Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 15 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
Exclusive to OpEd News:
OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 5/29/23

U.S. Foreign Policy: the Beauty of Being Unbound

By       (Page 1 of 2 pages)   No comments
Follow Me on Twitter     Message Philip Kraske
Become a Fan
  (7 fans)

Freedom
Freedom
(Image by LilDaria | Maddict)
  Details   DMCA

Has there ever been a time like this in American foreign policy? The president is a foggy-headed grandpa, the public is hypnotized by accounts of a monstrous Putin, and best, most lovely, most delicious of all: nobody gripes about anything the administration does abroad. Dissent has fled to the Internet, e-cheek by e-jowl with teenage influencers, tulip hobbyists, and Philip Kraske thrillers, there to do no harm. Way back when, Marshall McLuhan was right: the medium is indeed message. Yes, the high mandarins of foreign policy are on a roll. It's open bar, playground time, a frat party in high gear.

Embarrass China? They deserved it. Destroy the Nord Stream pipeline? Don't mind if we do. Arm Taiwan? Think of the sales! Shoot a couple of drones over the Kremlin? Well, let's let the Ukies give it a shot, and if anyone beefs about attempted assassination, we'll have the media label it a Russian false-flag op.

Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon must be turning green with envy in their tombs. No opposition! No chanting protesters! From the Times, Journal and Post not a word of criticism -- quite the contrary. They're banging the drums for more, and when some outlying misfit leaks documents showing everyone in government knows Ukraine is going to lose, they help put him in the slammer. They've had enough of Julian Assanges and his dreary State Department cables. We're at war; this is no time to toss a monkey wrench into the works.

The Russians and Chinese watch all this with rising anxiety: it's easy to detect from their ever-more-strident statements. It's not that they aren't prepared or don't feel sufficiently armed; it's that the Americans are now unpredictable. Whatever position papers told world leaders in 2021 about what to expect from a Biden Administration, all of that has been tossed into the round file. Xi and Putin must improvise on the fly, parrying Washington's random thrusts.

Nothing they say wrinkles Washington foreheads, nothing gets their attention: not threats, not fists banged the table, not reasoned positions about legitimate security concerns. Red lines laid down? To Americans they look a very pale pink. China calls new American policy on Taiwan "absolutely intolerable"? The Americans hear "a pain in the neck." The top people in Russia and China must look at the unfolding drama of blithe recklessness and wonder if anything short of a nuclear strike will bring the Americans to deal seriously with them.

Yes, to Biden's team, consequences are for the little people. "Among America's most distinguishing features," writes Patrick Lawrence in his excellent book "Time No Longer," [is the idea that] Europe was where history took place. America was immune to history's ravages. It was changeless." For that is the subtext of the administration's ever-bolder punches: at the end, those lovely oceans will halt nearly any foreign riposte, and what gets through our trillion-dollar military will dispatch. Besides, a war would take place either far across the Pacific or in Europe -- but war there is so picturesque.

It is also the message they transmit to Americans, who hear about the distant gains and losses in Ukraine as if it were a baseball team having a mediocre season. To the odd informed citizen seriously troubled by developments, they listen in the same inert way one waits for a traffic light to change.

Europeans are more uneasy about Ukraine, knowing in their bones how history can grab a people by the scruff of the neck and give them a good shaking. But even here dissent scarcely exists. Governments and opposition parties alike sympathize, sympathize deliriously, with Ukraine. For they know they'd damn well better. As Caitlin Johnstone notes is the case with Australia in regard to China, politicians here fear America -- its media, covert ops, and sanctions -- more than they do Russia. In Brussels nobody mentions the Nord Stream matter, though inflation is rising and everyone knows why. The major media here follow the lead of the New York Times and repeat the cliche's about Putin's sanity, his totally unprovoked war.

Next Page  1  |  2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Rate It | View Ratings

Philip Kraske Social Media Pages: Facebook Page       Twitter Page       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

"A Legacy of Chains and Other Stories" is Philip Kraske's lastest book. It can be found at his website: www.philipkraske.com

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

Is America Planning a First Strike Against Russia?

9-11 was a national job

Republicans try to stop the Revolution of the Rubes

The touchy-feely propaganda of 60 Minutes

What if North Korea Turns off the Lights in America?

Russia and The New Rome

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend