The hypocrisy of our Foreign Policy (1)

In several articles, we have enumerated an alarming series of faux pas, insults, ignorance, in our Foreign Policy. The invasion of Iraq (which is not a war, nor a fight against terrorism) is simply a second reason to explain the increasing anti-American feelings in the rest of the world. As mentioned before, for the next two years, Bush-Cheney-Rice-Negroponte should stay home, and be silent. We do not have to worry anymore about the non-diplomat ambassador John Bolton.

Middle-East: We have lost our prestige and credibility. We are not a factor anymore. We have never been a honest dealer between Palestine and Israel.

Last week, Israeli Vice-Premier Shimon Peres told a panel investigating the government's handling of last year's war in Lebanon that Israel's decision to invade was a mistake, the military was unprepared and Israel's foe, the Hezbollah militia, did a better job than the Israelis of handling media coverage.

Again, Cheney via Bush-Rice was wrong. The whole world (minus 30% of Americans) knew the reasons why we waited one month before any intervention.

Shimon Peres was all against it from the beginning, but didn't say anything against the invasion, in case the disunity be leaked. He should have resigned, as Colin Powell should have done, when he found out he has been duped.

The numerous and meaningless trips of our Secretary of State demonstrate our inefficiency and incompetence in attacking the real problems, and establishing a final solution.

Let's take the recent comment of Ms Rice: "The Palestinian people have waited long enough to have a state of their own and the Israeli people have waited long enough to have the kind of security that will come from the establishment of a stable and democratic neighbour to live in peace with".

Imagine. What a great statement! Any decent person who has been reading the media for a few years, or studying Middle East politics could have said something more intelligent, more appropriate, more important, more profitable. Again, the real world is laughing at us.

Moral Obligation: More than 2 million Iraqis have fled their country, mostly living in Syria and Jordan. Another 2 million are refugees in their own nation, no where to go, and no shelter. United States, Britain and Australia, by invading Iraq, have now the moral obligation to ease the suffering of those who must pay the consequences of this historical, and fatal mistake. This will be more costly than the $700 billion, so far, insanely wasted.

Latin America: As explained in our March 14 article "Bush, much too late", it was a mistake to make a visit to five Latin American countries. The whole world (minus 30% of Americans) knew the reason: not to assist the poor people, but simply a childish response to Hugo Chavez influence.

China: see our next article
Russia: A few months ago, at the International Security Conference, the President Putin commented about a new Cold War, instigated by United States, this time an unstated cold war against China and Russia. According to the Russian President, a global power is often weakened by its pursuit of power.

The history reveals that a concentration of power, combined with a foreign policy based on military actions abroad, leads to the disintegration of the said nation. To many and many observers, the United States is already engaged in a perilous path.

We must stop our interference in the affairs of other countries, and stop lecturing the world. We have so much work to do at home. In the last five years, we have been shooting at almost everything that moves. By firing bird shots, we become a danger to our own friends: obviously, a Foreign Policy micromanaged by Dick Cheney.

Respect must be Earned: a few excerpts from our article of September 22.

- we can not develop an "efficient foreign policy" if we do not inspire "trust and credibility"

- as Edward Gibbon pointed out in his "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", the Roman Empire began to crumble when its leaders forfeited the esteem of the citizenry.

- without honour, we have no value.

Again, we are asking our Congress: who is working in our Foreign Policy? Are they qualified for that job? Urgent matter. We require binding answers.

The Facilitator