Post-America: What in the world will happen? – Re-blog Barry Rubin

AFTER THE FALL: WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU CONCLUDE THAT AMERICA IS (Temporarily or Permanently) KAPUT?
By Barry Rubin | January 7, 2013

If we reach the following highly unpleasant conclusion, what are the implications?

American_Flag_Half_Mast_at_Sunset-301x198 — American Flag
Half Mast at Sunset

The United States has taken a political turn which, at least for the next four years, will guarantee that it does not play the role of a great power mindful of and willing to protect its own true interests, to support its allies, and to combat its real foes. On the contrary, through inaction or active effort the leadership of America will take counterproductive actions that achieve the opposite result. And there are certain factors — radical ideological hegemony, a weak economy and growing debt, structural social changes, the weakness and disorganization of the opposition — that may make this situation regarding America’s international behavior and policies a long-term, partly irreversible condition. In other words, we don’t know if America is finished as the world’s leading power, but we do know that it will not have leadership and certainly not leadership in a good direction for a while and perhaps will never fully recover.

So what do those outside the United States do to face this situation? Continue reading “Post-America: What in the world will happen? – Re-blog Barry Rubin” →

Peanut Gallery: If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.

So, where is America going? What role will America play in the world… on land and sea? This article discusses America’s Naval capability and how it supports American interests around the world. It is a primer on the Navy – a must read – for anyone interested in military budget cuts.

For Obama: cuts across the board work because he has no strategic world plan.

For Romney: the military is one means of re-asserting American influence in an increasingly dangerous world.

What do you think?

The Optimistic Conservative

There are so many ways to criticize President Obama’s now-infamous “horses and bayonets” comment from last night’s foreign policy debate that one hardly knows where to start. The snarky attitude alone is worth a column. What is Obama, a blog troll? If he has a case to make about having a smaller Navy, he could surely have made it without being snide, specious, and condescending.

At any rate, there are the obvious points, such as the fact that the US military still uses bayonets. Some of the first U.S. military and intelligence personnel into Afghanistan operated in the prohibitive mountainous terrain on horseback. Horse cavalry may be a thing of the (recent) past for classic battlefield engagements, but terrain and local living patterns are dictatorial when it comes to military operations. For some applications, you need a horse.

The key question implied in all this

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Rice on World Leadership

Peanut Gallery – What role should America play in the dangerous world in which we live… lead, follow, or get out of the way? Condoleezza Rice made a compelling case for America to resume its role as a world leader.

Personally, I can’t begin to imagine what it would be like to be the parent of the last service person killed in Afghanistan before we leave that miserable place. Right now, my USMC son and his family are potentially in harm’s way in the Middle East. So I have a stake in American foreign policy.

The problem, as I see it, is that the current administration doesn’t know what it’s doing or why it’s doing it. When was the last time you heard the president explain why we are in Afghanistan and the terms for measuring success or failure?

Ron Paul’s idea of bringing everyone home and minding our own business is appealing… but delusional. World leadership is a dirty business. But if not us, whom? Iran, China, Russia, North Korea, Venezuela, Europe?

Nature abhors a vacuum. If we don’t fill the current world leadership vacuum, some one else will… and it won’t be pretty.

Check out Rice’s speech here –

How the Obama Doctrine Has Failed

“In the course of three years, President Obama has pursued a foreign policy that has left America less secure today and even more at risk tomorrow. A nuclear Iran, a failed Afghanistan and Iraq, an unfriendly Egypt, an Israel at risk, and an underfunded military are all serious concerns for the American people. Rather than continue pursuing the ill-advised Obama Doctrine, it is time for the President to put defending America first and appeasing our enemies last. That is a doctrine the American people can depend on.”

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