We might think Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is a nutcase; we can convince ourselves Ahmadinejad of Iran is an extremist, but what about the remarks from presidents of Lebanon, Angola, Bolivia, Brazil, Sudan, Palestine and many more?
The most concerning phenomenon is in the process of minimizing the source of the critique to be able to discount it, and insuring our comments play well to the domestic audience, almost nobody is trying to analyze the change.
Why doesn't the whole world see with us eye to eye?
The United Nation and the world clearly lost leadership, when US lost its ability to lead.
We are still the strongest nation in the history of humankind. Our economy represents a fifth of the worlds economy.
We have all the qualifications to lead the world, but we cannot any more even when we are rallying the world behind a good cause like fighting the genocide in Darfur http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/darfur_conflict.
Where did we go wrong?
The world knows, we did not find WMD, and instead of apologizing we keep finding new excuses, such as the world is a better place without Sadam.
The world can see clearly that Iraq, after three years, is a land where the only freedom is the freedom to die, and the only democracy is the one behind the walls of the green zone.
The world understands that Afghanistan is falling back in the hands of Taliban, while we are taking photo ops with the government that does not control the land and the president that uses American security personnel to insure his safety.
The world does not accept that our government treats the killing of hundreds of Lebanese children as collateral damage, while the injury of a single Israeli child is an act of terror.
The world is sick of us teaching everybody about Human rights while the pictures of Abu-Ghraib and Guantanamo are vivid in everybody's eyes.
The world listened to the president of Pakistan telling the story of an American official threatening to take a country into the Stone Age if it does not cooperate. I even imagine that many of these smiling faces in the crowd might have a similar story or two.
Our foreign policy demands the world to adhere to International laws, while we are threatening other countries. Using double standards, and negotiating the relevance of the Geneva Convention when it applies to America.
Leadership is not a right. It is a vision and we do not have it.
It is the strength to recognize your mistakes and correct them.
The most concerning phenomenon is in the process of minimizing the source of the critique to be able to discount it, and insuring our comments play well to the domestic audience, almost nobody is trying to analyze the change.
Why doesn't the whole world see with us eye to eye?
The United Nation and the world clearly lost leadership, when US lost its ability to lead.
We have all the qualifications to lead the world, but we cannot any more even when we are rallying the world behind a good cause like fighting the genocide in Darfur http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/darfur_conflict.
Where did we go wrong?
The world knows, we did not find WMD, and instead of apologizing we keep finding new excuses, such as the world is a better place without Sadam.
The world can see clearly that Iraq, after three years, is a land where the only freedom is the freedom to die, and the only democracy is the one behind the walls of the green zone.
The world understands that Afghanistan is falling back in the hands of Taliban, while we are taking photo ops with the government that does not control the land and the president that uses American security personnel to insure his safety.
The world does not accept that our government treats the killing of hundreds of Lebanese children as collateral damage, while the injury of a single Israeli child is an act of terror.
The world is sick of us teaching everybody about Human rights while the pictures of Abu-Ghraib and Guantanamo are vivid in everybody's eyes.
The world listened to the president of Pakistan telling the story of an American official threatening to take a country into the Stone Age if it does not cooperate. I even imagine that many of these smiling faces in the crowd might have a similar story or two.
Our foreign policy demands the world to adhere to International laws, while we are threatening other countries. Using double standards, and negotiating the relevance of the Geneva Convention when it applies to America.
Leadership is not a right. It is a vision and we do not have it.
It is the strength to recognize your mistakes and correct them.
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