Thursday, July 27, 2006

Analysis: Bush foreign policy struggling

“A string of disappointments in recent weeks has left Washington's role as a global power broker diminished.”

United States Foreign policy and relationship with other countries is besieged in recent years. For example, Condoleezza Rice failed to agree in Rome with European and Arab allies on terms for a cease-fire to end two weeks of Israel-Hezoballah violence. Efforts to get North Korea and Iran to restrict their nuclear ambitions remained held up. World trade talks collapsed.

How else could one explain such overwhelming incompetence of our relationships with other countries? The strategy seems to be built around the notion that instability in the Middle and Far East benefits the United States. I think the problem with this strategy is that it also keeps us weak, because we have to keep giving cash to keep the agenda going.

Is US interfering with countries out of their range? Do we need to stop intrusive with other countries (with president bush’s favorite quote…to establish democracy in those particular countries like Iraq)?

2 comments:

Tim Ford said...

I just want to talk about our position on the Israel-Hezbollah conflict and the conflict itself. The United States is constantly being criticized for not demanding for an immediate cease-fire. Why are we being criticized? Yes we are homeboys with Israel but we're not their daddy; they can make their own decisions. For the first time we're actually standing on the sidelines and now we're not doing enough. It just seems like we can't win these days.
I have mixed feelings about Israel's role in this conflict. On one hand I hate that they're killing so many civilians such as the other day in Qanna (I can't remember the city). On the other hand what is Israel supposed to do? They have constantly warned (as they say at least) the people of these citizens to evacuate unless they want to take the risk of being stuck in the middle of battle. They are fighting people who launch rockets from civilian neighborhoods. Is Israel just supposed to keep taking these hits when rockets are launched from these areas?

Professor Rex said...

This isn't the first time we "stood on the sidelines" in this conflict, it's just the first time recently. In the first few Arab-Israeli wars, we stood on the sidelines. And we are still selling them weapons, which is not exactly a neutral act.