On Wednesday, John McCain laid out his foreign policy theory in a speech to the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles. The complete speech can be found here.
One of those responsibilities is to be a good and reliable ally to our fellow democracies. We cannot build an enduring peace based on freedom by ourselves, and we do not want to. We have to strengthen our global alliances as the core of a new global compact — a League of Democracies — that can harness the vast influence of the more than one hundred democratic nations around the world to advance our values and defend our shared interests.
In essence, we already have a “League of Democracies” and it is called NATO. And what have we found out from NATO, in regards to mulitlateral action? Besides Britain, NATO is made up of democracies that engage in little real world action. Mr. McCain, mulitlaterism means more often than not, doing nothing.
At the heart of this new compact must be mutual respect and trust. Recall the words of our founders in the Declaration of Independence, that we pay “decent respect to the opinions of mankind.” Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed. We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies. When we believe international action is necessary, whether military, economic, or diplomatic, we will try to persuade our friends that we are right. But we, in return, must be willing to be persuaded by them.
What Senator McCain does in this lone paragraph is something our enemies have never been able to achieve. McCain wants to abandon the national interests of the United States and instead define this nation’s well-being in terms of what other nations think it should be.
There is nothing wrong with consulting with allies, but at times, nation’s interests diverge. I simply do not want a man in the White House who will negotiate our nation’s well-being away to foreign powers, friend or foe.
America must be a model citizen if we want others to look to us as a model. How we behave at home affects how we are perceived abroad. We must fight the terrorists and at the same time defend the rights that are the foundation of our society. We can’t torture or treat inhumanely suspected terrorists we have captured. I believe we should close Guantanamo and work with our allies to forge a new international understanding on the disposition of dangerous detainees under our control.
Closing Guantanamo would mean bringing terrorists to American soil and thusly they would be subject to our laws and as a result terrorism would be once again treated as a law enforcement issue rather than a military one. We saw how well that worked during the Clinton administration. Furthermore, McCain, in the last sentence, is ceding American sovereignty to other nations.
There is such a thing as international good citizenship. We need to be good stewards of our planet and join with other nations to help preserve our common home. The risks of global warming have no borders. We and the other nations of the world must get serious about substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years or we will hand off a much-diminished world to our grandchildren. We need a successor to the Kyoto Treaty, a cap-and-trade system that delivers the necessary environmental impact in an economically responsible manner. We Americans must lead by example and encourage the participation of the rest of the world, including most importantly, the developing economic powerhouses of China and India.
That McCain believes in the global warming hoax says everything a good conservative needs to know. Once again, McCain is willing to subject our economy and our standard of living to the whims of the foreign community. That might not mean anything to a wealthy man like McCain, but I know the middle class will get the short end of the economic stick on any post-Kyoto type treaty.
Dealing with a rising China will be a central challenge for the next American president. Recent prosperity in China has brought more people out of poverty faster than during any other time in human history. China’s newfound power implies responsibilities. China could bolster its claim that it is “peacefully rising” by being more transparent about its significant military buildup, by working with the world to isolate pariah states such as Burma, Sudan and Zimbabwe, and by ceasing its efforts to establish regional forums and economic arrangements designed to exclude America from Asia.
China and the United States are not destined to be adversaries. We have numerous overlapping interests and hope to see our relationship evolve in a manner that benefits both countries and, in turn, the Asia-Pacific region and the world. But until China moves toward political liberalization, our relationship will be based on periodically shared interests rather than the bedrock of shared values.
This is the first realistic appraisal of world events mentioned by McCain. China is a threat.
The United States did not single-handedly win the Cold War; the transatlantic alliance did, in concert with partners around the world. The bonds we share with Europe in terms of history, values, and interests are unique. Americans should welcome the rise of a strong, confident European Union as we continue to support a strong NATO. The future of the transatlantic relationship lies in confronting the challenges of the twenty-first century worldwide: developing a common energy policy, creating a transatlantic common market tying our economies more closely together, addressing the dangers posed by a revanchist Russia, and institutionalizing our cooperation on issues such as climate change, foreign assistance, and democracy promotion.
We should start by ensuring that the G-8, the group of eight highly industrialized states, becomes again a club of leading market democracies: it should include Brazil and India but exclude Russia. Rather than tolerate Russia’s nuclear blackmail or cyber attacks, Western nations should make clear that the solidarity of NATO, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, is indivisible and that the organization’s doors remain open to all democracies committed to the defense of freedom.
Another more realistic, less idealistic stance from McCain. Russia needs to be treated as the adversary that she is.
While Africa’s problems — poverty, corruption, disease, and instability — are well known, we must refocus on the bright promise offered by many countries on that continent. We must strongly engage on a political, economic, and security level with friendly governments across Africa, but insist on improvements in transparency and the rule of law. Many African nations will not reach their true potential without external assistance to combat entrenched problems, such as HIV/AIDS, that afflict Africans disproportionately. I will establish the goal of eradicating malaria on the continent — the number one killer of African children under the age of five. In addition to saving millions of lives in the world’s poorest regions, such a campaign would do much to add luster to America’s image in the world.
Sorry John, but George Bush is already doing this and the world still hates us. Something that you just don’t get, is that the U.S. will be hated unless our nation adopts the socialistic, bureaucratic, and statist policies of the rest of the world. And that would change our American identity. America is disliked because it is free, republican, and successful. Nothing short of national suicide would please the world.
Prevailing in this struggle will require far more than military force. It will require the use of all elements of our national power: public diplomacy; development assistance; law enforcement training; expansion of economic opportunity; and robust intelligence capabilities. I have called for major changes in how our government faces the challenge of radical Islamic extremism by much greater resources for and integration of civilian efforts to prevent conflict and to address post-conflict challenges. Our goal must be to win the “hearts and minds” of the vast majority of moderate Muslims who do not want their future controlled by a minority of violent extremists. In this struggle, scholarships will be far more important than smart bombs.
This is so unrealistic, that it is truly frightening. It shows a complete lack of understanding of Islam. Muslims will never be won over by a Christian, democratic United States. Now if John McCain meant winning the hearts and minds of Muslims by converting them to Christianity, then he might have a plan.
But as is, the only thing that Islam respects is power that is used when needed. There is no such thing as a moderate Muslim, there are only Muslims who haven’t joined the jihad.
For decades in the greater Middle East, we had a strategy of relying on autocrats to provide order and stability. We relied on the Shah of Iran, the autocratic rulers of Egypt, the generals of Pakistan, the Saudi royal family, and even, for a time, on Saddam Hussein. In the late 1970s that strategy began to unravel. The Shah was overthrown by the radical Islamic revolution that now rules in Tehran. The ensuing ferment in the Muslim world produced increasing instability. The autocrats clamped down with ever greater repression, while also surreptitiously aiding Islamic radicalism abroad in the hopes that they would not become its victims. It was a toxic and explosive mixture. The oppression of the autocrats blended with the radical Islamists’ dogmatic theology to produce a perfect storm of intolerance and hatred.
We can no longer delude ourselves that relying on these out-dated autocracies is the safest bet. They no longer provide lasting stability, only the illusion of it. We must not act rashly or demand change overnight. But neither can we pretend the status quo is sustainable, stable, or in our interests. Change is occurring whether we want it or not. The only question for us is whether we shape this change in ways that benefit humanity or let our enemies seize it for their hateful purposes. We must help expand the power and reach of freedom, using all our many strengths as a free people. This is not just idealism. It is the truest kind of realism. It is the democracies of the world that will provide the pillars upon which we can and must build an enduring peace.
The idea that Islam is compatible with liberal democracy is a fallacy that you share with the Bush administration. A better policy would be containment and disassociation from a religion and culture that at its core is opposed to our western way of life.
Those who argue that our goals in Iraq are unachievable are wrong, just as they were wrong a year ago when they declared the war in Iraq already lost. Since June 2007 sectarian and ethnic violence in Iraq has been reduced by 90 percent. Overall civilian deaths have been reduced by more than 70 percent. Deaths of coalition forces have fallen by 70 percent. The dramatic reduction in violence has opened the way for a return to something approaching normal political and economic life for the average Iraqi. People are going back to work. Markets are open. Oil revenues are climbing. Inflation is down. Iraq’s economy is expected to grown by roughly 7 percent in 2008. Political reconciliation is occurring across Iraq at the local and provincial grassroots level. Sunni and Shi’a chased from their homes by terrorist and sectarian violence are returning. Political progress at the national level has been far too slow, but there is progress.
Critics say that the “surge” of troops isn’t a solution in itself, that we must make progress toward Iraqi self-sufficiency. I agree. Iraqis themselves must increasingly take responsibility for their own security, and they must become responsible political actors. It does not follow from this, however, that we should now recklessly retreat from Iraq regardless of the consequences. We must take the course of prudence and responsibility, and help Iraqis move closer to the day when they no longer need our help.
At least he is right on Iraq.On some things, like Iraq, China, and Russia, McCain takes the conservative position, but in terms of directing our foreign policy based on the opinion of the international community, he sounds like a leftist Democrat.
And that ladies and gentlemen, is what we are voting for. Clinton and Obama are the new Democrats, far left, and anti-American at their core and neo-communist in their beliefs.
McCain is no conservative, he is a traditional New Deal Democrat. In some respects, there is some solace in that, like Roosevelt or Truman, or JFK, at least you know they are patriotic, but in the same breath, you have to understand that like Roosevelt, McCain is putting his faith in multilateral organizations and the goodwill of other nations.
McCain is no modern, self-hating Democrat–at least, but on the other hand, he isn’t a conservative who puts the interests of this nation first and foremost.
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