Category Archives: Responsibility to Protect or R2P

Jonathan Power,  courtesy of International Press Syndicate where the title reads “U.S. invested trillions in wars, China in development” …  with highlighting as embellishments from The Editor Thuppahi

– The French ambassador to the U.S. from 1902 to 1924, Jean-Jules Jusserand, observed that distant powers could not easily threaten the U.S. because “On the north, she has a weak neighbour; on the south, another weak neighbour; on the east fish and on the west, fish”. The coming of the submarine-based nuclear missile has not changed that. Apart from the fact that no enemy would dare use them for fear of retaliation, and that there is no country in the world that feels that hostile to America (accept North Korea), the fact is America is too big and too far away to be invaded and dominated. There could not be a blitzkrieg by a foreign army across the mid-west or a Vichy America.

The real tragedy of 9/11 is just as a majority of the U.S. electorate had settled into a post-Cold War comfort zone with the new president, George W. Bush, not being overly pushy or confrontational in foreign affairs, America was jolted so badly that a large proportion of its electorate – maybe half – has been paranoid ever since. Enemies are once again seen under the bed. Enough of the electorate have persuaded themselves that they are insecure – and not just because of growing terrorism – and they have made sure via the Republican majority in Congress that President Barack Obama has had his hands tied on everything from emptying Guantanamo to gun control to pursuing more cuts in nuclear weapons with Russia.
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