Susan Rice's Vision
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice gave a wide-ranging speech on U.S. foreign policy and the United Nations. The speech hit on many of the themes echoed in earlier Obama administration foreign policy addresses: namely, that the U.S. must lead but can't meet the world's challenges alone.
Mark Leon Goldberg hails it as a "blockbuster." Your mileage may vary. The basis of the Rice/Obama argument is that we can get the world to see things our way if we improve their capacity to act and, crucially, if we buck up their "will." Here's Rice:
We build that will by demonstrating responsible leadership. We build will by setting a tone of decency and mutual respect rather than condescension and contempt. We build will by abiding by the rules we expect others to follow. We build will by pursuing pragmatic, principled policies and explain them with intelligence and candor. And in the broadest sense, we build will when others can see their future as aligned with ours.
Notice what's missing? Any reference to other nation's interests. Setting a good example, being candid and respectful are all good things, as far as it goes, but it does nothing to fundamentally change another nation's cost benefit analysis. The U.S. has reached the impasses it has - with China over North Korea, with Russia and China over Iran - because fundamental interests diverge. None of what Rice is proposing seems significant enough to change that.
The other striking element in the Rice/Obama vision is how expansive it is. Rice again:
In the 21st century, therefore we can have no doubt: as President Obama has said time and again, America's security and wellbeing are inextricably linked to those of people everywhere.
Even accepting a little rhetorical flourish, there's a good reason to be skeptical about such a sweeping claim. Unfortunately, there have been no end of humanitarian tragedies around the world in recent memory - in Sudan, in the Congo, in Zimbabwe - that have almost no bearing on the security or well being of the United States. Declaring that we are "inextricably" linked to the well being of every living person on the globe is a recipe for dangerous over-reach.
It's also worth asking what the U.S. reaction would be if a Chinese or Russian diplomat stood before the world and said that they viewed the well being of China or Russia as being tethered to the lives of every other person in the world. Would we view such a declaration with relief, or worry?
(AP Photos)
