Watching the second UK debate yesterday, I was struck by how narrow the focus on foreign policy really was. China was only mentioned twice and as an aside to the climate change debate. Russia, once, in passing. Iraq, three times, and again as an aside. No mention of India, Asia, Israel, Palestine or the Middle East. (Incidentally, the BBC has an amazing tool where you can search the debate for key phrases.)
I think we have a very unfortunate tendency in the U.S. to expect political leaders to "solve" global problems. But watching the British debate there was very little sense, outside of the climate change and terrorism discussions, that events and geopolitical trends beyond their borders had any urgent meaning.
(AP Photo)
