The United States is not an international police force whose job it is to patrol the world’s nations to arrest and detain renegade dictators and tyrants. Yet can any nation of good conscience, which values justice and freedom for all, turn a blind eye to the oppressive and destructive acts of a cruel despot, especially when the people cry out for help and support against such? Actually, nations do so all the time, including this one.
This is why any such international “police” action should always be done collectively and in unison with other nations within the international community, especially nations that are closely related either geographically, economically, socially, politically, and/or culturally. It was therefore good and right that the Obama administration did not take unilateral steps to stop Gadhafi in his tracks. This is an international issue and requires international cooperation and agreement.
Even so, I see in the news that apparently Russia and the Arab League believe that the present no-fly zone action against Gadhafi has gone too far, claiming that too many civilians are being harmed in the process. And so, their thinking is, since the safety of civilians was the very reason international intervention was implemented, it negates any further justification for continued action. (I suspect Gadhafi wouldn’t flinch at harming his own civilians in order to blame it on the no-fly zone action.) This critique from Russia and the Arab League against the no-fly zone intervention serves as a good example as to why international cooperation is better than going it alone—three strands are stronger than one, four even better, etc.
Let’s be honest, international relations are never simply about good versus evil, black and white, cut and dry. Self-interest comes first. Every nation will and must seek its own interests above all else. History has shown us over and over that nations will go to war over the slightest provocation respecting the smallest offense and yet refuse to lift a finger over the most horrendous atrocities committed against humanity within a nation. In reality, the greatest motivator is National Self-interest.
But no nation can seek its own interest with total disregard to the health and welfare of its fellow nations, especially in this new world of global economy, international corporations, and world outsourcing and resourcing—a truth that very few nations seem to take-in very well, including our own. These days what one nation does to another, or does to its own people, affects just about every nation on earth.
Truth be spoken, it is not merely the high and mighty ideals of fighting for equality, freedom, and justice that motivate a nation to action or inaction. It is natural resources, strategic positioning, geographical power bases, and the possible gain of economic advantage that are the real motivators for a nation’s action for or against another. Nevertheless, what nations need to realize is that people count. All people—lower, upper, and middle class, people of color, black, brown, and white; they all matter and are of significant value.
Thus, a peoples’ welfare within any given nation-state should be seen as a natural resource and therefore as having strategic value. Another way of putting it is that oppression, the cruel and unjust treatment of a people, whatever their class or ethnicity, is in the long run socially, economically, and strategically bad for a nation (as well as for its neighbors and the global community). It is therefore in every nation’s self-interest to protect and deliver a people from severely cruel, unjust, and oppressive tyrants, dictators, and despots.
Nevertheless, such protective or delivering action only has true integrity (not to mention a far better chance of succeeding) when it is done by a community of nations with equal commitment and ownership, a truly international action serving the best interest (self-interest) of many nations collectively, not just one particular nation unilaterally (which is the mistake that W. Bush made by having the U.S. effectively declare, sustain, and pay the price for the war in Iraq virtually by itself.)
The international community is getting smaller and smaller and much more interdependent than its ever been in world history. This reality may make us uncomfortable. But it’s a fact. Consider how what has happened way over there in Japan affects what happens way over here in the States. We nations are in this together whether we like it or not. Kudos to the Obama administration for understanding this and acting accordingly.
No comments:
Post a Comment