…document also states, for the first time, that the United States will never allow its military supremacy to be challenged the way it was during the cold war.
“a distinctly American internationalism.”
“that the president has no intention of allowing any foreign power to catch up with the huge lead the United States has opened since the fall of the Soviet Union more than a decade ago.”
**and an oxymoron **
It recites the dangers of nonproliferation agreements that have failed to prevent Iran, North Korea, Iraq and other countries from obtaining weapons of mass destruction, and says that the United States will never subject its citizens to the newly created International Criminal Court, “whose jurisdiction does not extend to Americans.”
As an american, I find the article a little scary. I think Lucas says it well in his Star Wars Saga, it is the corruption in the Republic that results in the Empire. God has blessed America with power at this juncture of history, and there are few to none examples of states using such power wisely. I hope the American people through their congress discuss this threadbare, and think of checks and balances. I donot beleive that the founding fathers envisoned such a state, and hence the political system might not be geared for handling such a lopsided power. I am not sure that the President ought to be given such immense power without checks and without congressional control. If we are going to affect the world, we need to evolve a mechanism to involve the world along with us in making decisions. If UN is outdated and incapable of handling international decisions, then we should let it go the way of league of nations, and think of creating another International Body. I think rest of the nations of the world should enter into this debate, and I guess the time to do it is now. But one thing should be rigourously sidlined: inane political correctness that dampens true innovation and discussion.
The crux of the matter for me is that only Congress can declare war, and only president can execute foreign policy. Presidents especially since Johnson have stretched the doctrine and handled foreign affairs in a manner where the congress has been effectively handed a "after the fact" endorsement of a decision to go to war. With the policy of pre-emption, a policy which I completely agree is needed, I am having trouble envisioning how the power of Congress to declare war will be kept intact. There has to be a mechanism where the President has to get approval of the Congress and in some appropriate manner since public discussion might not be feasable all the time. This does require careful thought! If the Presidents acquire the power to declare War without congress, then we are no longer a republic! Period.
Pir Ji, I had the same bad feeling about this article as you had but our perspective about that bad feeling may be totally different. I personally think that this policy (along with other recent US policies) is concentrated in an area 1500-mile radius from Jerusalem.
UTD, its US Policies vs Muslims, and not the US, ahh...
I am trying to get hold of an interview Condoleeza Rice has given to FT. She says in that article that
"We want to become the force behind the liberation and democratization of the Muslim world starting from Iraq."
As if the US is not behind the current stage to “democratization” and “liberation” in the Muslim world, supporting democracies from Pakistan to Mauritania.