The President elect, who wants to intensify the war in Afghanistan, has chosen a Republican as Defence Secretary to stress continuity from the Bush regime, and Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State, who voted for the Iraq war.
There’s not much change there then.
When you add to that the possible return of Bill Clinton, and the decision to carry on spending and borrowing just like Bush, it is difficult to see what favourable change the US has got after voting for change.
Maybe one day they will work out they cannot afford all these wars, as well as seeing that the so called war on terror is not working as planned. The world’s superpower will have to try diplomacy sometime.
John Redwood has been the Member of Parliament for Wokingham since 1987. First attending Kent College, Canterbury, he graduated from Magdalen College, and has a DPhil from All Souls, Oxford. A businessman by background, he has been a director of NM Rothschild merchant bank and chairman of a quoted industrial PLC.
6 Comments
Looking at Mr Obama's cabinet, I was struck, much as I think you are, at the lack of change. Indeed it is less a case of "Change we can believe in" and rather more same old faces
Why am I thinking of Sandie Shaw and Puppet on a String I wonder ?
The war in Iraq is almost won – for now at least. Applying a similar counter-insurgency + development strategy in Afghanistan could well bring victory there too.
Who is it that you would negotiate with? Mullar Omar? Bin Laden?
Perhaps elements in Pakistan who continue to give shelter to Taliban type forces? Unless we deal with this, then the Taliban in Waziristan will be just like the VC were in Cambodia. The lesson is there for all to see.
Meanwhile the Foreign Secretary tells America that "we will do what it takes" to support their problems in the world. (I seem to remember that this was about Iran?) With what, exactly?
The problem here is that the USA and we are the best people to keep order in this troubled world.
The EU, the Chinese, the UN, the Russians, the Muslim world, even the anglicised Indians seem to lack either the right attitude or the oomph to do the job.
This does not look good for the future or our planet.
The last time the West slowed down (1930s depression) the Germans, the Italians, the Russians and the Japanese had a go at running the world. The results, starting almost a century ago, were not that pleasant.
Rather than abandon the effort in Afghanistan, which consumes a relatively small portion of our large milatary budget, perhaps we in the USA should accept that the Cold War ended 20 years ago, and bring home all troops from European soil, and withdraw from NATO. That would save much more money than surrendering in Afghanistan, and would not be seen as a cowardly surrender.
We could also save money by stressing for all the world that any ballistic missile defense system we deploy will be used to defend America only — that will reduce its cost, by reducing the areas in which it needs to be deployed.