a berlin blog
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a berlin blog |
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Friday, March 07, 2003 Bungled DiplomacySullivan thinks Josh Marshall has to give "some real reasons as to what the Bushies did wrong" diplomatically. He lists all the UN hoops the White House has jumped through and says "the current neo-lib whining about the Bush team's alleged incompetence" may be "partisan hooey." But the administration's failures have everything to do with how its members act in public. Bush started this run-up to war with the formula "you're either for us or you're against us" -- addressed to the whole world -- and his administration went on to give leaders everywhere the idea that we were prepared, by ourselves, to devastate a sovereign government. Now, I'd like to see Saddam toppled, too, and I think the inspections regime (as well as the vague hope that Saddam might leave) exists because of American firepower. But it's a massive failure of diplomatic finesse to have most of the world against you after September 11. And it doesn't help for Bush to keep shoving his foot in his mouth by calling Kim Jong Il, for example, a pygmy. Or Ari Fleischer treating the press like children. Or for us to publicly sell out the Kurds. This is what people mean by arrogance, and it only encourages smaller, insecure states to go nuclear. posted by Michael Scott Moore | 12:00 AM | |
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