Saturday, June 20, 2009

Foreign Policy Isn't Social Work

I'm not normally a big fan of Mona Charen, but she hits the nail on the head with her latest article, "Leave social work out of foreign policy." Here's the key paragraph.
The liberal tendency to believe that international relations are a form of social work is unchanged. Just as liberals like Carter believed in the 1970s that tensions with the Soviets were the result of misunderstandings and “paranoia” on our part, liberals today believe that international tensions are the result of lack of respect for Islam or bellicosity on our part. Liberals are keen to bolster the self-esteem of our enemies. If we were not so provocative (didn’t Bush label Iran, North Korea and Iraq the “axis of evil”?) the world would be a more tractable place. If we demonstrate humility, our former foes will meet us halfway.
That's an excellent capsule description of the naive, wishful-thinking basis of the liberal approach to foreign policy. Charen goes on to write that in the aftermath of the Iranian situation, "The Obama foreign policy — hope leavened with helium — must now come down to Earth." Don't count on it. As she pointed out early in the article, liberals are slow learners.

2 comments:

  1. I also think the label "Axis of Evil" hits the nail on the head. Whether you say it or think it. They are the criminals of the world. They chose their path long before GW came to office. Liberals need to wake up and know that not every one is nice. Nor do these countries have the potential to behave in the near future. No matter what Obama says in public, in private he better know, Iran and N. Korea are sociopaths of the world.

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  2. And in the case of North Korea you can add sheer lunacy to the sociopathic tendencies.

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