By Christopher Preble and Malou Innocent, Special to CNN
Editor’s note: Christopher Preble (@capreble) is vice president for defense and foreign policy studies, and Malou Innocent (@malouinnocent) is a foreign policy analyst, at the Cato Institute. The views expressed are their own.
In the wake of violent protests in Egypt, Libya, and elsewhere, as embassies and consulates scramble to beef up security, the focus here in the United States has shifted to the U.S. presidential campaign. As the candidates trade shots over apology tours and ham-fisted reactions, their partisan bickering obscures an uglier truth: both of the major parties have supported policies that have failed to deliver tangible benefits to the American people and made the United States look weak.
Whether it is economic assistance to authoritarian allies, or wars of liberation and nation-building, the most powerful country in the world conveys the impression of begging for cooperation from nations of marginal importance. Democratic and Republican administrations alike have pursued such misguided policies. It’s time to stop, and the appalling response to a low-budget film mocking the Prophet Mohammad should prompt such a change.
In Egypt, the most populous Arab country and a long-time U.S. partner, a violent mob seized on the film as a pretext to ransack our embassy and tear up its American flag. In neighboring Libya, extremists apparently hijacked the spontaneous uprisings against the film, and used them as cover for a violent attack that killed four Americans serving our country, including the U.S. ambassador. Protests have since spread to Yemen, Tunisia, Morocco, Indonesia, and reportedly as many as 25 other countries. The destruction of property and the killing of U.S. officials are reprehensible. The perpetrators must be brought to justice.
While many observers have blamed the controversial film for this crisis, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has condemned the Obama administration’s failed policies.
Romney is only partly correct: U.S. policies have failed, but those failures are bipartisan. Some policies, such as concerted efforts to improve Israel’s relations with its Arab neighbors, or counterterrorism practices intended to degrade al-Qaeda’s capabilities, have been constructive, and some have even enhanced America’s security. Other policies, however, such as the invasion and occupation of Iraq, or aid programs that have propped up brutal and corrupt governments, have tethered America to the region’s parochial quarrels and have allowed extremists to gain influence by blaming the West for their countries’ problems.
Take, for example, the U.S. response to the Arab Spring. Rising food costs and economic distress sparked the region’s “awakening.” In Egypt, U.S. taxpayers had given tens of billions in foreign assistance to Cairo for more than a quarter century, but aid failed to promote long-term economic development. Indeed, it likely retarded it. To make matters worse, Washington’s preference for funneling aid through tyrants made it an enemy of those tyrants’ opponents. Those opponents spanned a broad ideological spectrum, from al-Qaeda-inspired jihadists to tech-savvy liberal protesters.
In Washington, neoconservatives and liberal hawks alike sought to reverse that pattern, endorsing the overthrow of other tyrants like Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi and now Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. Washington has a poor track record of picking winners and losers in distant civil wars, but that hasn’t stopped Romney’s top foreign affairs adviser from claiming that not arming Syria’s opposition “gives us less leverage to dictate the future after Assad.” Former Obama State Department official Anne-Marie Slaughter agrees. Writing at the New York Times’ Room for Debate, Slaughter claims that the killing of four Americans in Libya, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, should prompt Washington to become even more deeply involved in Syria’s civil war.
Such bipartisan calls persist despite the fact that U.S. policies in the region – billions in aid, the occasional war, and decades of painstaking diplomacy – appear to have purchased little goodwill for America. Indeed, the mere fact that an amateurish video uploaded to YouTube can undermine decades of policymaking in a matter of days illustrates just how tenuous Washington’s standing is.
Americans can be forgiven for asking what exactly all their money, and the sacrifice of the troops, has bought us. Surveying anti-American sentiment throughout the region, even reflexive hawk Victor Davis Hanson asked, 10 days before the attacks, “Why, then, bother?”
Unfortunately, that is not what either Obama or Romney is asking. Though they differ on specifics, both remain committed to the same failed policies. Both reserve the right to funnel hard-earned American tax dollars into foreign countries, and intervene militarily in pursuit of amorphous goals. The bipartisan foreign policy consensus exemplifies the definition of insanity: repeating mistakes over and over and expecting different results.
Voters concerned about perceptions of American weakness should consider the nature and extent of that weakness. Weakness, strictly defined, is a lack of physical power. That clearly does not describe the United States. We possess enormous physical power. Our moral authority should augment that power. Policymakers undermine both when they entangle our country in religious, ideological, and political controversies that have no clear connection to our vital interests.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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There is marked inconsistency and hypocrisy in our foreign policy. Even with regards to these protests we probably would be hypocritical. If they were protesting about some action of the Russians or Chinese, we'd be supporting it.
The word "hypocrite" seems to be readily used by muslims.
How hypocritical of you to use an American name!
It was refreshing to see strength described as more than physical and to read that U.S. policies have really been bi-partisan. But pragmatism is likely to be a critical component of our foreign policy for a long time in the service of peace. We must be able to have allies whose governments are dictatorial. How can our foreign policy leadership develop an approach that addresses the people of such nations appropriately without destroying such alliances?
Indeed there's a head-on collision in this country between those who follow the Bush Doctrine, "you're either with us or you're against us" and the others who believe in the Obama Doctrine based upon the very pragmatic concept that the United States should defend primary and secondary interests when it can, but that there is no hard-and-fast rule on intervention. What differs the latter from the former is that Obama resorts to unmanned aerial vehicles to carry out an attack instead of putting boots on the ground, as Bush did.
A PRIMER FOR MIDDLE EAST/SOUTH ASIA:::
THE ECONOMIC SUBJUGATION OF INDIA & The Taming of Hindus!!!
The one most successful aspect of recent American foreign policy has been the conquest of India without firing a bullet. That is the beauty of capitalism used as a Trojan Horse! Economic victory! Give them a taste of steak and they will never settle for hamburgers again. USA now owns India Inc. not only economically but also militarily as economic subjugation ultimately leads to military domination. The recent win for US multinationals has been pressuring the Indian Govt to open up majority ownership of domestic companies by foreign investors. US will now be virtually able to control the government policies in India via remote control in Wash D.C.
The take away is that US needs to find a similar mechanism Middle East/North Africa/South Asia to control events without having to depend on military dictatorships to do the biding. Economic subjugation appears to be the way out but what may be applicable to Hindus may not work in case of Muslims. That poses the dilemma that we are struggling with. Israel may have to be the sacrificial goat to make this happen, I am afraid.
Reminds one of British East India Company ...... a role now assumed by multinationals. BTW Strait of Hormuz was at one time (1800s) infested with pirates and patrolled by British Navy that was paid for by the Arab Sheikhs as protection money. Pretty soon it will be China performing this role.
Subjugation? Capitalism as a Trojan Horse? Hindus eating beef? India is an independent nation which has seized upon capitalism as a means to develop an economic middle class which has successfully sparked remarkable economic growth.
The nation has balanced both economic and military aid from the US and Russia, always with one eye on Pakistan and the other on China, to combat encroachments from likely foes. Nations need a compelling reason to change. India was and is caught between two adversaries and requires robust economic and military growth to survive.
The simple reason why Muslims and Jews cannot achieve real peace is that neither has a compelling reason, an imperative, to do so. Muslim leaders in the Middle East likewise have no compelling reason to seek peace with the US. If our leaders want a successful policy for the ME, they must find or develop an imperative for Muslim leaders to accept it.
Spare us your rubbish. India is a bully and a trouble maker in that region. It has kept the neighbors behind due constant bickerings. India has always lived in the shadow of Pakistan and has been forever defined by Pakistan. Unfortunately, India had a chance at leadership and blew it. Pakistan has now taken over the reins and is running with it. Much to the chagrin of Indians. So be it. Destiny has dealt its hands and India is about to fold.
Islam is the path to true ignorance.
1) Immediately terminate all aid (humanitarianism or otherwise) to all muslim countries.
2) Immediately close all embassies and recall all US personnel from all muslim countries.
Bizarre Health Rituals in India Show Dangerous Side of Ignorance
In what has got to be on of the most vile and disturbing things ever put to print, a man in eastern India was arrested for his unconventional and downright insane method of curing the common cold in children.
50-year old Jamun Yadav, who considers himself to be a demigod of the Hindu faith, believes he can channel and transfer divine energy through his feet, which has lead to him standing on the necks and throats of young children suffering from your average run-of-the-mill cold.
When asked about them, the guru claimed that he was merely speaking for God, and as such needs no other defense.
It serves as a grim reminder of the dangerous religious traditions observed by many Hindus in India due sheer ignorance.
India Is a Country with close to billion people of Different Cultures and Diversities. In a Place Like India which is not a welfare state, People do and claim so many things for survival. And Ofcourse, we do have Our own religious beliefs. But we Keep them to Ourselves. We Neither Propogate Nor Force Or Claim that our's is the Greatest Religion If you will.
So, where is this Question of Ignorance coming from?
We have our own bizarre religious fanatics with numerous misguided people following each. That is not a proper way to measure the vast majority in any nation. It only demonstrates that some people who feel lost or helpless need someone or something to believe and follow.
Tragically, in India people are dying of hunger. Why are low caste poor Hindus prohibited from eating beef? People stop their cars, and sit for hours waiting for a cow to clear the roadway, thinking it to be sacred. In India cow meat is cheaper than other available meats. Instead of these Brahmins taking care of the low caste peoples of India, they are doing their best to save their "holy" cows instead. This is evil. According to Valmith's Ramayana, God Rama "ATE" meat. So then "why" have these Brahmins given up beef-eating? It's hypocrisy within their own religion.
In India, millions of girls are strangled, slowly starved or simply tossed in the trash. Moreover, in India, at least 1,370 girls are aborted every day. As a comparison, some 250 Indians die every day in road accidents. Terrorists killed about six people, on an average, every day in 2009. In the last two decades of economic progress, 10 million girls have died as such in India.
Indians have killed more human beings (girls particularly) than Al Qaeda and Talibans put together.
TOUGH TIMES IN INDIA: FOREIGN FIRMS PACKING AND RUNNING FOR EXITS
“NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Frustrated by a lack of opportunities in India, Germany's Fraport (FRAG.DE), the world's No. 2 airport operator, is shutting its development office in the country, the latest in a growing list of companies exiting Asia's third-largest economy.
"When we came to India in 2006, we were actually extremely bullish about the market. We felt India had a lot of potential at that time," Ansgar Sickert, who heads Fraport's India operations, told Reuters in a telephone interview on Friday.
"We were disappointed when none of these opportunities materialized," said Sickert.
The list of companies to leave India includes telecoms carriers Etisalat ETEL.AD of Abu Dhabi and Bahrain Telecommunications Co BTEL.BH. Another firm, Norway's state-backed Telenor (TEL.OLhas threatened to pull out…..
India definitely faces the threat of more foreign companies signaling an exit in the near future, as well as warding off new entrants. …
According to a Nomura report last month, multinationals pulled $10.7 billion out of the country in 2011, up from $7.2 billion in 2010 and $3.1 billion in 2009.
"Augere, which owns 4G broadband airwaves in one of India's 22 telecoms zones, has stopped operational activities and is set to sell its airwaves due to regulatory uncertainties, the Economic Times reported last month.
More exits are expected in the crowded insurance industry, where a long-expected increase in foreign investor holdings has been stuck and where many joint ventures are losing money.
The mutual fund sector, where a regulatory change banning distribution fees as well as a sharp drop in markets have led to a drop in profits, is also seen to be poised for exits.
Fraport, which owns 10 percent of the company that operates New Delhi Airport, is looking to sell that stake to a partner as its role as an operator will lapse in May 2013, meaning the company would not have a presence in India, one of the world's fastest-growing airline markets.”
Rejecting wisdoms because others abuse the source, a religious belief, leaves one in ignorance. I am not a Muslim but I hope to find and implement wisdom wherever it's found.
one of the problems with US policy is our absolute dependence on ME oil, either directly to us or indirectly to our trading partners in Europe and Asia. The US has resisted using its moral superiority in the fear of "offending" the oil producers in the ME. As the US moves towards energy independence over the next couple decades you'll see more realistic policy, I hope.
Most oil consumed in the US comes from Mexico, Venezuela, etc. Very little comes from the ME. Look it up some time... US and other multinational companies on the other hand get most of their oil from the ME, which they then sell around the world.
WHAT IS MITT ROMNEY'S FOREIGN POLICY AGENDA?
Punt the football and hope it doesn't result in a touch back. Hehe. What a f-ing incompetent idiot.
Muslims countries are saying out loud that they are incompatible with freedom, and open free countries. What is new?. I say let's part our ways. They should also get off the internet, a Western device, that they can't handle. We should withdraw our ambassadors and return theirs.
Your Logic is as backwards as the idiots protesting in the streets. First of all a few thousand idiots even a million idiots protesting in the streets does not represent 1.5 billion Muslims. Secondly,The Quran clearly states Israel belongs to the Jews. This has been misrepresented by the Arab League since 1948.This does not in any way change the plight of Arabs who identify themselves as Palestinians.I truly believe if the Arab Muslim population really understood that most of the inhabitants of Israel are Jews who were force out of Arab countries and lost more property and land than 3-5 times the entire size of Israel it would be a very different picture. I think this Country needs to double down and force these countries to use there mass media to tell the truth teach tolerance and maybe there is hope.We are all victims of the media.Change the media, save the world. Iran needs regime change before there is hope.
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