There was no escaping the reality of the post-9/11 situation. What had happened to the United States had happened only to the United States. In Europe and most other parts of the world, people responded with horror, sorrow, and sympathy. But Americans read more into these outpourings of solidarity than was really there. Most Americans, regardless of political party, believed that the world shared not only their pain and sorrow but also their fears and anxiety about the terrorist threat and that the world would join with the United States in a common response. Some American observers cling to this illusion even today. But in fact, the rest of the world shared neither Americans’ fears nor their sense of urgency. Europeans felt solidarity with the superpower during the Cold War, when Europe was threatened and the United States provided security. But after the Cold War, and even after 9/11, Europeans felt relatively secure. Only the Americans were frightened.
From The September 12 Paradigm, by Robert Kagan, in the latest Foreign Affairs.
Striking are the parallels he traces between the Clinton and Bush foreign policies. Bush’s path wasn’t such a departure, says Kagan. It’s a nice point, although a bit overstated.
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How do you do… escaping
“Heeeeeeeeeeelp!â€Â
To escape is what we humans do throughout our lives. In countries, relationships, friends, jobs, lifestyles and dear old braino with all its pseudo logic, afflictive desires and tempting idiosyncrasies. But will we, could we, do we, want to escape?
YES
…more at lifestyleguides.blogspot.com
That’s poisonous self-serving cant from someone who has been proven seven kinds of wrong looking for a scapegoat.
Here’s a test. Who is he talking about? What would they say if he said that to them? Could they possibly agree?
Alternatively replace all occurences of America with China or the Ummah in anything that’s come out of the PNAC and try taking it through customs.
Kagan can go talk about urgency to the Marsh Arabs. I honestly have not the first idea what he could to discredit himself.
What a loud of bull. Just so your readers know, Kagan is a founding member of PNAC who more than any other cabal of individuals is responsible for the invasion of Iraq and the huge squandering of the opportunity America had to do something serious about international terrorism, starting that September 12th. Has the man got no shame? What’s he trying to do now, tell us that is was all the Europeans’ fault again and therefore we had to do it alone with our coalition of the willing? Haven’t we heard this kind of cr*p before.
Sorry to comment without bothering to actually read Kagan’s piece, but honestly I can’t bring myself to click on the link for fear of a visceral reaction, and I’m wearing my good clothes today.
Honestly, I had thought much more highly of your reading interests. How can you even bring yourself to read such ideologues.
But please, if you are going to read people like Robert Kagan, so that we don’t have to, could you please at least try to explain the logic of their arguments rather than quote re-treaded arguments.
Who, for instance, is he telling us to invade this time?