Sunday, August 12, 2012

Diplomacy

Jefferson was our first Secretary of State. We've had many since. Some good, some not so good. Some were grand intellects, thinking beyond the stereotypes and fashioning international agreements which reached well beyond their time. Consider the Marshall Plan after WW II,which effectively abandoned the punitive aspects of Versailles and saw that re-integration of defeated nations was a better choice than punishment.

Or look at Kissinger's opening of China as an economic partner. Today China may be communist, but they certainly aren't Mao's model. They are capitalist to the core economically.

Or maybe take a gander at Dulles and the idea of "containment" rather than confrontation. There are surely flaws in the outcomes from the structure of alliances which Dulles built, but NATO served us well and continues to provide a communication and integration mechanism for global military response. Not perfect but certainly innovative.

Now we've got Iran and N. Korea threatening with nuclear capabilities. We've got Libya collapsed largely without our direction and with many more casualties than might have been. We've got Egypt in turmoil and without a coherent picture of where that is going. We've got Syria. We've got Syria and that's about all we can say because we simply don't have a plan.

But, we've got this. Does this woman not realize she is being played as a buffoon? Does she not "get" the dance?



The critical thing about diplomacy is that much like a fireman, you must go to where the fire is, not simply visit all the potential sites of a fire someday.

Hillary Failing At People-to-People

How said isn't it, that actually governing is so complex?

3 comments:

bongobear said...

After I read your blog I sat here and tried to think of one positive thing Clinton has accomplished and I came up with...nothing.
Maybe I'm wrong.

juvat said...

"Does this woman not realize she is being played as a buffoon?"

Ed, how can a buffoon possibly realize she is being played as a buffoon?

johnnyreb said...

Liberal whites seem to me to be desperate to get blacks to think that they are hip and cool.

Here's a hint.......they're never gonna think that.