at all about Jewish soldiers but the int’l law is int’l law. Official Israel should have said that ICRC must have access to the prisoners or international humanitarian law does not apply to Hamas or Hizbullah, and that the ICRC should not provide any humanitarian services to populations in zones ruled by the Hizbullah or Hamas [that is, to Gaza].
but the directors of Israel’s foreign policy –olmert and livni– have been too stupid or ignorant to make this important point.
So when are the Israelis going to force Olmert out? Parliamentary government only works to change course rapidly if you actually USE it.
President Sarkozy has responded to the attack on the 17-year-old in Paris, which I mentioned in my earlier post here, by condemning anti-Semitism and expressing his support for the victim and his family.
There was nothing in this morning’s New York Times, of course. Nor was there anything in this morning’s New York Sun. Nor have there been any posts by the writers on Contentions. However, that will change soon, I trust.