MORALITY in foreign policy is often subjective. The United States Administration is confident that it represents the forces of democracy and freedom, and feels free to do whatever it judges best to promote these fine things. Israel perceives Palestinians and Arabs committed to its destruction, justifying any action against them. Some in the Muslim world see no prospect of frustrating Western cultural, economic and military dominance on Western terms of engagement, and so choose other methods — such as suicide bombing — that better suit their weakness.
Many Americans and Israelis believe that virtue is anyway unimportant, that the Arab world chiefly respects the successful use of power. Yet the weakness of this argument is laid bare in Lebanon, Iraq and elsewhere. The US, Israel and their backers are perceived both as behaving immorally and using force ineffectually.
Whether (and how) America can survive Trumpism
-
Georgetown Professor Thomas Zimmer joins us to talk about polarization and
extremism, and what insights American and world history provide as to
whether ...
No comments:
Post a Comment