A dirty little secret and Barack Obama.

At first glance at the title to this piece you might assume this is a hit piece designed to belittle or discount the efforts of Barack Obama. You would be wrong. This is about a secret so damaging that it could rip apart families and friends. A secret so powerful that most dare not speak it for fear it will heap ridicule and shame on the head of the fool that spoke it. I however am going to reveal this secret to you now.

Republicans like Barack Obama.

From Rush Limbaugh to Fred Barns to Benjamin Cook, republicans like Obama. They like the way he campaigns, they like the way he is beating up on the Clinton’s, they feel his inspiration and want to be apart of it. Republicans are not the cold hearted bastards characterized by the Clinton’s as wanting to starve children and kill senior citizens, we too want to be inspired. We too want to be apart of a change movement.

The question now is, does running an honorable campaign, being an inspiration and standing up to the Clinton Machine mean we will vote for Obama? For some it might. For me it will not. Obama is still a Liberal. That means he doesn’t recognize that Liberal social policy begets Liberal social policy and the never ending flow of money into these entitlements can not stop the social ills they are designed to stop. He doesn’t understand that national security is the most important issue of our time and that threats on our horizon are real. He doesn’t understand that the Federal Government is the second biggest problem in educating our kids and that less government involvement in education is better than more. (The biggest problem in educating our kids is the kid’s family or the lack of one.)

Barack Obama is an inspiring and great man. He moves me when he speaks, at times to the point of tears. I am not willing to say that there is not a scenario where I vote against my own party. There is. That scenario is very unlikely. I will say this. If Obama is running against the candidate of my choice this November and the results are close when I go to bed, I will not go to bed in a state of panic or fear scared that a Liberal will be the next president of the United States. (Like when Bush ran against Al Gore, or Kerry.) I will sleep very easy knowing that if Obama wins the election two things will happen. One, he will be very good for this country in many ways and two, after eight years of Obama the next Republican president will have his work cut out for him.

American Exceptionalism

It has been interesting watching the international markets react to our economic "troubles". The weak dollar has made foreign investment in the US even more attractive. It is an interesting dynamic. I have always thought that a large part of the international economy is based not on our economy per se (think dollar value) but rather on the stability and predictability of our economy. Gainful economies require order and predictability and most nations’ economies “borrow” or “invest” in our order and predictability to stabilize their own economies. Looks like foreign markets are rebounding on word of our "stimulus" package. A package not designed to bring any real economic change, only temporary order and predictability.

These foreign markets rely not just on the value of the dollar and performance of our markets but on the predictability and strength of the US economy. This begs the question “what is the US economy?” What are the various parts that matter? I don’t mean economic indicators, I mean the actual parts: industry, research and development, innovation, emerging markets, industrial standards, productivity, acceptance of risk and enforcement. These things that the US provides are the pillars of the world economy, not because we choose for them to be pillars, but because the ordered predictability of our economy makes it that way. If this predictability and order was hypothetically provided by China or some other country then that country would be the pillar that world economies leaned on.

As it is, the world leans on us. This phenomenon is part of what is known as American exceptionalism. Most would point to other more tangible variables to explain this exceptionalism, variables like our constitution, republicanism or environmental explanations such as geography, climate, availability of natural resources, social structure, and type of political economy. These variables are not what actually make our country exceptional, rather it is the reaction of other nations to these varibles in action. None of these variables are exclusive to the United States of America. Other nations have similar political economies, more natural resources, friendlier georgraphy and climate. Why then are these nations not exceptional. A better question, why then are these nations not treated exceptionally by other nations?

You see it is not the variables nor the outcome that makes America exceptional, rather it is the fact that we are treated exceptionally by other nations. We are held to different standards and given larger responsibilities, not because we ask to be exceptional but because others ask it of us. So it is the act of others asking and us acting that makes us different from all other nations in world. There is no arrogance nor benevolence to this relationship. We did not ask for this responsibility but neither can we shrink from it. It is just the way it is. So as Dubai, and the United Arab Emirates buy up our resorts, ports and bail out our banks ask yourself what it is they are really investing in? What makes this American investment more attractive than another? The answer? The exceptional security provided by the US in the form of order and predictability, something in short supply in the Middle East.

A few of my favorite photos.

You see, I am not all politics and anger!!! I actually have a creative side.

United States Defense Strategy

Can you defend America with ham-strung hard power tactics and realist-driven soft power half-measures? The mixture of the two has been a witch’s brew of chaos. Real “Smart Power” is the result of a viable coercive force and the willingness to employ it and a viable attractive force that recognizes the paradigm change from state-security to human-security in a globally interconnected world.

It is the manifestation of "Walking softly but carry a big stick..." It is hard power that provides the time and space for soft power to be effective. This relationship is called Smart Power if both work in concert.

Going forward US defense will be a mixture of public diplomacy, diplomacy, and quick and decisive coercive force. This will not include state building or other "construction" projects that require troops on the ground for long periods of time. Nor will it include projects of attrition like insurgency engagements or peace keeping in hostile areas where it is impossible to tell friendly from foe.

To participate in these building and tearing down projects the US will have to work with regional organizations and/or the UN. Unilateral or Bilateral action is too easily hijacked by liberal global opinion no matter how justified the action. Until the US can bridge the pubic diplomacy divide global opinion will remain heavily against the US and any coercive action it takes.

Anytime the US as the world hyper-power uses force unilaterally or bilaterally it will be characterized as unjust, imperial, colonial and disproportional. Our allies are powerless to come to our aid after the fact because their actions will be seen as unauthentic and forced.

Regional multilateral alliances with significant multinational troop deployments are the only option for any extended ground engagements.

Next, disengagement is not an option in the foreseeable future when it comes to energy security. Until a comprehensive energy program is online engagement with unsavory regions and nations is necessary. Coercive measures by the world’s largest consumer of energy will be seen as imperial, colonial and disproportional. Success in Jerusalem, Beirut and Baghdad is much more important than anything done in Riyadh, Tehran or Damascus. Therefore current coercive measures should be finished only when mission objectives are complete and further coercive engagements should be handled at 30,000 feet with minimal troops on the ground for targeting and bomb damage assessment. All haste and earnestness should be deployed to bring resolution to the continuing problems in Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq. Without these three countries at peace there is no chance for energy security until and unless comprehensive energy alternatives are found.

At first blush this looks like we are hanging our national security on whether we upset a global audience. Quite the contrary. My assessment takes into account that no matter what we do coercively as a hyper-power there will be a great deal of blowback from a globally liberal and vocal group. The din of this globally liberal group provides time and space for our enemies to operate. By countering with public diplomacy we lessen the enemy’s time and space and increase our own for necessary and justified coercive measures. Unfortunately the US does not participate skillfully or at the numbers necessary to be effective in direct public diplomacy. Therefore, currently, to have any time and space to operate by force we must join regional alliances and other multinational solutions so that we do not, by unintended consequence, provide for our enemies the very arena we work so hard to destroy.

Benjamin Cook

Director, the Organization for Public Diplomacy

www.org4pd.org

Defending the War in Iraq

Below is my final exchange with a Blogger about the legality of the war in Iraq. It started by my commenting on Noam Chomsky's take on the UN.

Blogger: http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2007/11/25/do-the-democrats-have-a-different-answer-on-iran/

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"Until the mischief be grown general, and the evil designs of the RULERS become visible, the people, who are MORE disposed to SUFFER than to right themselves by resistance are not apt to stir." - Locke [emphasis mine]

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same course, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their RIGHT, it is their DUTY to throw off such government, and to provide NEW guards for their future safety." - Declaration of Independence [emphasis mine]

When Iraq did not avail themselves of their rights or perform their duty to remove Saddam Hussein and when failing to do so became a destabilizing force of attrition and uncertainty to the region it became the right and duty of other nations to confront that destabilization of attrition and uncertainty. Confrontation that, in the scope of historical conflict, is neither unjust nor unnecessarily brutal. The concept of bloodless war and effortless freedom is a new concept not supported by history or "Common Sense".

Evidence of this bloodless concept is the abandonment of Iraq by its citizens of means. The drain of professionals whose education and skills was sorely needed only served to prolong the suffering of those who chose to stay or had no choice but to stay. Further evidence is the depiction of US troops as indiscriminant in their war-fighting. By any fair and unbiased measure of the whole the US military has shown unprecedented restraint -possibly to the detriment of the mission.

Kofi Annan on the Responsibility to Protect –

"This responsibility lies, first and foremost, with each individual State, whose primary raison d’être and duty is to protect its population. But if national authorities are unable or unwilling to protect their citizens, then the responsibility shifts to the international community..."

What happens when the apparatus of the UN, the Security Council that he later describes, also fails? Like in the Balkans? Or Rwanda? Or Darfur? And when diplomacy is a circular game rather than a useful tool? Then does serving the Purposes and Principles of the UN require stepping outside its framework? What is the higher priority? Certainly not the procedure, but rather the Purpose and Principle.

Can a good argument be made that the Iraq war is itself more destabilizing than Saddam? Yes, but that argument must rely on short sighted and outmoded concepts that don’t take into consideration our global interconnectedness or the historical benefit of liberty and democracy -benefits that take generations to fully realize.

Has the Iraq war been prosecuted well? Obviously not. There have been too many mistakes that continue to cost thousands of Iraqi lives and hundreds of US and Coalition lives. Do these mistakes constitute negligence? I am open to that, but don’t at this time think so.

Therefore, to say that the Iraq war is “illegal” or to use the word “occupation” in a pejorative way is to avoid the facts. Facts supported by modern and historical notions of the rights of man and the obligations of government.

Response to LA Times Piece on Public Diplomacy

Below is a letter sent to Price B. Floyd concerning his opinion piece in the LA Times.


Mr. Floyd makes some fantastic points but misses some of the bigger picture which is sadly typical of old guard diplomats when it comes to public diplomacy.


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Mr. Floyd,

I enjoyed your public diplomacy piece in the LA Times. It seems some of the best "PR" Karen Hughes has been responsible for was accomplished by merely stepping down. I have never seen so much buzz about public diplomacy. You are correct to point out policy as a prime reason for our poor image abroad but you missed one very important issue that is staring us in the face. It is the lack of understand for the concept and power of public diplomacy. Save a few "elite" circles the concept is lost on most people, even our diplomatic corps. Because public diplomacy happens whether we mean to engage in it or not and because the altruistic context of the word "diplomacy" draws our attention away from the fact that the ends of public diplomacy can be malicious, we tend to concentrate on traditional ideas of diplomacy leaving the Public-to-Public aspect of public diplomacy alone. This lack of awareness and understanding does as much to undercut our image abroad as does rendition and secret prisons.

Take for example the global assault on Guantanamo. Gitmo is perceived to be a torture chamber void of human rights by many at home and most abroad. How were calls of condemnation with out suggestions for solutions allowed to go unanswered? Why were those unconcerned with solutions allowed to frame the debate rather than those that understand that many of its prisoner's countries of origin might not want its occupants back and that some occupants might actually need to be in a facility? My best guess is that it was the Administration's and State Department's general ignorance of the continuing convergence of public opinion and global interconnectedness.

Punditry is as easy as opening a blog. Successful punditry is as simple as opening a blog and confirming like minded reader's bias. One does not have to be an expert on Gitmo and the delicate issues surrounding it to be a successful distributor of information. Our failure to engage these distributors where they actually are has been devastating.

The US government can not by definition engage in Public-to-Public diplomacy and direct interference is often seen as propaganda or censorship. But it can take a facilitating role by promoting the concept, educating us on the skills and responsibilities of public diplomacy.

Most important is that those of us "in the know" undertake the task that is grassroots understanding of the importance and power of public diplomacy by teaching the skills necessary to be effective in our communications. While this concept has been around for a while, it is foreign to most. We have legions of public diplomats that can change the US image abroad if we take the task seriously.

Kind Regards,

Benjamin Cook

If the Internet ain't broke, don't fix it!

Recently, The United Nations sponsored a conference on US control of certain important parts of the Internet. For the most part this conference and its aims represent the clearest example of the dysfunctional relationship the US has with the world and how in this particular case, as in a few others, it doesn’t matter what the facts are only that the US be made to appear the selfish Super-Power.

The primary reason for this conference is benign enough. The idea is that control over the internet be international. That is all well and good and something as borderless as the Internet certainly deserves as much international influence as is prudent -PRUDENT being the key word.

Calls to internationalize instantly or at a rapid pace is not prudent. At the center of this discussion is ICANN or the Internet Corporation for Names and Numbers, a California based non-profit that controls and assigns all domain names. Being a US non profit some feel that US can and does exercise too much control over the Internet. Fair enough, but on balance what has been the record to date of that influence?

Internationalization proponents are quick to point to the sluggish way internet becomes available to developing nations and the language barriers that an all English system provides. The problem is not with the veracity of these issues; rather it is with the solution. Internationalization proponents obviously see a more international solution that will have either some kind of defused oversight (think an EU type bureaucracy with infinite members) or slightly more central oversight (think the UN). The problem with each of these solutions is the track record of efficiency. The EU can be at times paralyzed with inefficiency even when dealing with issues that are broadly accepted. The UN is only able to be effective when there is complete agreement by the big five. This agreement is very rare. Both of these oversight solutions promise sluggish action and there-by paralyze the very solutions to the issues they portend to promote.

The US track record on the other hand speaks for itself. It is the track record that has brought us to this point of global interconnectedness. It is the track record that stands in bright contrast to the other options. It is the track record that has facilitated global conversations from the far reaches of the world allowing better understanding. The current US based solution is not perfect and there is need for international involvement but the current US based solutions is not broken either. Therefore I see no need to fix it.