But from a purely pragmatic point of view, I think the degree to which Bush squandered the good will of the world represents one of the more impressive diplomatic failures we’ve seen recently. How inept does one have to be to take a world inclined to sympathize and turn it into one so strongly opposed to US policies? That’s the from/to I’m seeing.
Is it ineptitude? Could the Bush administration have possibly not been aware that the current state of things would follow directly from their actions?
I don’t follow the news as closely as I should, so I may have missed something, but I cannot recall a single instance where this administration made a decision which seemed influenced by the opinion of the rest of the political forces in the world. Unless, of course, you count spiteful nose-thumbing as a decision influenced by said opinions.
I honestly don’t know. It’s possible that Bush knew but didn’t care. Then again, he is trying to get that crucial second resolution passed, so he’s got to care to a certain degree, unless that’s pure politics for the sake of the home voters, but that seems unlikely.
Yeah that about sums it up. Personally I think Bush is pretty much a boob. Seems kind of like our foreign policy was written by the governor of Texas or something.
mom
I cannt resist agreeing with gconnor. And thanks for the question and the images Bryant
Ok. I have finally achieved a state of grace from which I can deliver the benefit of the doubt.
At some point between when the presidency began prosecuting its renewed offensive against Iraq and the present day, it became obvious that public opinion outside the “Axis of Evil” would not be unanimously in favor of the eventuality of war. (Unanimously in this case meaning apart from liberal wackos, &c.) Before that point, I’m willing to concede that the administration might not have been aware of what was coming. So I guess when it did become obvious, the consequences of backing down seemed worse than the consequences of continuing down this road.
My intuition, and maybe I’m benefiting overmuch from hindsight, here, is that someone who was nominally familiar with world politics would have, even at the beginning, realized that they were playing a long shot. But I’d rather think that my administration was playing a long shot than that they were deliberately factionalizing the country and the world. But I really can’t believe that they weren’t aware of this possibility.
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Because, despite attempts on all sides to connect the two matters, they’re largely unrelated. So there’s no ‘from…to’ involved.
But from a purely pragmatic point of view, I think the degree to which Bush squandered the good will of the world represents one of the more impressive diplomatic failures we’ve seen recently. How inept does one have to be to take a world inclined to sympathize and turn it into one so strongly opposed to US policies? That’s the from/to I’m seeing.
Is it ineptitude? Could the Bush administration have possibly not been aware that the current state of things would follow directly from their actions?
I don’t follow the news as closely as I should, so I may have missed something, but I cannot recall a single instance where this administration made a decision which seemed influenced by the opinion of the rest of the political forces in the world. Unless, of course, you count spiteful nose-thumbing as a decision influenced by said opinions.
I honestly don’t know. It’s possible that Bush knew but didn’t care. Then again, he is trying to get that crucial second resolution passed, so he’s got to care to a certain degree, unless that’s pure politics for the sake of the home voters, but that seems unlikely.
It’s just depressing.
Bush squandered the good will of the world
Yeah that about sums it up. Personally I think Bush is pretty much a boob. Seems kind of like our foreign policy was written by the governor of Texas or something.
I cannt resist agreeing with gconnor. And thanks for the question and the images Bryant
Ok. I have finally achieved a state of grace from which I can deliver the benefit of the doubt.
At some point between when the presidency began prosecuting its renewed offensive against Iraq and the present day, it became obvious that public opinion outside the “Axis of Evil” would not be unanimously in favor of the eventuality of war. (Unanimously in this case meaning apart from liberal wackos, &c.) Before that point, I’m willing to concede that the administration might not have been aware of what was coming. So I guess when it did become obvious, the consequences of backing down seemed worse than the consequences of continuing down this road.
My intuition, and maybe I’m benefiting overmuch from hindsight, here, is that someone who was nominally familiar with world politics would have, even at the beginning, realized that they were playing a long shot. But I’d rather think that my administration was playing a long shot than that they were deliberately factionalizing the country and the world. But I really can’t believe that they weren’t aware of this possibility.