Shaping the World

Gov. Romney has now shifted his focus to foreign policy.   Not surprisingly, he faults President Obama at every turn.    He criticizes Obama's inaction with regard to the Syrian civil war and says that we should arm the Syrian rebels.    He proclaims that America should use its power and influence to "shape" events in the Middle East.    In light of our geopolitical misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan, it seems to me that a policy of benign neglect is immensely attractive at this time.    Why is it President Obama's (our) responsibility to attempt to "shape" every conflagration on Planet Earth.   Why can't we simply take the position that it is the responsibility of the people of Syria to work out their own political situation?    And has been said before since the beginning of the "Arab Spring," who are the rebels in Syria?   Most likely, a broad coalition of people with different motivations and goals.   Will a new Syrian government provide the Syrian people with a better situation?   Will a new Syrian government be more favorable to American interests?    Simply put, there is no way to tell.    The only thing for certain is that war mongering Republicans always favor military intervention as the solution to every problem.   The main reason we are bleeding red ink at the present time is that we are still paying for two unfunded wars of choice begun by the Bush Administration, for no discernible purpose in the case of the Iraq war at least.   Why can't we simply mind out own business and defer to the U.N. and other world and regional organizations to determine if intervention is appropriate?   Well, many will say, the U.N. is ineffective.   Perhaps if we didn't choose to ignore the U.N. when we think it suits our purposes, the U.N. might be more effective.   

The argument for starting a Republican war is always that we have to act to prevent a wider war from flaring.   If we don't intervene is Syria, then Iran will gain influence and then Turkey will intervene and then Israel will have to use nuclear weapons, yada, yada, yada.   The National Security chess masters can always spin out a worst case scenario to justify military action.   How do we best prevent war?   Let's see.   How about, let's don't start any!!!

And now our boy Mitt has decided that as President he will work to further negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians to secure an independent Palestinian state.   The same position as every President since Truman.   Of course, off the record in Israel, he blamed the Palestinians for all of the problems in the Middle East due to their "culture."   There's a man that the Palestinians will trust for sure.

I am going to vote once again for President Barack Obama.   I have no illusions that he has been a great President.   There are certainly many things about his Administration to criticize.   But, in my estimation, we simply have to keep the Republicans out of the White House.   They keep starting up wars that cost us so dearly in terms of life and limb and are bankrupting the country.   These wars are also painting our country in a very bad light.   Most surveys show that most of the world considers the biggest danger in the world to be the United States of America.   If Romney somehow wins the White House, we will be right back on the belligerent path that we were on with Bush I and Bush II.    We can't just keep going around invading countries.   We have no right to do that.   We have no duty to do that.   We cannot afford to do that.   We can't go back to the "Isolationism" of the early 20th Century but we cannot keep trying to "shape" the entire world.   President Obama has rightly and sensibly taken his finger off the trigger.