Slog - Comments on Obama's Got a (Foreign Policy) Posse http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse Last week was spent trying to find a new conventional wisdom on where Obama and McCain actually stand on Iraq and Afghanistan—with surrogates for both sides engaging in questions of whether Obama will weep under his desk as Iraq falls to Iranian troops and conjuring visions of a wild-eyed John McCain dropping from a B-52, whooping it up on a nuclear bomb bound for Tehran. Perhaps now some sanity is in order. Way back in March, Spencer Ackerman wrote a piece in The American Prospect assessing what an Obama foreign policy would actually look like. After rolling out the brightest... Copyright 2008 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:15:59 -0800 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:57:44 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by clintonsarmy We won't support ball-less NO-Bama and will re-defeat him in November!!!

]]> clintonsarmy http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse#c1074538 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse#c1074538 2008 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:54:44 -0800 Comment by Greg Isn't there some sort of provision for blocking spammers like the above?

]]> Greg http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse#c1074560 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse#c1074560 2008 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:06:40 -0800 Comment by RonK, Seattle This is interesting ... but strikingly at odds with the entire corpus of empirical study of extremism and terrorism.

Maybe it's just somebody's misunderstanding of somebody's misunderstanding of something somebody said.

]]> RonK, Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse#c1074615 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse#c1074615 2008 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:37:46 -0800 Comment by lark Ryan,
I've read Ms. Power's book "The Problem From Hell". Very good. But, I highly doubt her approach to Foreign Policy would work in the real world. Allieviating poverty and ignorance ("dignity promotion") are honorable goals but they won't stop Al-Qaeda from operating. The Clinton Administration had an engaging policy. It didn't prevent at least two genocides and the Somalia debacle. It takes a generational change in attitudes about female empowerment, democracy, human development and religion/culture. It's not just poverty and ignorance that's creating jihadists. Never forget about 1/3 of the 9/11 bombers came from wealthy, cultivated and educated families.

]]> lark http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse#c1074640 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse#c1074640 2008 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:46:30 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle @2 - no, they can't block the McSame office apparently ...

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse#c1074751 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse#c1074751 2008 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:33:36 -0800 Comment by Vince Part of respecting a people is not empowering their oppressors. When the aide we send goes to the corrupt and never reaches the people, they suspect we are not respecting them. Combine that with resentment for our satiated lifestyles and you get a class dedicated to our destruction.

]]> Vince http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse#c1074806 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse#c1074806 2008 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:53:46 -0800 Comment by PC Yuo poverty does not cause terrorism. OBL very, very rich, and many of the ones we caught were highly educated.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh very poor and produces no terrorists.

this is not to say we shouldn't use our sfoter power of doing right in the Muslim world of course.

Oh and Obama's speech didn't focus on ending poverty but on building up our military strength in Afg. to beat the fuckers with violence and force.

]]> PC http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse#c1074941 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse#c1074941 2008 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:25:36 -0800 Comment by nicole um, actually, having spent a bit of time in the middle east I can confirm that there is something to this dignity idea. The countries that are stable are countries where the gov't (not always a democracy, by the way) has decided that it is really important to make sure people have jobs and security and can feed their families (Jordan, for example. Whose stability is being challenged as the influx of wealthy foreigners forces the cost of living higher and higher). And yes, Osama bin Laden was from an extremely wealthy family, but he didn't get on our terrorist list until after he had a falling out with our friends in the Saudi Royal Family. You also may have noticed that he wasn't on any crashing planes. And it was only AFTER the falling out with the Sauds that he started to target the US. As for the identities of the people involved in the WTC attacks, I remember reading that nearly all of them were Saudi, and 1 from Lebanon. Even if you are wealthy and from KSA, you still don't have a lot of opportunities, the power distribution there is very very bizarre, and religion and drifting are among the only real hobbies available to an 18-25 year old guy. And let's just say the fellow from Lebanon was not from the Hariri family.

]]> nicole http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse#c1075250 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse#c1075250 2008 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 06:40:40 -0800 Comment by lark @8
I don't disagree with you. I, too spent time in the Near East and 3 years in a predominately Muslim country. I am merely saying "soft power" or "killing 'em with kindness" doesn't necessarily work. There is an entrenched culture that even with the great wealth of the few doesn't auger change for all. Turkey, Jordan and perhaps Dubai are relatively progressive in that order. But, Iran, KSA, Yemen and others are not. Of them, KSA is probably the most reactionary conservative country on earth. And, one of the wealthiest.

]]> lark http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse#c1075275 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/obamas_got_a_foreign_policy_posse#c1075275 2008 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:57:44 -0800