Rising To A New Generation Of Global Challenges (Romney Article in Foreign Affairs Magazine)

Foreign Affairs Magazine ^ | July/August Issue | Mitt Romney

[Reaganesque]

WASHINGTON DIVIDED

Less than six years after 9/11, Washington is as divided and conflicted over foreign policy as it has been at any point in the last 50 years. Senator Arthur Vandenberg once famously declared that "politics stops at the water's edge"; today, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee declares that our major political parties should carry out two separate foreign policies. The Senate unanimously confirmed General David Petraeus, who pledged to implement a new strategy, as the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. Yet just weeks later, the Senate began crafting legislation specifically designed to stop that new strategy. More broadly, lines have been drawn between those labeled "realists" and those labeled "neoconservatives." Yet these terms mean little when even the most committed neoconservative recognizes that any successful policy must be grounded in reality and even the most hardened realist admits that much of the United States' power and influence stems from its values and ideals.

In the midst of these divisions, the American people -- and many others around the world -- have increasing doubts about the United States' direction and role in the world. Indeed, it seems that concern about Washington's divisiveness and capability to meet today's challenges is the one thing that unites us all. We need new thinking on foreign policy and an overarching strategy that can unite the United States and its allies -- not around a particular political camp or foreign policy school but around a shared understanding of how to meet a new generation of challenges.

[Reaganesque]

This is from a preview of Foreign Affairs Magazine's July/August issue. It's a long essay and what I've read so far is great. This same issue also has an essay from Barack Obama. I haven't read that one yet but, it should be interesting.

[Reaganesque]

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[VegasBaby]

Interesting read. You mean there’s actually a candidate who goes beyond the typical rhetoric of simply identifying the problem and actually proposes real, comprehensive solutions to fix it? I don’t care what anyone says about Romney’s lack of foreign policy experience, he at least “gets it” by understanding that you can’t just throw military strength at the problem but that you also need to consider how economics have such a tremendous impact on fighting terrorism and achieving peace.

[nowandlater]

Woah, that’s a lengthy essay and detailed to boot! Very impressive.

I am sure McCain could do something like this, but it would probably be in Spanish and punctuated with cuss words.

[curiosity]

Interesting read. Thanks for posting.

[TAdams8591]

There is no denying Governor Romney has a rare and creative ability to solve problems, something sorely lacking in Washington.

[Rameumptom]

Wow, I was reading it for a while before I realized that Mitt was the author. His analysis shows he gets it. I wish more politician’s would adress these issues.

[Reaganesque]

"Many still fail to comprehend the extent of the threat posed by radical Islam, specifically by those extremists who promote violent jihad against the United States and the universal values Americans espouse. Understandably, the nation tends to focus on Afghanistan and Iraq, where American men and women are dying. We think in terms of countries because countries were our enemies in the last century's great conflicts. The congressional debate in Washington has largely, and myopically, focused on whether troops should be redeployed from Iraq to Afghanistan, as if these were isolated issues. Yet the jihad is much broader than any one nation, or even several nations. It is broader than the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, or that between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Radical Islam has one goal: to replace all modern Islamic states with a worldwide caliphate while destroying the United States and converting all nonbelievers, forcibly if necessary, to Islam. This plan sounds irrational, and it is. But it is no more irrational than the policies pursued by Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s and Stalin's Soviet Union during the Cold War. And the threat is just as real."

[Reaganesque]

"Finally, we need to strengthen old partnerships and alliances and inaugurate new ones to meet twenty-first-century challenges. The inaction, if not the breakdown, of many Cold War institutions has made many Americans skeptical of multilateralism. Nothing shows the failures of the current system more clearly than the UN Human Rights Council, an entity that has condemned the democratic government of Israel nine times while remaining virtually silent on the serial human rights abuses of the governments of Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, and Sudan. In the face of such hypocrisy, it is understandable that some Americans would be tempted to favor unilateralism. But such failures should not obscure the fact that the United States' strength is amplified when it is combined with the strength of other nations. Whether diplomatically, militarily, or economically, the United States is stronger when its friends stand alongside it.

In the changing world we face, our alliances and engagement must change, too. Clearly, the United Nations has not been able to fulfill its founding purpose of providing collective security against aggression and genocide. Thus, we need to continue to push for reform of the organization. Yet where institutions are fundamentally incapable of meeting a new generation of challenges, the United States does not have to go it alone. Instead, we must examine where existing alliances can be strengthened and reinvigorated and where new alliances need to be forged. I agree with former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar that we should build on the NATO alliance to defeat radical Islam. We need to work with our allies to pursue Aznar's call for greater coordination in military, homeland security, and nonproliferation efforts."

To quote Steve Martin: "Saaaaay! This guy's good!" The more I read the better it gets. Yes, I am biased but, to use another pop culture reference "read the book/essay."

[Unmarked Package]

This is a very impressive essay. Gov. Romney's grasp of some complex foreign policy issues and his proposals certainly verify what professor of military history and noted author Victor Davis Hanson personally observed at the Hoover Institution. Romney went head to head with Middle East foreign policy experts for 90 minutes and impressed them all.

Hugh Hewitt: What I like is that he’s a voracious reader, not only your books, but things like The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright, Mark Steyn’s America Alone. I think this is pretty rare these days, to find curiosity at that level, and at that sort of voracious appetite for information. What do you talk about with him?

Victor Davis Hanson: Well, we talk about history just like you and I talk about. We talk about foreign policy, he talked about the plan or the effort to democratize the Middle East, the shortfalls, the problems, the liabilities, and you know what? He [Gov. Romney] came to the Hoover Institution and got in front of 40 senior fellows. And in that room there were Nobel Prize winners, a lot of egos, too. And he held court with them, and there were a lot of hostile questions, and he went for an hour and a half, head to head, with these people. When he walked out of that room, I think everybody was impressed with him. He didn’t pull any punches, and he could argue and was as logical as any Hoover fellow, and I was more impressed with him than I was with my colleagues.
^{(The Hugh Hewitt Show, March 13, 2007)}

I'd like to see Gov. Romney debate Rudy Giuliani and John McCain on foreign policy issues. I believe we would quickly see who really has the better qualifications and ability to handle foreign policy.

[hunter112]

This is a very impressive essay.

It's a lot of words, that's for sure. But his solutions boil down to three things: buildup of the US military, energy independence, and a world conference of civilized nations including moderate Muslim states.

I'm fine with the first objective, but it is going to be very tough to do. The rules of engagement being used in Afghanistan and Iraq have discouraged the gung-ho attitude that young Americans displayed when signing up in record numbers after 9/11. A decent economy means that we must up military pay in order to add the 100,000 troops that Romney calls for.

Energy independence is also a great idea, but there are various ways to accomplish it. Allowing drilling in areas that eco-nuts want to keep 100% pristine is the "easy" part. The alternative energy part of his proposal is what worries me. I can see many millions, even billions of dollars flushed down the pipes to chase crackpot schemes that are just pie-in-the-sky. I remember how much waste went into solar energy research and deployment during the Carter years.

Finally, we have experience in dealing with other nations, it's been called "the United Nations". We need to make peace and cooperative ventures with other nations, but we need to assert ourselves against Chinese piracy, NATO indifference, and African corruption. Romney's statement :
"I envision that the summit would lead to the creation of a Partnership for Prosperity and Progress: a coalition of states that would assemble resources from developed nations and use them to support public schools (not Wahhabi madrasahs), microcredit and banking, the rule of law, human rights, basic health care, and free-market policies in modernizing Islamic states. These resources would be drawn from public and private institutions and from volunteers and nongovernmental organizations," sounds like a lot of economic kumbahyah.

[Reaganesque]

I think this essay brings up an interesting question. Could someone whose beliefs are, as described in the MSM and by some here on FR, driven by the political expediency and nothing more be capable of writing and espousing such a comprehensive, literate and detailed policy statement?

I don't think so.

These are not the words of a political opportunist. These are the words of someone who clearly understands what he is talking about, having studied the issues in depth. These are the words of someone who has considered many different options and has come to his own conclusions, believes passionately in them, is willing and able to clearly articulate them and is motivated to do what it takes to work towards his vision of a better world.

That's my take on this. But then, you know me... ;-)

[Unmarked Package]

Good comments, thanks.

If his past actions in Massachusetts concerning veterans affairs are an indication, Gov. Romney would certainly opt to improve pay and benefits to attract more military recruits. Romney wants $30-$40 billion more annually for defense and some of that would be earmarked to increase recruiting success.

When Gov. Romney speaks of research in technology for alternative energy sources to gain energy independence, bear in mind this is a man who spent 25 years scrutinizing the business plans of people to separate the nonsense from the feasible and had a stellar track record making the right choice. He always insists on hard data to back up claims and refuses to make a decision if everyone is telling him the same thing. Romney insists that his advisors find people who disagree with them to state the opposing viewpoint before he decides an issue.

Kum Ba Yah in foreign policy is not likely to fly with Romney. Tangible and verifiable benchmarks using real data to measure progress are the expected norm in the world of private business. Romney applied that methodology to government in Massachusetts. Failure to achieve the desired result on schedule is likely to quickly elicit a review of the policy for changes that may be needed. Slackers and big talkers don't last long if they can't produce results.

[bethtopaz]

I think we should forward this to Joe Klein of Time magazine and see if he still thinks Romney is all fluff and no substance.

[Austin Willard Wright]

I don’t know about Klein but nobody that I know ever claimed that Romney is fluff. This flip flop king is a highly intelligent and amoral Machivellian calculator and opportunist of the first order....and thus all the more dangerous. Give me fluff any day of the week over that.

[hunter112]

Good comments, thanks.

You're welcome! Now, I know this topic is only fifteen posts long, but its the first one I've seen that had "Mitt Romney" in the title, that did not turn into a theological debate!

I agree with Romney in what it would take to expand the military, if there's one thing the Walter Reed scandal showed, its that the supposed 'watchdogs' whose job it is to be looking out after our troops are not doing their job. I understand that some military families are still eligible for food stamps, and this is a disgrace.

I also agree that Romney did a great job as a venture capitalist. But the process under which government contracts are awarded is nothing like what he would have used at his firm. Perhaps it would be a great campaign issue for him to actively seek to change that mechanism. We all remember the $600 toilet seats of the mid-1980's, and the crackpot schemes that were financed when AIDS research had money to burn. Nobody wants a return to that.

While the international conference idea sounds good in rhetoric, I just don't see how it is going to work on a practical level. There are way too many gimmie-gimmies out there, who will try to screw up any legitimate progress. In my view, that's how the United Nations went off the track. As an organization set up to deal with the aftermath of WWII, it seemed to work, but as the Cold War gave an opportunity for unaligned Third World nations the chance to play the West and the Soviets off against each other, the UN's many agencies lost effectiveness. Oil for Food, er, Fraud, was one recent example.

Who's to say that the same thing won't occur with the oil-money-rich sheikdoms of Islamunism buying off the developing nations, by filling the Swiss bank accounts of their tinpot dictators? A new Cold War is not the way to defeat Islamofascism, we just had to wait out the Soviet Union for a few generations, the Muslim empire has lasted in some form or other for over a millenium. They have proven that they are the ones with the staying power in a siege.

Nope, it's got to be an old-fashioned Hot War, complete with a do-whatever-it-takes attitude that this country hasn't seen since WWII.

[Unmarked Package]

"I also agree that Romney did a great job as a venture capitalist. But the process under which government contracts are awarded is nothing like what he would have used at his firm. Perhaps it would be a great campaign issue for him to actively seek to change that mechanism. We all remember the $600 toilet seats of the mid-1980's, and the crackpot schemes that were financed when AIDS research had money to burn. Nobody wants a return to that."

I'm glad you mentioned government contracts. One of the specific actions Gov. Romney proposes is to gather together purchasing and procurement experts from the private sector and carefully examine purchasing policies and procedures in the government; especially the Dept. of Defense. Romney also promises that weapon system development will only proceed if it's truly needed by the military and not just a pork project in some Congressman's home district to buy votes.

Romney pledges to personally lead a top-to-bottom review of federal government programs, agencies, procurement and spending to eliminate waste, inefficiency and duplication. These are not empty promises as Romney's actions of fiscal conservatism in reducing waste and redundant programs in Massachusetts state government and private business are well documented. The man is famously frugal with other people's money.

[hunter112]

The man is famously frugal with other people's money.

I'll give him that. The Salt Lake City Olympics showed that. I spent six months in Utah in 2005, and there were a lot of infrastructure improvements made, that are still serving the people of that area. As I recall, the 1962 Seattle World's Fair buildings needed a major expensive renovation project in the mid-1970's when I moved to that city. Utah got some quality stuff.

[X-Ecutioner]

You trust this man Mitt? He look shifty to the bone.

[Unmarked Package]

Gov. Romney talks frequently about cutting waste in federal government with department review panels to make sure the U.S. can redirect more resources to the troops and equipment without raising taxes. One recent example was in a meeting with voters in West Des Moines, Iowa last Wednesday. It's on video at YouTube:

Gov. Romney on Cutting Waste In Government

The meeting in Des Moines was part of a series of meetings the campaign calls "Ask Mitt Anything". They are unscripted Q&A sessions with citizens where Romney's communication skills really shine. Some other video segments from the May 30th meeting in Des Moines are available at YouTube

Gov. Romney: Optimistic About America
Gov. Romney On The Options In Iraq
Gov. Romney : Conservative Principles In Healthcare