Posted on 06/05/2005 12:27:33 AM PDT by goldstategop
President Bush's ambitious vision of global democratic reform has begun to dominate the administration's foreign affairs agenda, in some cases pushing aside urgent international issues.
So far, the president's plan has been driven mainly by high-level rhetoric, symbolic gestures and a handful of modestly funded development programs. But collectively, this mix has started to shift the focus in relations with key nations.
In the four months since Bush unveiled the approach in his second inaugural address, nearly every meeting with foreign officials and many of the changes taking place within the Bush administration, including several key appointments, has reflected the priority of expanding the boundaries of democracy.
By now, the presidential vision even has its own buzz phrase: "practical idealism," a reference to the policy's underlying premise that in a post-Sept. 11 world, America's national security is tied directly to the spread of free and open societies everywhere, including the Middle East. ...
More significant, the new emphasis on promoting democracy has launched policymakers on a journey with no clear path to their goal.
"What we want is a world of democratic, market-oriented countries," said Stephen Krasner, whose job as head of policy planning at the State Department is to direct the search for future external challenges that the country might face. "The big challenge is how to get there."
Such daunting tasks nurture considerable skepticism about Bush's vision....
History, they say, has shown that politically stable allies who stifle basic freedoms may provide short-term security but pose serious dangers in the long term.
"We thought stability would bring us security," said Krasner, of the State Department. "Well, stability has not brought us security, so we have to think about how to move these regimes to another position, and our security is dependent on that."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
And what fun it is to watch!
If this isn't socialism, I don't know what is.
Immigrants in the US Send Money Home in Record Numbers( $126 billion) ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1416375/posts
His actions are in direct support of his National Security Strategy as well as National Military Strategy.
Plan your work, then work your plan.
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