Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Doing Nothing
David Rothkopf pulls no punches in his latest essay at NI:
Secretary Gates and others talk about balance, about setting priorities--and yet, the policy process still ends up making everything a priority. I remember at a magazine event a few years back where a speaker was asked whether he could prioritize the countries where the U.S. has a military presence--and he said that they were all important (some 144 countries!). So it will be interesting to see how and under what circumstances Rothkopf's question get answered.
The question, as posed, is stark and direct.
... our allies need to realize that it is not that we want their help, it is that either they step up or no action will be taken. We can no longer afford to go it alone.
We will have to stop asking every time a situation arises in the world, "What should we do?" And we will start having to do as other nations do and ask, "Should we do anything?"
Secretary Gates and others talk about balance, about setting priorities--and yet, the policy process still ends up making everything a priority. I remember at a magazine event a few years back where a speaker was asked whether he could prioritize the countries where the U.S. has a military presence--and he said that they were all important (some 144 countries!). So it will be interesting to see how and under what circumstances Rothkopf's question get answered.
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Excellent point. It always amuses me how simple math can trip up the best of political talking points. 144 countries with U.S. military presence, but yet they are all a priority. Continuing to spread ourselves thin will only reduce our abilities to address our interests.
Everything is, in fact, a priority.
The key is to prioritize, to judge the weight of the competing priorities and assign available resources accordingly.
The key is to prioritize, to judge the weight of the competing priorities and assign available resources accordingly.
Troops in 144 countries… and we don’t even see how appalling it is.
The end of this foolishness is just a matter of time…
The end of this foolishness is just a matter of time…
# posted by 
: 8:00 PM
: 8:00 PM
I've quoted you and linked to you here: http://consul-at-arms2.blogspot.com/2009/05/re-doing-nothing.html
Great post you got here. I'd like to read a bit more about this topic.
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# posted by : 9:15 AM
: 9:15 AM << Home
