In the Spirit of Alternatives

Now, I would like to warn everyone that this article is written by:

John B. Judis, a senior editor at The New Republic and a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His recently published work is called The Folly of Empire. I believe he would best be described as a liberal internationalist. Or, someone who believes in playing nice with others instead of acting unilaterally. So, yes, he is a liberal.

But please take the time to read what he has to say. He examines U.S. foreign policy pre-WW1 to present and then, at the end, presents alternatives for future policy decisions.

I also have to warn you that he uses words like "neo-conservative" and "neo-imperialist." Please try to get past any distaste you have for labels (I hate labels, too, so I totally feel you) and keep reading.

John B. Judis' discussion of Iraq and U.S. Foreign Policy

Thanks,

Rachel


P.S. If you don't have time for the whole article, here is the end. But the whole article is really worth the read!

" The new administration needs to repudiate Bush's strategy of preemptive regime change and reaffirm the United Nations charter, which allows nations to act unilaterally only in their own immediate self-defense. That would have an immediate effect on American policy toward Iran, whose regime the United States is now officially trying to overthrow.

 The new administration needs to reaffirm the idea behind internationally sanctioned and administered "mandates" and "trusteeship" for countries and peoples going through a difficult transition toward independence and statehood. If countries intervene to prevent war or genocide, they must do so in a manner that assures the peoples targeted that their right of self-determination will be respected. If the United States, for instance, had tried to intervene in the Balkans by itself, it might still be fighting an insurgency there.

 The new administration needs to reaffirm the importance of international action and agreements -- through the U.N. and other bodies -- to aid in the prevention of wars, pandemics, and environmental catastrophe, and to ease the struggle over scarce resources, including oil and water. That means at a minimum returning to the negotiations over global warming; and attempting to revive the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which the U.S. undermined in signing a nuclear deal with India."

--John B. Judis