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Mccain Vs. Mccain
The single most important security problem that the United States faces is securing loose nuclear materials. A terrorist group can pose an existential threat to the global order only by getting hold of such material. We also have an interest in stopping proliferation, particularly by rogue regimes like Iran and North Korea. To achieve both of these core objectives—which would make American safe and the world more secure—we need Russian cooperation. How fulsome is that likely to be if we gratuitously initiate hostilities with Moscow? Dissing dictators might make for a stirring speech, but ordinary Americans will have to live with the complications after the applause dies down.
To reorder the G8 without China would be particularly bizarre. The G8 was created to help coordinate problems of the emerging global economy. Every day these problems multiply—involving trade, pollution, currencies—and are in greater need of coordination. To have a body that attempts to do this but excludes the world's second largest economy is to condemn it to failure and irrelevance. International groups are not cheerleading bodies but exist to help solve pressing global crises. Excluding countries won't make the problems go away.
McCain appears to think that he can magically unite the two main strands in the Republican foreign-policy establishment. But he can't. This is not about personalities but about two philosophically divergent views of international affairs. Put together, they will produce infighting and incoherence. We have seen this movie before. We have watched an American president unable to choose between his ideologically driven vice president and his pragmatic secretary of State—and the result was the catastrophe of George W. Bush's first term. Twenty-five years earlier, we watched another president who believed that he could encompass the entire spectrum of foreign policy. He, too, gave speeches that were drafted by advisers with divergent world views: in that case, Cyrus Vance and Zbigniew Brzezinski. It led to the paralyzing internal battles of the Carter years. Does John McCain want to try this experiment one more time?
© 2008
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Member Comments
Posted By: jafguru1 @ 05/16/2008 3:49:32 PM
Comment: Fareed Zakaria's new book about the post-American world should be required reading for any presidential candidate, although I get the impression that only Mr Obama or Mrs. Clinton would read it. The insights in this book are authoritative and provide a roadmap for the next President as he tries to correct the economic and foreign policy mistakes of the last eight years. A must read.
Posted By: speakitreal @ 05/15/2008 9:30:31 PM
Comment: McCain is NOT mentally fit to be president!!! He is a war mongerer, and a clueless, moronic, imbicile. Does McCain not realize that if he expels, and isolates, Russia, and China (two of the riches, and most powerful countries in the world), they will both have even more incentive to join forces and decide to attack America, along with this they could become main sponsors of Fundamentalist Islamist terrorist, who also want to attack the USA. So not only will we have a war with terrorists to contend with, the USA will also have a war with China, and Russia. McCain is a warmongering idiot, who for all his time in government, has not learned a thing about it. He is NOT mentally fit to run this country.
Posted By: The_epoch_point @ 05/12/2008 11:09:06 PM
Comment: Comment: I worked on John McCain's 2000 campaign and he inspired me to join the air force and serve my country. McCain has the foreign policy experience to lead this country through the difficult times ahead. Now check out my book at Amazon.com
The Epoch Point by Spencer Zimmerman is a religious historical conspiracy thriller that follows evil throughout the existence of mankind, revealing the constant conflict between God and the devil, good and evil. Robert Davis is a young Airman fresh out of Air Force basic training who, after being held captive in China, suddenly finds himself unraveling the most immense conspiracy in history. On duty during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he soon uncovers hidden facts suggesting Russian and Iraqi involvement. While exploring abandoned military barracks at Kessler AFB in Mississippi, Davis and his friends discover the diary of Lee Harvey Oswald. Suddenly the Airmen find themselves the target of mysterious agents. As the clues surface, an evil emerges powerful enough to rewrite the entire history of humanity, not to mention kill two of his good friends. Before long the conspiracy takes on a supernatural form, marked by lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes, and volcanoes, the wrath of God. Davis finds himself torn by the unbelievable realization that God has a message for him. Nothing could prepare him for the final suspenseful twist the story takes, a Da Vinci style revelation that reaffirms his belief in Christ.