Of course, who can criticize them too much for sticking with what ALWAYS works with their reliably low-info, ‘Omg, all the brown people will git us because of our freeeeedoms!’, Fox “News” brainwashed supporters? BE AFRAID, VOTE REPUBLICAN!
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To which Micah Zenko, writing on the Council on Foreign Relations (blog) calls bullshit [emphasis below is mine]:
Clear and Present Safety: The United States Is More Secure than Washington Thinks
In stark contrast to the prevailing rhetoric from Washington, we argue that the world today is one with fewer violent conflicts, increased political freedom, and greater economic opportunity than at virtually any other point in human history. On average, people enjoy longer life expectancy. The United States faces no plausible existential threats and no near-term competition for the role of global hegemon. The U.S. military is indisputably the most powerful in the world, and the U.S. economy remains the largest as well as among the most vibrant and dynamic.
Rather than multitude of threats, the United States faces challenges such as climate change, pandemic diseases, economic instability, and transnational criminal networks that post little risk to most American citizens and can be managed with existing diplomatic, economic, and—to a much lesser extent—military tools. To confront these challenges, we write, “American foreign policy needs fewer people who can jump out of airplanes and more who can convene roundtable discussions and lead negotiations.”
Today, the U.S. Agency for International Development and State Department (comprising 2,000 and 30,000 employees, respectively) share a $50 billion foreign affairs budget, while the Pentagon maintains more than 1.6 million employees and a budget upwards of $600 billion. When confronted by the numbers, it doesn’t come as a surprise that policymakers tend to perceive challenges through the distorting lens of the U.S. military, and respond accordingly.
Related — Bomb, baby, bomb!!
- A day after calling for the annihilation of Iran, Tucker Carlson said, “I misrepresented my own views.”
- Santorum has adopted even more of a doomsday approach on the campaign trail, telling voters in Florida, Missouri, and South Carolina that they would not be safe in their states if Iran obtained a nuclear weapon.
- When CNN moderator John King directly asked the Republican candidates for their own plans on gas prices at Wednesday’s debate, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum completely sidestepped the question by attacking Obama’s foreign policy in Iran.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is instructing his cabinet not to speak publicly about Iran ahead of his White House meeting with President Obama in early March, where the two leaders are expected to discuss Iran’s nuclear program and U.S. opposition to an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites.
- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney doubled down on his claim that a second Obama term will bring a nuclear Iran.
- It is not only Israeli leaders who have doubted Obama’s commitment to stop Iran’s nuclear program; Iran’s leaders themselves didn’t take Obama seriously. After all, George W. Bush labeled Iran’s government a member of the axis of evil, but then did nothing much at all to thwart its ambitions. But Obama, while avoiding rhetorical drama, has actually done more to stop Iran than the Bush Administration ever did.
