"John D. Giorgis" wrote: > > I know that the US, especially under the current Administration, is > often-criticized for having unilateralist tendencies, and disregarding the > opinions of the international community. > > With that being said, has anybody noticed that the United States has now > let the United Nations deliberate for nearly two months (and counting) on > its dispute with Iraq? > > Does anyone know if the rest of the world is giving the US credit for > sticking with the multilateral approach, and engaging both its allies and > the UNSC members in very long and difficult negotiations, and working > towards an ultimate resolution in the United Nations that will not contain > a lot of the things that the US was originally looking for? > > JDG
Well, unfortunately, no, we don't get much credit for multilateralism. We *had to be talked into* waiting for the UNSC to debate the merits of action in Iraq, and even then, we show disregard for multilateralism by stating several times over that the USA would be willing to "go it alone" if we couldn't muster the support of the U.N. If we wanted to claim credit for multilateralism, we would have had to follow the model that Bush Sr. used, namely quietly getting broad support from all of the key countries, then going to the public with talk of war in Iraq. The current administration seems to either be doing a poor job of good cop/bad cop, or they found themselves in a position where they shot their mouth off without doing the necessary prep work and are having to go back and fill in the details now that they've gone so far out on a limb. All of this negotiation, etc. should have taken place or at least been wrapping up before the President made it a public issue. -- Matt _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
