March 1, 2011
The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.
- Mark Twain’s Letter to George Bainton, 10/15/1888
Dear Friends,
Mark Twain and foreign policy?
Some would say that’s a clear case of ‘never the twain shall meet,’ but if we permit a modicum of poetic license, it might just make sense.
If you’ve been reading the editorial and op-ed pages of various periodicals during these last few weeks of tumult in Northern Africa and the Middle East, you’ve been treated to an array of thought experiments from various points on the political spectrum suggesting that the Obama administration – and the President himself – have been moving sluggishly, clumsily, uncertainly, and ineptly.
Many pundits believe that in Egypt and Libya, for example, America should have been out front from the get-go in vocal support of the forces of democracy and against the instruments of oppression, i.e., the ruling regimes and their supporters.
It’s hard to disagree with this sentiment, but sentiments are not the basis for making policy. The bigger question is: Does it pass the sensibility test? Is it sensible?
Twain’s counsel on vocabulary -- ‘the difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter” – provides an analog for evaluating foreign policy. That the difference between the almost right foreign policy and the right foreign policy is really a large matter, and a subtlety lost on more than one American president.
It is, for example, captured in the difference between two words that seem almost the same: simple and simplistic.
The former means, “easily understood or done, presenting no difficulty; plain, basic, or uncomplicated in form, nature or design.
Whereas the latter is about, “treating complex issues and problems as if they were much simpler than they really are.”
Now, to the claims about America’s failure to lead the parade on Egypt, Libya, and elsewhere.
Is this a simple matter or a simplistic notion?
Of course America belongs with the forces of freedom and democracy wherever they are opposed by autocrats and kleptocrats. If we’re not always in a position to ‘stand’ for that, we certainly do ‘speak’ for it?
Of course we deplore the brutality of despots and autocrats, wherever and whenever they are found -- in the USSR, the PRC, Latin America, Africa, throughout the Middle East and across the Mahgreb. How we actually deal with them is another matter, indeed.
In the Arab and Muslim world, America has a checkered history stretching back for decades and decades that cannot be expunged in the short term, even with the most artful ‘public diplomacy.’
However, on each occasion of political awakening in the Middle East, including many false starts over many years, the world looks to America to strut the stage on behalf of the forces for democratization and liberalization. If not the United States, then who? And if not visibly and vocally, then how?
Well, there are multiple reasons why leading a rhetorical parade can be a trap for the U. S, and damaging to the forces for moderation and secular governance in the region, as well-- a cross between a “Catch 22” and a “Trojan horse,” ergo a “lose-lose proposition.”
Americans need to understand the profusion of complexities and contradictions that come with “Made in the USA” throughout the region. On the one hand, it is our values that people admire and wish to emulate; and on the other hand, it is our policies that have created so much ill will for so long with “the Arab street.”
Over the course of modern history in the Middle East – following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the eventual withering away of colonial powers – America’s paramount interest has been about oil. Period. As a consequence, our policies have been driven by that interest, creating an irremediable discontinuity – or “the mother of all contradictions,” if you prefer.
But let us not simplify our history: oil was vital to the national security interest, so we did what nation-states do. We acted in our national interest, but with policies that put our democratic values and national security interests at loggerheads -- hence, the indelible tarnish that stains the American brand in the Middle East.
Does that mean that America must t-h-i-n-k v-e-r-y c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y before it insinuates itself in circumstances such as the popular uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Iran, Bahrain and elsewhere?
Of course.
In most of the Arab-Muslim world, an American ‘endorsement’ is a double-edged sword, at best, and the kiss of death, to many – a reinforcement of the duality of our walk and our talk. Millions throughout the region know precisely which side we’ve been on – talking democracy and freedom while walking the status quo and support for autocrats who have made the Middle East safe for petroleum-driven economies in the western hemisphere and elsewhere.
What happens next in each of these countries is a matter for Egyptians, Libyans, Tunisians, and whoever else may follow to determine on their own, despite the risk potential to the global economy and the transnational community.
Instead of intervening, even with the best of intentions, America would do well to take this moment to commence a major policy realignment – one that matches its walk with its talk, and that looks ahead to a new era in Arab Middle East governance, recognizing that this may be years and even decades in the making. And that would suggest waiting for a formal invitation to help while eschewing another intervention – preemptive, preventive, presumptive, or otherwise.
R. Garrett Mitchell
The Mitchell Report
March 1, 2011
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