SOUNDING BOARD is an outlet for opinions on good and crazy things going on at home (wherever I may be). All are welcome. You are not expected to bring anything except your common sense & sense of humor.
'If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get one million miles to the gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.'
-Robert X. Cringely (from geek wisdom)
SOUNDING BOARD
Sunday, September 29, 2002
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George Bush has learned to play it smart this time. The UN Security Council is the legitimizing factor to a military campaign against Iraq. With UN Security Council resolution(s), US will never have to "go it alone".
The "hawks" may have won the earlier rounds, but the "doves" are certainly happy with the turn of events. The burden of proof is on Iraq's shoulders now. The Iraqi government has defied UN a couple of times. They are in no way to demand any comprehensive package as what that senior Iraqi official is hinting on. And I don't appreciate that whole "US is looking for pretext to attack" rubbish argument. Sure, that could have been Bush's motives, nevertheless, if Iraq has no WMD, it will allow weapons inspectors for the last time. Otherwise, we have all the reason to believe they are hiding something. The burden of proof is on their shoulders. And we should move fast.
The phrase "go it alone" was borrowed from Joseph Nye's book entitled "The Paradox of American Power: Why the World's Only Superpower Can't Go It Alone". He focused on US "soft power" (generally, the ability to co-opt rather than coerce) as opposed to hard power (military force). US soft power is on a rise and fall (but on the rise generally) for the past few years. We can see this on MTV, US scholarships, movies, etc. Greater unilateralism will decrease US soft power. Bush's legitimacy-seeking expedition through that blunt (in a good way, yes I like the speech) speech to the UN General Assembly recently seems a good tactic. It appears he is learning. Bush may soon get legitimacy on his planned attack. But this time, it's gonna be a UN military campaign on Iraq. This seems unavoidable, and that's why the rest of the Arab world is sending a "let-the-weapons-inspectors-in" sort of message to Saddam.
What happens to American soft power after all these is just coincidental. Nevertheless, this whole thing of going through UN may surely increase US soft power. It's the way to go. UN may soon declare "you'll never go it alone" to US in a multilateral military campaign against Iraq (unless Iraq lets weapons inspectors in). Tony Blair will say, "That was my idea" (which he mentioned during his speech to the trade unions). And Joseph Nye will just humbly smile and say, "This is all in my book".
posted by Allan at 1:33 AM (GMT+8)
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