Today’s news that Bush is appointing John Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations shows that this administration has no interest in being part of the world. Fred Kaplan at Slate quotes Bolton as once saying:
“It is a big mistake for us to grant any validity to international law even when it may seem in our short-term interest to do so—because, over the long term, the goal of those who think that international law really means anything are those who want to constrain the United States.”
It amazes me that they don’t see what appears to be basic common knowledge to me: you can’t go it alone in the world. You just can’t. You can’t rule it, and you can’t hide from it (Bush seems to want to do both at the same time). And yet the administration consistently behaves in ways that are guaranteed to make our allies turn their backs and embolden our enemies to strike against a weakened nation.
I’ve never been highly involved in world affairs, but I’m of the age that watched the other last major superpower, the USSR, bankrupt itself out of existence – which we’re on the path toward doing. We certainly can’t handle another military conflict with the forces now at our disposal (without instituting a draft), and even if we did have the manpower, it’s become clear that the government doesn’t have the coordination or the capability to arm and equip it in such a way to guarantee success.
So where does that put us? Why does Bush continue to push the country to a position of weakness? I used to think that they believed they were working in the best interests of the United States, even if I believed that their interests were poorly directed. But more and more it appears to be two things: ideology and the consolidation of power. Sounds a lot like the extremist mullahs that the administration is fighting.
Jeff Carlson | Never Enough Coffee Creations 