View From the Middle East, Feb. 13, Will America Become Weak?

It is known that Democrat rule in the United States of America is mostly characterized by weakness in the field of foreign policy, which in turn weakens American power in the field of foreign policy and foreign relations. It was noticeable today after the new president Barack Obama took over the reins of the government, that there is a radical transformation in the notions of foreign policy. Obama showed that he wants to consider the mistakes of the previous president Bush, particularly regarding foreign policy and the new American president appears accordingly; he extends a hand of cooperation to all without exception and this is a big mistake which could reflect negatively later on on the power and hegemony of the U.S.A, in a world that is still suffering from the phenomenon of international terrorism and the matters of political reform which Bush began. A world which has found that the path to success has been limited, because of the ignorance of the US to the dictatorial regimes and their human rights abuses, which in turn necessitates that it puts the good deed of fighting terrorism at the top of the list of priorities of American foreign policy at the expense of the urgent and necessary democratic reform particularly for the countries in the Middle East. The U.S. has seen a large deterioration in the situation of the world powers when a Democrat was president, especially during the era of former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, when the U.S. dropped down to the level of Third World countries when it came to foreign policy.

Power in international politics is not just flexing muscles; there needs to be actual, effective practice of it. International relations were, still are, and will remain the only arena in which to prove one's military, economic and technological might, just as it is no place for morals. Power, as Machiavelli himself decided, is not an end in itself, but the real goal for the state is to take possession of the power and the will and to guard it. By showing this might in the field of international relations, it separates itself from the power of the countries. Every time the power of the country grows, in addition to its ability to make a valid and effective decision to use this power
against others, its influence on the international stage increases. In a world today there is no room for the American president, whether he be a Republican or a Democrat, to abandon strengthening the role of power and the possibilities to use it in international relations to subjugate or even harm other countries. What the American president Obama is doing, putting the idea of negotiations and reconciliation at the forefront of his international affair (policy) damages the prestige and status of the U.S. The world today is too bad off than to be dealt with with kindness and gentleness. It is correct that the policy of "carrot and stick" is one of the fundamentals of foreign relations, but you must use the stick and it must be a priority in this matter.

Flexible foreign policy, which the U.S. intends to pursue, may damage the standing of the U.S.; for one highly effective terrorist act, carried out by the hand of one of the terrorists leaving Guantanamo, the possible result of one of Obama's policies, would ruin the reputation of that Obama policy, and, as a lawmaking president might destroy his political future. Because of the lenient mind and pursuing a policy of forgiveness toward terrorists the experiment has resulted in the return of no less than 60 of them to terrorist groups.

On the other hand, any indifference or disdain toward the idea of democratic reform in the Arab world would be like snatching away the dreams of those who believe in reform. Unless President Obama is convinced that the political reform in the Arab countries can only be done from the outside, first of all, then the huge loss in the truce aspirations of the countries in the Middle East, especially the dictatorships there, will be in the dashing of all hopes of the possibility of a political development happening, whether in democracy or in altering education curricula.

The role of the U.S. in shaping the world today, in an age of globalization, is a inescapable destiny; it is not easy to attempt to flee from this fate without hurting others and at the expense of the reputation of the United States of American itself.

By Dr. Ahmad Al-Baghdadi
http://www.alittihad.co.ae/wajhatdetails.php?id=42948