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Originally Posted by Undertoad
tw would you advocate the "complete disengagement" idea?
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An honest broker does not disengage. An honest broker does not take sides. America earned unmatched popularity among the entire world - no other nation even came close - when we operated as an honest broker. That means talking softly, carrying a big stick, and never using it until the smoking gun makes the need obvious.
Korean war was an example of an honest broker that finally was forced to take sides. In the early days of Lebanon's last civil war, we operated as an honest broker - until Lt Col Oliver North decisions made us the enemy of two sides. We remained the honest broker in Eisenhower's day when we stopped an earlier Lebanon civil war AND when we stopped the British and French from attacking Egypt.
These are historical examples that appear in bold letters. America was even far more effective when we supported the UN to detooth Saddam, confronted arparthite in South Africa, encouraged reconcilation and political stability in Argentina, gave the Panama Canal back to Panama as promised, left the Philippines when they demanded, took advantage of and encouraged Libya to enter an almost 10 year process of becoming a responsible nation, permitted Japan to restore its cultural integrity without a destructive militaristic mentality, advocated international trade through various means such as international air transport standards, the Fundamental Declaration of Human Rights, etc.
There was nothing in the Middle East that was a threat to the US - unless we made it so. An honest broker would have empowered the UN. Instead we now undermine it because we now want to impose Christian bias upon the world. IOW we are no longer considered an honest broker even by Canada and Mexico. George Jr has been that destructive to American prestige. In fact, you are now watching a world try to create new honest brokers due to a vacuum left by America.
We made the same mistake in Vietnam. The parallels are shocking - in part because (for example) most here never read the Pentagon Papers. Most have knowledge about Watergate from the grossly distorted movie "All the President's Men" - and have so little idea of how McCarthyism is so easy to create. These are cancers that also pervet the honest broker. We cannot be an honest broker when too many Americans believe biblical parables (children stories) rather than god's lessons in history.
But again, there was nothing in the Middle East that should have caused war other than a rescue of Kuwait. We have now encouraged every nation there to go nuclear - as Iran now must. A Kuwait invasion that happened, in part, because we accidently told Saddam it would be OK. Even an honest broker can make mistakes.
How to solve problems as an honest broker? We kept out of the Balkan until the Balkans were ready to have their problem solved. Therefore we did not foolishly kill 100+ Americans every month. We did same in Argentina. It is how honest brokers work. We negotiated Milosevik and his friends right out of power. Diplomacy - properly applied as an honest broker - and we should all be singing praise of Richard Holbrook - is far more powerful than a military solution.
An honest America need not disengage. But an honest America also uses military force only as a last resort - the smoking gun. An honest broker cannot takes sides - as anti-humanity religions would have us do.