About a clusterfuck in Afghanistan, Bernhard of Moon of Alabama posted an excellent piece by Michael Brenner, who sums it up pretty nicely in the piece symptomatically titled: The Foreign Policy Borg And The Retreat From Afghanistan. I liked this introduction:
There are few things in this kaleidoscopic world of ours that we can count on – for predictability, for fixity of outlook, for unswerving resistance to the vicissitudes of life. The American foreign policy community is one of them. They reliably react to stunning events in the world with reiteration of what they have been saying for years and decades They do so in unison. They never admit error of analysis or of policy, they preserve a righteous tone, and they retain a permanent inventory of persons to scapegoat – and, equally important, those who are always exempt from blame. The Afghan debacle demonstrates, once again, how deeply entrenched this behavioral pattern is. It is self-evident, it is glaring, and it is a reason for both shame and for doubting the United States’ ability to conduct its external relations in a sober, reasonable manner.
Read the whole thing at MoA, it is worth your attention. I just want to add that a sober foreign policy by the US is impossible in principle within the existing framework of American statecraft, which doesn't understand war for what it is. It can't. But I didn't say anything here what I didn't say before. It is a cultural thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment