Foreign Policy 101

Well, first off, welcome to mylot. you will find no shortage of people here who are interested in foriegn policy, lol. I wasn't really impressed by Obama's trip. All it showed is that he can woo a crowd over seas as well as at home. well, people over seas aren't voting for him. My thoughts on foriegn policy: I hate war. Let me repeat that, I HATE war. I am all for talking with those who can be reasoned with. I also realize though that in order to negotiate, you have to have a strong standing and point as well as the muscle to back it. Speak softly byt carry a big stick. Obama forgot the stick. I also am realistsic enough to realize that there are a good many who you absolutely cannot negotiate with and with these types, sometimes war is nessesary. War sucks, it's big, noisy, violent, people die and things get broken. Apeasment is ok if it works. however, most times it doesn't work, ie; the old soviet union, hitler, to name a few. Some people respond to economic sanctions and international pressure. SOME, not all and the numbers are limited. I guess all I'm saying is, though it would be nice to not go to war, sometimes we have to understand that we have to and that there are people who want to kill us and no amount of apeasement or talking or sanctions is going to ammount to anything. We have to ignore the urge to do the nice thing in the face of danger and realize that sometimes, we have to grow a set of snickers and back the soft or tough talk with action, some see the soft aproach as a sign of weakness and take full advantage of it.

Unfortunately a 1 week trip around the world doesn't amount to significant foreign experience. People keep discussing how the economy is the number 1 issue to voters, but the war in Iraq is a close second. Obama's weak response to Russia's invasion of Georgia didn't impress too many people. We need someone in charge who can make a definitive statement when our allies are attacked. I guess we should be happy that Obama actually made a statement when the media wanted to keep filming him surfing on the beach. His vacation is a real priority to the world.

I have a feeling that events of recent days may have raised some people's awareness of the importance of foreign policy but I'm not so sure it favors McCain in the way some people may think it does. From what I understand McCain first rattled his sabers and tried to paint Obama as the appeaser concerning Georgia/Russia relations but he's since said he rules out using force. He's also quite definitely doing the same thing he very recently criticized Obama for, and that's being presumptuous, only in his case it's a considerably bigger deal since many feel he's sending mixed signals overseas by sending his own contingent to the region at the same time Secretary of State Rice is there. Annie

I believe that the United States should have good relationships with the rest of the world. If our president was able to talk with other countries and work out problems it would probably be a lot better for all involved. I know from what I have seen here on mylot a good number of people are not interested in "talking" their opinions lead me to believe that war is a much better answer to problems, I do not however feel that way. Welcome to mylot, there are a lot of people that hang on the right and not so many that hang toward the left, enjoy posting.