After posting John McCain’s War earlier this week, I have been asked by several people to take a couple of his foreign policy ideas and expound on them based on what he said in his Foreign Affairs article. So here we go. Please comment what you read here. Debate and discussion is good.
1) Privatize sanction effort with other countries. John McCain thinks that if Iran were to be protected by a nuclear arsenal, it would be more willing and able to sponsor terrorist attacks against any perceived enemy, including the US, even pass nuclear materials on to its allied terrorist networks. He feels that the US must be able to act outside the framework of the United Nations to impose tough, effective multilateral sanctions against Iran. Especially refined gasoline. He wants to isolate and delegitimize the regime in Tehran.
2) Create Army Advisory Corps. This corps would partner with militaries abroad to engage in Special Forces operations, civil affairs activities, military policing, and military intelligence. It would help the nonmilitary deployable police force to help maintain law and order in places threatened by state collapse.
3) Create a worldwide League of Democracies. John McCain insists that this would not be similar to Woodrow Wilson’s failed League of Nations but would be like Teddy Roosevelt wanted – like-minded nations working together when the UN fails. Like what happened in Rwanda, Darfur, etc. It would provide unimpeded market access to those countries who endorse economic and political freedom.
Now, I am not saying that these objectives are necessarily all bad, just that they might be. They certainly will cost a lot of money, money that might be better spent here at home. Also, I am uneasy about the United States becoming intimately involved in a foreign country’s internal affairs. The fact that a nation does not completely stand with the United States in all facets of world politics does not make them our enemy. This is essential politics – finding a way to work with others who differ with you toward a common purpose.
Stay tuned for more of these in the next few days and please feel free to post a comment.
