McCain's New Cold War Posted by Ilan Goldenberg

Fareed Zakaria makes the point that while the MSM is continuously obsessed with whether or not Barack Obama will or will not talk to piddling dictators such as Hugo Chavez, Raul Casto or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Who ironically isn't even a real head of state and wields marginal power), John McCain is off laying down the blue print for a new Cold War with Russia and China (You know countries with real nuclear arsenals - not just hypothetical ones).

In his speech McCain proposed that the United States expel Russia from the G8, the group of advanced industrial countries. Moscow was included in this body in the 1990s to recognize and reward it for peacefully ending the cold war on Western terms, dismantling the Soviet empire and withdrawing from large chunks of the old Russian Empire as well. McCain also proposed that the United States should expand the G8 by taking in India and Brazil—but pointedly excluded China from the councils of power.

We have spent months debating Barack Obama's suggestion that he might, under some circumstances, meet with Iranians and Venezuelans. It is a sign of what is wrong with the foreign-policy debate that this idea is treated as a revolution in U.S. policy while McCain's proposal has barely registered. What McCain has announced is momentous—that the United States should adopt a policy of active exclusion and hostility toward two major global powers. It would reverse a decades-old bipartisan American policy of integrating these two countries into the global order, a policy that began under Richard Nixon (with Beijing) and continued under Ronald Reagan (with Moscow). It is a policy that would alienate many countries in Europe and Asia who would see it as an attempt by Washington to begin a new cold war. 

Still, I'm sure this won't deter David Broder from continuing to talk about how awesome John McCain's foreign policy is, and how different it is from George Bush's.

Comments

[Caitlyn]

Do people actually still read David Broder? I remember the days when he was well worth reading, but sadly, those days are past.

[Don Bacon]

Ah, the Columbia Attitude lives on, with slight changes. Lee Bollinger's "petty and cruel dictator" is now a "piddling dictator." But President Ahmadinejad is dictator who "isn't even a real head of state and wields marginal power" so there you go, that's why he's piddling but not cruel any more. That's what passes for learned discourse these days.

Regarding the G8, they are: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

World economic rankings: United States, Japan, Germany, China, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Canada, Brazil and Russia.

World military rankings: United States, Russia, China, India, Germany, France, Japan and Turkey. The UK and Italy rank below Brazil, and Canada ranks below Mexico

World population rankings: China, India, United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Russia

So we see that the G8 includes Canada but fails to include China. Nobody like China but everybody buys their stuff. Other candidates might be India and Brazil.

Now here Ilan gets it right. That stint at Columbia wasn't wasted. McCain wants the same US subservience on the G8 economic team that he seeks with his League of Nations in foreign policy, a new cold war if you will. But of course McCain isn't alone on this, The Dems have their Concert of Democracies pushed by Ann-Marie Slaughter and Anthony Lake, and Trumanism being promoted by Matthew Yglesias.

Apparently this will be one of the major foreign policy topics as we move into a multi-polar world with Asia ascendancy and a dilution of US hegemony.

[peace]

Matthew Yglesias in the American Prospect and Matt Taibbi in the Rollingstone have both written about McCains dangerous foreign in regards to nuclear weapons and how he wants America to mantain an outdated notion of nuclear supremacy. McCain's views about nuclear weapons are in clear contrast to Obama's who wants to completely abolish them. Who in the MSM is going to support? Obama's position, which is supported by a bi-partian coalition of foreign policy experts or McCain's position, that is supported by neo-conservstive ideologues. I suspect sadly the latter becasue they would say that somehow McCain posses foreign policy knowledge. It also appears that Hillary Clinton has the same position as John McCain in her vow to massively retaliate against Iran, if it attacks Israel. McCain and Hillary Clinton seem to treat nuclear weapons as if they were firecrackers. Maybe they need to see British docudrama Threads, that was made in the eighties, to understand the true destructiveness of nuclear weapons.

[JohnTh]

I wasn't aware that the the US has the right to unilaterally turf countries out of the G8 - I could see the Germans and French in particular not being very enthusiastic about helping President McCain heavily provoking Russia. Are there fficial rules about this?

[Dan Kervick]

It would reverse a decades-old bipartisan American policy of integrating these two countries into the global order, a policy that began under Richard Nixon (with Beijing) and continued under Ronald Reagan (with Moscow). It is a policy that would alienate many countries in Europe and Asia who would see it as an attempt by Washington to begin a new cold war.

Yeah, well unfortunately a lot of the resistance to this bipartisan foreign policy these days is being driven by liberals who want to background the "global order" in order to foreground the "democratic order" or the "liberal order" or what have you, and re-center the locus of legitimacy around a fancy new concert or alliance of democracies. It also seems that a lot of these folks didn't get the bipartisan memo about integrating China into the global order, given that they recently started yapping about embarrassing the Chinese by boycotting the Olympics, or the Olympic opening ceremonies. One would think that holding the Olymipcs in China is a model example of integration.

[Hellgate London Palladium]

Welcome to our game world, my friend asks me to buy some Hellgate London gold . I do not know how to use the Hellgate gold ; my friend tells me how to use. I will thank for my friends bringing me in this world. I am not regret to buy buy Hellgate Palladium . We all love game, if you want to play it, please cheap hellgate gold and join us. Please do not hesitate to have game.

[Tibia money]

When you have Tibia Gold, you will become strong. With Tibia coins, you can upgrade and admire by others. You can use Tibia money to start the journey of the world. So, do not hesitate, let us move to buy tibia gp

[buy lindens]

Welcome to our second life linden center. We can provide all what you want if you want. Our secondlife money are specialized, professional and reliable website for selling cheap linden and providing linden dollars.

[dd]

I hope i can get Sho Online Mun in low price,
Yesterday i bought Sho Mun for my friend.

[age of conan gold]

If you have money to buy age of conan gold, you will find it is very useful. Earning conan gold is not so hard. Try your best and then you can get it.

[Marc Jacobs Handbags]

We can provide all what you want if you want

[Bvlgari Jewelry]

If you have money to buy age of conan gold, you will find it is very useful. Earning conan gold is not so hard. Try your best and then you can get it.

[luxury watches]

I am so with you,rolex watch
luxury watch

[cheap coach handbags]

Thank you for your sharing! I like i very much!

[sohbet odaları]

sonra bedava chat
burasıda var bedava sohbet

[replica handbags]

There is no black and white colors, such as gray and red like a timeless classic, and eventually replica handbagsbecome worse, Homme Dior, black A06 wake up call, the foreigners rouge, further improve the design of the initial sales to noble pure deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) Homme Dior, Dior men will bring clean ao in front of us the overall structure, surrounded by a black dial, simplereplica handbags and stylish design style spirit of Dior Homme.

[k247br]

e biodegradablechanel bags when you "stoop and scoop."
Dispose of animal waste according to the campground rules or bury it off-road.
Observe fire coguccinditions and always keep a full jug of water nearby.
Remove flammable brush near fire pits and keep campfires small.
Don't burn plastics and metalshermes.
Use non-toxic, phosphate-free, biodegradable cleaning supplies and sanitary additives.
Reduce the need louis vuitton for air-conditioning by parking in natural shade, opening windows, using awnings or portable sun shelters.
Wash air-conditionidesignerng filters when dirty, instead of buying new ones each time.
Reduce the need to turn on heat designer handbagsby parking in a sheltered spot, out of the north and west winds.

[watches]

For those who have not used a 24-hour hand, it makes one full revolution of the dial over 24 hours which means that 12 pm is at 6 clock on the dial. This features allows you to track two timezones: one using the standard time hands, and the other using the GMT hand and the 24hr bezel. The bezel has a grippy coin edge and a light but clicky turn.The included bracelet is nice and light. Replica Casio Watches features solid end links (spring bars), and the outer links of the bracelet are screwed together. The clasp has a fold-over design with a signed safety. The bracelet is a perfect fit for the Replica Wittnauer Watches and integrates beautifully with the lugs. I will mention that the PVD on the bracelet is very light and after some considerable time on my wrists, there is noticeable wear. If PDV wear bothers you, go with the brushed/polished model instead (brushed on top and polished on the sides of the case).This is a Replica Vacheron Constantin that is up for just about any task and does so with little fuss or explanation. I wore it on a twelve day trip to San Francisco and Replica Ulysse Nardin Watches kept up perfectly. The Replica Zodiac Watches is light enough to be worn without consideration, classy enough to be worn with any attire, and with the GMT complication, it is a traveler's best friend. It's amazingly accurate; many days, it showed no deviance at all, and after a month, it is usually within +/-4 seconds.The G-1 starts at $549, which is an amazing price for a watch of this quality. Many other Replica Tommy Hilfiger Watches that feature this movement retail for hundreds to thousands more, and the G-1 is without a doubt the best design from OCEAN7 that we have reviewed to date. The model as reviewed is $599, and the buyer can choose from a series of bezel colors to suit either finish.OCEAN7 Watch Company have outdone themselves on the new G-1 GMT *** a very cool watch that doesn't sacrifice quality, features, looks, or everyday practicality; For updates on content, follow Watch Report on Twitter.