Foreign Policy

In last week’s discussion of Isolationism (as it relates to US policy), we spent some time comparing the geographic “land grab” of portions of Ukraine by Russia as distinct from the ideologically centered ISIS activities (even though they’re also grabbing some land). In that context, the question arose about whether the geopolitical, Cold War “chessboard” was becoming less of a factor / threat in our foreign relations.

As a possible counterpoint to this theory, we’ll re-visit the recent developments in Southeast Asia next week, in particular, China’s activities in the South China Sea.

Dick Jacoby has offered the following notes:

For the topic “South China Sea” an excellent reference is “Asia’s Cauldron” by Robert Kaplan. Unfortunately, it is not available at the library.  Google “South China Sea Disputes” in Wikipedia and others.

See you on Monday!

I repeated Richard Jacoby’s post describing this week’s topic.  Art

Richard Jacoby
SEPTEMBER 4, 2014 AT 4:35 PM
Isolationism – Beyond labels topic for Monday September 8, 2014.
At the end of the last meeting with Art Newkirk and others I believe we settled on the topic of “Isolationism” for the next topic.
The word “Isolationist” is perhaps a political sentiment more than a strategy and swings widely with political attitudes and current events. Prior to WWII the American sentiment was 80 – 90% against any European involvement, even aid to England, which reversed to more than 90% in favor after Pearl Harbor. Since then, although the U.S. has taken a very activist position in the world, the isolationist sentiment has oscillated with events, most recently to pro intervention after 9-11 and more isolation with the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and Iraq – at least until current disconcerting developments in the Middle East and other areas.
The question is what should be the role of the U.S. in shaping world events and what are the appropriate means? When is “Isolationism” a viable foreign policy strategy?
I am short on references but here is an editorial from that cold war Machiavellian, Henry Kissinger:

http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/henry-kissinger-on-the-assembly-of-a-new-world-order-1409328075?mobile=y