07 May 2013

Stay Home, America; Get Your Own House in Order

9/11, American Politics, Foreign Policy, International Relations, Middle East 5 Comments

I’ve been extremely busy for months with The Wisdom Project, including long hours on the new book. There’s a lot I’ve wanted to post, and probably should have, but “eight days a week” still remains in the la la land of Beatles lore. So it saves me a lot of time when someone else not only says something I’ve wanted to say but says it better that I could have said it. There’s real wisdom packed into this this short piece in Time about US foreign policy by Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations.

And, interestingly, on the page next to the Haass editorial, is an editorial by Fareed Zakaria, arguing why U.S. intervention in Syria to mitigate the carnage is flawed. Implication: don’t go there.  Whether it was meant as a companion piece to the Haass editorial, I don’t know.

As always, let’s talk about this.

 

5 Responses to “Stay Home, America; Get Your Own House in Order”

  1. Mike Peck says:

    The tragedy is of commodity based global parlance. War is the tool of acquisition. It is a Moloch to which we have sacrificed our children for far too long…

  2. Alexandru Nădăban says:

    Well, interesting thoughts.

    It seems to me that party politics and interests are more important than doing things right. The way the USA are solving problems looks more like a fire department than a wise people’s council. And despite trillions of dollars being spent the USA is taken by surprise (at home and abroad), is reacting instead of acting, i.e. planing and achieving peace. At some point in time somebody must draw the line. As a non-American I ask myself if the US will go on without changing anything, affecting other nations for selfish goals. Who’s next after Iraq and Afghanistan? Want a guess?

    The USA needs a new paradigm in politics, both at home and abroad. Solution: listen to people who do not have anything to lose or gain politically, materially. Good is neutral. Good is for everybody not only for the chosen ones.

    • Charles says:

      It is indeed true that Washington is now seriously engaged in what we could say is trying to prevent worst case scenarios from taking place in certain nations. No need to recite what those are here. But that seems to be the official posture these years, where much of the energy, money, and thinking is going.

  3. Ben Taylor says:

    Wow! Haas is being modest here calling himself a “card-carrying member of the foreign policy establishment”; he’s president of the Council on Foreign Relations! It says a lot coming from him. Thanks, Charles.

    • Charles says:

      Yes, and he’s taking a bit of a risk publicly; after all, CFR has been the cutting edge influencer since its founding of what used to be called Open Door policy. Although a careful read of the editorial (I haven’t read the book yet) shows he’s hedging his bets a bit in that regard. Still, public boldness from him about a much needed shift in foreign policy, in my opinion.