January 14, 2006
ALL RHODES LEAD TO AMERICA:
Still the Colossus (Robert Kagan, January 15, 2006, Washington Post)
The striking thing about the present international situation is the degree to which America remains what Bill Clinton once called "the indispensable nation." Despite global opinion polls registering broad hostility to George W. Bush's United States, the behavior of governments and political leaders suggests America's position in the world is not all that different from what it was before Sept. 11 and the Iraq war.The much-anticipated global effort to balance against American hegemony -- which the realists have been anticipating for more than 15 years now -- has simply not occurred.
If I recall correctly it was actually Madeleine Albright who used the "indispensable nation" phrase. Of course, the amusing thing about Madame Albright and Bill Clinton is that as soon as the GOP took power they went all multilateralist on us. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 14, 2006 10:13 AM
All these governments that are so hostile to the U.S. are too weak to actually take care of any international crises on their own. Look at what happened in Bosnia. The best they can do is hold a conference on the crisis, issue U.N. statements condemning the crisis, and wringing their hands and whining about why the U.S. isn't taking care of the crisis. Is it any wonder we have contempt for them?
Posted by: sharon at January 14, 2006 12:44 PMDid Albright say that as she waddled down the hall after Arafat, or as she was dancing with kim il whatever?
Posted by: Jim in Chicago at January 14, 2006 1:07 PMWatch what they do, not what they say.
Are any of them laying keels for CVN's or SSBN's?
Posted by: Lou Gots at January 14, 2006 1:16 PMNo matter who said it, it's the conservative statement on American exceptionalism in a unipolar world.
Posted by: David Cohen at January 14, 2006 2:19 PMIt's the old Ghostbusters slogan, "Who Ya Gonna Call?"
Thought so.