Interesting thoughts on US military & foreign policy

[bayonetbrant]

I found 2 interesting quotes in the same thread over at SWJ and wanted to share here to see what the thoughts were.  You have to see the first one from the perspective of the foreign gov't, not from the US viewpoint.

For the US the main effort must be one of updating our Foreign Policy from one overly rooted in the Cold War (What does one become when ones starts out as the lesser of two evils, and the greater evil falls away?) to one designed for the world emerging around us today.  Our interests have not changed, but the environment has.

We deceive ourselves if we pretend that these problems were created by meddling and that they can be resolved by good meddling.  The answer to bad meddling isn't good meddling, it's less meddling.

thoughts?

[LongBlade]

I'm struggling to understand what the first guy means by being the "lesser of two evils." Presumably he wasn't happy with a bipolar world split between the US and USSR.

If he saw the US as a lesser of two evils, whatever he thinks he is isn't likely to be viewed as friendly to US interests now.

The second quote is off the mark. Meddling isn't what we should be doing (though it may in fact be what we're doing).

Our actions should be taking place with the outcome in mind to discourage anyone from meddling inside our nation or with our citizens abroad. The message should be clear: leave us alone and you'll not be bothered...too much. The fact is we have interests abroad and sometimes will have to have our presence felt. Just make sure you don't attract our attention and we'll do our best to to not bug you too much.

[bayonetbrant]

I'm struggling to understand what the first guy means by being the "lesser of two evils." Presumably he wasn't happy with a bipolar world split between the US and USSR.

He's referring to a foreign gov't looking at the US and USSR for help.  Both come with strings attached.  They choose the US, as the strings may be the "lesser of two evils" at the time.  But when the "greater" evil falls away, where does that leave you?  Are the strings that came attached to the help still worth it?

Our actions should be taking place with the outcome in mind to discourage anyone from meddling inside our nation or with our citizens abroad. The message should be clear: leave us alone and you'll not be bothered...too much. The fact is we have interests abroad and sometimes will have to have our presence felt. Just make sure you don't attract our attention and we'll do our best to to not bug you too much.

Should we be bugging people at all?
How much of the Balkan immolations of the '90s came about from all varieties of "meddling" - going back 100 years (at least)?  Paving the road to hell and all that...

Anyhow, both quotes made me ponder, which dangerous to do when (a) I have a headache, adn (b) I should be focusing on, y'know - actual work and such...

[LongBlade]

We cannot help but bug people. By simply trading with countries we begin to form interests with them. We import textiles from country X. If it has some kind of domestic unrest we will at least have to take note of that or risk losing a supplier of a needed product. Moving from country X to country Y won't necessarily fix the problem because Y will have issues, too. Maybe different ones, but still has issues which may affect us.

Now maybe textiles aren't worth getting riled up about, but what happens if one of those countries has a strategic harbor we might find useful? What if they supply oil? A disruption of oil supply may not directly affect us, but it will indirectly do so by affecting the global price.

So it goes.

We cannot help but have interests abroad and should rightfully look to protect those interests. That's what I mean by "not bugging too much." We are forced, by nature of a global network of trading partners (never mind a global network of military allies/interests). It will be impossible not to have an impact anywhere we go.

So instead we need to have a foreign political and military policy oriented toward convincing potentially hostile parties that it's not worth fighting with us. Our actions should reflect that goal. Whatever we do we should move toward an outcome where hostile parties won't welcome our attention.

[Longdan]

Standing outside the US but with close ties to it I can safely tell you that the USA! view of the world
and the world view of the USA! are not the same thing at all.  Many see the US as an impulsive bully
with a nasty habit of intervening where and when they choose depending on a schizophrenic four
year cycle.  See that thread on foreign interventions.  This is a view not shared by right thinking Americans
but on what do those same Americans base their opinion?  The opinion of other right thinking Americans? Fox news?
Outsiders watch the increasing polarisation of the US political scene and the resultant antics with some trepidation.
There are some "widely held beliefs" that are held only by a politically significant segment of the US electorate
that are not shared abroad.  But world opinion is divided as well.  Those who have been bombed recently
are a little sensitive, whiners that they are.  Humility is not a bad word.   US foreign policy has done many, many
positive things for many people but not everybody has felt the benefit.  Some just got blown up.
Might is right.

[DoctorQuest]

I interpret the "lesser of two evils" comment as the US trend of supporting "anti-communist" foreign governments regardless of the consequences.

[Longdan]

That turned out to be a dubious policy resulting in a lot of bitterness
and quite a bit of legacy problems.

[Sparhawk]

Reading the two quotes immediately brought to my mind the United States support of the destabilization then overthrow of the Allende government in Chile. Personally I prefer democracy to take its course regardless if the outcomes aren't to our liking. Considering US foriegn policy since the Cold War I 'm inclined to feel that lesson has been learned.

[bayonetbrant]

^^ Check it out! A Sparhawk sighting!  :)

[Sparhawk]

Considering that between Wargamer and Grogheads the last 11 years I might have posted 60 comments, a smiley face may be justified. With all due consideration though, 25 posts since I joined Grogheads is an alarming rate.

[bob48]

26  ;)