A National Strategic Directive

[glasseye]

Written by two serving Pentagon officers, this document deserves our attention.

It says, in part: "... we want to become the strongest competitor and most influential
player in a deeply inter-connected global system, which requires that we invest less in
defense and more in sustainable prosperity and the tools of effective global engagement."


http://www.wilsoncenter.org/events/docs ... rative.pdf

[Sylvester]

This Narrative advocates for America to pursue her enduring interests of prosperity and security
through a strategy of sustainability that is built upon the solid foundation of our national values.
As Americans we needn’t seek the world’s friendship or to proselytize the virtues of our society.
Neither do we seek to bully, intimidate, cajole, or persuade others to accept our unique values or
to share our national objectives. Rather, we will let others draw their own conclusions based
upon our actions. Our domestic and foreign policies will reflect unity of effort, coherency and
constancy of purpose. We will pursue our national interests and allow others to pursue theirs,
never betraying our values. We will seek converging interests and welcome interdependence.
We will encourage fair competition and will not shy away from deterring bad behavior. We will
accept our place in a complex and dynamic strategic ecosystem and use credible influence and
strength to shape uncertainty into opportunities. We will be a pathway of promise and a beacon
of hope, in an ever changing world.

I like it.

[ruckman101]

Gasp! I detect sanity.


neal

[turk]

Basically, the paragraph quoted above is consistent with everything we have done in the past twenty years. If you want to say we invaded Iraq against Hussein's regime I understand, but that's one guy. Libya : Quadaffy. Yugoslavia for the Albanians in Kosovo : Milosevic. They didn't "shy away from deterring bad behavior".

[Amskeptic]

Basically, the paragraph quoted above is consistent with everything we have done in the past twenty years. If you want to say we invaded Iraq against Hussein's regime I understand, but that's one guy. Libya : Quadaffy. Yugoslavia for the Albanians in Kosovo : Milosevic. They didn't "shy away from deterring bad behavior".

Read up on our other "outreach", the exploitation of other countries' resources and peoples, the use of their lands to dump our wastes, etc. While the last 20 years has had moments of American idealism, we have a ways to go to regain trust. Some of this distrust came via corporate behavior, not governmental intervention or policy, but we all have to share the results. We could do so much better I have said to some here in regards to our standing in the world, and this document is an example (!)
Colin

[turk]

Sure, we have a ways to go, but basically, it's consistent with the directive outlined in the paragraph^. I don't know about dumping waste. How the hell should I know about that? I'm not a military person. There's military dumps all over here where I live. They are from WW2 I think.

[ruckman101]

Dumping waste, you missed that? Load it on a ship and dump it off Somalia. There are no more fish, so the local population has turned to piracy to put food on the family plate.

Imperialism is heroin.


neal

[steve74baywin]

I haven't comb threw it with a glasseye, but it does seem more civil than what we usual get.
Those guys who wrote that will probably be canned very soon.