The United States Couldn’t Stop Being Stupid if It Wanted To — Stephen M. Walt

Is the US condemned to "doing stupid shit" (Obama) because of its Western liberalism coupled with vast power enabling interventionist policy? And is there an economic motive behind this, notably from MICIMATT aka Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think-Tank complex (Ray McGovern) that President Eisenhower warned about but also from all those who stand to gain from the continuance and expansion of the US-controlled "rules-based international order." And is liberal interventionism the next round of crusades (as G. W. Bush let slip).

While he does not mention it, a fundamental question is this is the role that role that economic liberalism in the form of the current stage of "capitalism" plays. Are social and political liberalism just secondary factors that are used to promote economic liberalism in a world controlled by Global North and West. Many in the Global South and East thinks so. The present moment in the historical dialectic can be viewed from this perspective as chiefly about power, especially as applied to control of global wealth and natural resources.

Stephen Walt sees a problem here but offers a weak analysis and therefore a weak solution, avoiding the big issues regarding the current state of the world system. But the article is worth a read anyway. Walt is one of the few American foreign policy realists that is given a voice at establishment venues like Foreign Policy.

Bill Totten's Weblog
The United States Couldn’t Stop Being Stupid if It Wanted To

Stephen M. Walt | Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations, Harvard University.

Originally published at Foreign Policy

See also

ScheerPost
Patrick Lawrence: The Sino-Russian Summit You Didn’t Read About

C-Span
User Clip: Biden Blunder

India Punchline
Biden’s existential angst in Ukraine
M. K. Bhadrakumar | retired diplomat with the Indian Foreign Service and former ambassador

Council on Foreign Relations
How Much Aid Has the U.S. Sent Ukraine? Here Are Six Charts

Jonathan Masters and Will Merrow

1945
$100 Billion For Ukraine? Congress Needs To Explain Why
Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis (USA ret.), Senior Fellow and Military Expert for Defense Priorities

Fundamental shifts in the world system. And BlackRock doesn't consider the all the effects involved, including climate change.

Open Democracy
BlackRock says we’re all doomed. It’s being optimistic

James Meadway

US intel apparently convinced the US leadership that Russia could be brought down quickly, resulting in regime change and liberal government, if harsh economic sanctions were imposed. Provoking Russia to invade Ukraine would provide an excuse.

PM
EXCLUSIVE: Trump suggests Biden provoked Putin into invading Ukraine
Joshua Young, Youngsville, North Carolina

Even before NATO expansion, the West sought to strangle Russia economically

Asia Times

The first US onslaught to ‘weaken’ post-Cold War Russia

John Walsh

Andrew Korybko's Newsletter
Top Ukrainian & Former US Officials Are Panicking That $100 Billion In Aid Isn’t Enough
Andrew Korybko, American geopolitical analyst and independent journalist based in Moscow, and member of the expert council for the Institute of Strategic Studies and Predictions at the People’s Friendship University of Russia