“The New International Order:” America, One Among Many

When Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad trash the United States and get away with it, one can’t help but wonder if the U.S. is losing its grip on world affairs. Whenever the State Department bases its decisions on the consensus of the international community, it sends out mixed signals to its friends and enemies that the U.S. is either afraid to live with its own decisions or feels obligated to explain itself to the rest of the world.

Both bespeak of weakness, which is the last thing that this country’s foreign policy needs right now. For if the leadership in Washington gets it right, it should know that these actions can only ultimately lead to the decline of a powerful America as we know it.

But in yesterday’s speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, President Barack Obama promised to shape a new "’international order’ as part of a national security strategy that emphasizes his belief in global institutions and America's role in promoting democratic values around the world,” through diplomacy. He spoke about the importance of cooperation and partnerships “to confront the economic, military and environmental challenges of the future.”

The international order we seek is one that can resolve the challenges of our times,'" he said in prepared remarks. "Countering violent extremism and insurgency; stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and securing nuclear materials; combating a changing climate and sustaining global growth; helping countries feed themselves and care for their sick; preventing conflict and healing its wounds.

Meanwhile, America continues to face threats from at least two radical forces: Islamism and a reemerging communism that is being spawned by autocratic rulers in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Chavez and Ahmadinejad, the epitome of everything that America is fighting against, are joining forces with other countries and building alliances in order to defeat a common enemy that is the U.S.

Dealing with the global economic crisis, sustaining global growth, helping countries alleviate poverty – all these require international cooperation and collaboration. But these are traditional areas of international cooperation and collaboration for which there are institutions and diplomatic tools already in place.

Otherwise, the world remains a dangerous place.

Socrates teaches us in our meditation of the human condition that we must always begin with reality, wherever it takes us. It is important to realize that global realities present different challenges, and that the strategies that we map out in response to these challenges should be informed by an accurate reading of the human condition and its manifest realities.