“We need a global response to climate change that includes binding and enforceable commitments to reducing emissions, especially for those that pollute the most: United States, China, India, the European Union, and Russia.”
I have a tough time seeing America lead the way in enacting binding and enforceable commitments and then binding and enforcing itself when it fails to cutback on pollution. I have an easy time imagining that this will lead to more political strife and warfare as countries accuse each other childishly of not doing enough to reduce emissions and therefore, countries will not cooperate and any such commitment will dissolve after a few years. But forget my tough times and imaginations, why not ratify the Kyoto Protocol, Mr. Obama? Isn’t that what America should do instead of starting a new binding enforceable commitment?
Obama on Building Just, Secure Democratic Societies
“We have a significant stake in ensuring that those who live in fear and want today live with dignity and opportunity tomorrow.”
“People around the world have heard a great deal lately about freedom on the march. Tragically, many have come to associate this with a war, torture, and forcibly imposed regime change.”
Forgive me, but doesn’t “freedom on the march” entail force that involves war, torture, and regime change? After all, we aren’t calling for “freedom through education”. This isn’t “freedom through open dialogue”. No, this is “freedom on the march”. And I have a tough time trying to figure out if you want to stop marching freedom out to countries or not.
People living in fear and want should be able to live in dignity and opportunity, but they are likely to be used if we help change their lives. As Obama says:
“But if America is going to help others build more just and secure societies, our trade deals, debt relief, and foreign aid must not come as blank checks. I will couple our support with an insistent call for reform, to combat the corruption that rots societies and governments from within.”
Precisely what he means is, do as we say and your lives will improve. Your life may not become exactly what you want or what it could be if we left you alone. But we need you to benefit America and make us a richer nation. So, look on bright side? Your life is better than before, right?
Obama on Rebuilding America’s Trust
A primal influence for Obama to write this was Bush’s failure to buld a consensus at home on the foreign policy that we are using. However, Obama need not worry because once elected he can do what Bush did and do as he pleases with foreign policy. The American people have no say in foreign policy. They can elect a leader to enact the foreign policy they want and can find that leader through research prior to an election. But once in power, that leader can do as he or she pleases with the bureaucracy at his or her disposal and the policymakers who have advised him on what his or her doctrine should be. The strategy and tactics, primary objectives and secondary objectives, etc. can all change whenever it is necessary to maintain our nation’s hegemonic power.
Still Obama says:
“No policy can succeed unless the American people understand it and feel they have a stake in its success---unless they trust that their government hears their concerns as well.”
It is not that way yet but as more and more read Chomsky, Zinn, Johnson, Fisk, Kinzer, etc. they will realize how out of control our foreign policy is. In a world of anarchy that we human beings must find a way to coexist in, America has taken it upon itself in the past century to pursue a monopoly of violence over the globe that elevates America to supreme status but leaves it open for failure at any moment.
In closing, Obama tells us how we can love his plans for the world because it will give us a story to tell:
“...it is time for a new generation to tell the next great American story. If we act with boldness and foresight, we will be able to tell our grandchildren that this was the time when we helped forge peace in the Middle East.”
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