November 21, 2014
DESTABILIZATION IS WHAT WE DO:
Dumbing it away : Why We Lost: A General's Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, by Daniel P Bolger (Spengler, 11/20/14, Asia Times)
Bolger's book should be rushed into Russian and Chinese editions. A substantial current of opinion in those countries, supported by some respected foreign-policy specialists, holds that the US has chosen to destabilize the region intentionally. Now that America is nearly self-sufficient in oil, it wants to interrupt oil supplies to China and others in order to assert global hegemony.That is paranoid nonsense, but it reflects the incredulity of Russian and Chinese observers at the seeming self-destruction of America's world role. How could the Americans be so stupid? We could, and were. Bolger's insider explanation of the chain of blunders that led to the present situation in the region is convincing and should be circulated as an antidote to the paranoia.Proof that America has set out to destabilize the Persian Gulf region, a well-regarded Chinese specialist argued recently before a Beijing foreign-policy seminar, is that the Islamic State is led by Sunni officers armed and funded by General David Petraeus, the US commander during the 2007-2008 "surge".
America's mission in the world for over two centuries has been to destabilize regions where people do not enjoy self-government. We aren't about hegemony, just democracy.
Posted by Orrin Judd at November 21, 2014 1:40 PM
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