The education of Walter Russell Mead

The Virginian ^ | 9/28/2011 | Moneyrunner

[moneyrunner]

Walter Russell Mead has some useful things to say from time to time. Today is not one of them.

He writes an essay that is almost a parody of a NY Times editorial: Dissing: The Sincerest Form Of Flattery in which he tries to prove that the world's contempt is a sign of our importance. Perhaps the next article will be designed to show that Jihadists attack us because they love us.

He provides a list of leaders around the world who are publicly challenging the United States, but concludes that this is business as usual.

Mead: “While administration missteps, most notably on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, have contributed to the current atmosphere, there is nothing new about some of these problems. It has been decades since Europeans welcomed US advice about their economic problems. German chancellors since Konrad Adenauer have regularly roasted the US for what they see as our national addiction to budget deficits and fecklessly loose monetary policy. China has never liked our support for Taiwan, and the current brouhaha is mild by historical standards and looks more pro-forma than in-depth. A newly democratic and assertive Turkey is running through the eastern Mediterranean like a bull in a china shop, but this has less to do with anything President Obama has done than with long term trends in Turkey itself.”

So we’re not seeing the US being treated any differently than before? The Konrad Adenauer I remember may not have liked American fiscal policy (the memory of hyperinflation haunts Germany to this day), but it's inconceivable that he would have deviated from American policy. He was the leader of a country we recently defeated and currently occupied. His political focus was staying on the right side of the US.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks moneyrunner.

He writes an essay that is almost a parody of a NY Times editorial: Dissing: The Sincerest Form Of Flattery in which he tries to prove that the world's contempt is a sign of our importance. Perhaps the next article will be designed to show that Jihadists attack us because they love us.