Neo-con Nation Building again. We need to learn from history. What worked or did not work in the past? Look not just at government action, but at action of NGOs such as missionaries, and of for-profit actions.
Bill Gates, son of a Commie lawyer, never had the best OS, never the best word processor or spreadsheet. But Bill Gates invented the best capitalist hi-tech marketing system. That new marketing system moved entire 3rd world countries into the first world.
Currently around the world, the ambitious minority of poor kids are learning technology and business on the internet, not in government schools. This new internet educated minority from poor countries will be the leaders of the future.
The problem with nation building is that the hallucination turned to vision has never resulted in government action that made any sense.
In Iraq, the neo-cons were totally unprepared to do nation building. Once Sadam lost power, they had no clue what to do. They disbanded the Iraq army ... their first mistake. They designed a strong central government when they should have built strong local governments. They did everything wrong.
How can we be sure that the next nation building will be more prepared and competent?
It’s not nation building the author is suggesting, it’s an alternative to UN, which ia a walking corpse already. We need allies, but such that treat us with respect and reciprocte to our kindness.