tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post3786787092844061138..comments2024-03-28T07:50:06.102-04:00Comments on Mike Norman Economics: Robert Parry — Obama’s Strategic Shiftmike normanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03296006882513340747noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-51261352418151728172015-05-22T12:10:08.554-04:002015-05-22T12:10:08.554-04:00The foreign policy geniuses need to realize that A...The foreign policy geniuses need to realize that America's power lies in its soft power and it is pissing it away. An empire based on projecting hard power is neither sustainable long term nor effective short terms. It inevitably prompts a reaction.<br /><br />US soft power is based on liberalism, but liberalism is a tricky thing because has may paradoxes and it is not simple to harmonize social, political and economic liberalism into a framework adaptable in many different cultural and institutional contexts, which is required for liberal globalization. <br /><br />Above all liberalism cannot be imposed. It must be adopted voluntarily and implemented jaw the will of those that live under it by choice. Otherwise, it is illiberalism.<br /><br />The US is caught between its desire to impose its won version of liberalism on the world, like it or not, and it's desire to push what it sees as its geopolitical and geostrategic interests. The result is hypocrisy that is undermining US soft power and forcing the reliance on hard power. Moreover, the Washington hawks only think in terms of hard power.<br /><br />In other words, the US needs to start selecting states people rather than shills for global domination by an oligarchy of wealth, confusing neoliberalism with actual liberalism when it is form of fascism and tends toward totalitarianism.<br /><br />The US ship of state is dangerously off course.Tom Hickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08454222098667643650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-16328708087978702882015-05-22T11:46:23.486-04:002015-05-22T11:46:23.486-04:00The Kerry meeting is interesting. Was he trying fo...The Kerry meeting is interesting. Was he trying for a diplomatic face-saving climbdown, suddenly aware that neocon Washington has badly miscalculated and backed itself into a horrible corner, or a case of threatening further sanctions and who knows what else if Russia doesn't vacate Crimea and allow further Nato expansion, an impossible demand. From what I can gather, Putin is the restraining moderate in the Kremlin, and if he gives in to Washington's demands then he's finished, which may be why Washington is pushing so hard. <br /><br />Either way, someone is going to end up looking like a foreign policy incompetent, even more incompetent than Victoria Nuland and Samantha Power, if that's possible.<br /><br />The only serious geopolitical reason for a deal with Russia is to breakup the alliances China is forging, which is encroaching on Washington's turf. It seems, the "pivot to Asia" isn't working out as hoped. Whatever Washington conjures up, China has a reply, whether it's the new development bank, deals bypassing the dollar, the increasing power of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, China's influence in Africa, all over Southeast Asia, South America, etc. <br /><br />If the neocons weren't so maniacal, they'd be an asset to anti-imperialists the world over! They're incompetence is really something. Everything they touch turns to sh*t. George Kennan must be turning in his grave.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18181631191840432399noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-14496191094242512972015-05-22T11:03:34.440-04:002015-05-22T11:03:34.440-04:00On the other hand, there are arguments that Obama ...On the other hand, there are arguments that Obama is realizing that he needs Russia and Iran geopolitically and geostrategically, so explains the recent nuclear deal with Iran against neocon and war hawk wishes, as well as modifying the US stand in Kerry's meeting with Putin and Lavrov in Sochi.<br /><br />The crazy and contradictory neocon drive to impose Angl-American liberalism at the point of bayonet is not working.Tom Hickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08454222098667643650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-73994980840391309532015-05-22T10:04:05.651-04:002015-05-22T10:04:05.651-04:00Remember all the fuss about the Israeli deputy def...Remember all the fuss about the Israeli deputy defence minister who threatened Palestinians with a "holocaust".<br /><br />No, of course not. And needless to say no fuss would have been made either had it been the other way around. <br /><br />Israel threatening one of its neighbours with nuclear obliteration will barely be registered. Had Iran said something similar, then we'd never hear the end of it. We never hear the end of that throwaway line about Israel being "wiped off the map". Which merely meant that Israel would eventually go the way of apartheid South Africa, the Soviet Union, and any number of repressive countries swept away by the modern world. <br /><br />This kind of mad neocon-Likud rhetoric is everyday fare, but almost never reported in the western media.<br /><br />As for Obama, running an empire is tricky stuff, especially the one handed to him by the incompetent and sadistic cartoon characters from the Bush administration. He has to make strategic choices, e.g. Iran or Russia. If he could, he'd go after both, but it looks like he's overruling the more extreme neocons in his administration by targeting Russia and leaving Iran for another day. Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18181631191840432399noreply@blogger.com