Sheldon Richman on the Wisest Foreign Policy Decision

The
heartbreaking violence in the Middle East, Ukraine, and elsewhere
carries many messages, but here’s one Americans shouldn’t miss: The
United States — no matter who the president is — cannot manage
world conflict. The corollary is that when a president tries to
manage it, things will usually get worse. Foresight is always
defective, and tragic unintended consequences will prevail. The
foreign-policy “experts” in both major political parties, and the
intelligentsia generally, think otherwise. No matter who holds
power, we can expect the opposition to complain that the chief
executive poorly anticipated and thus improperly responded to world
events. If this charge weren’t so ominous, writes Sheldon Richman,
it would be comical to hear Republicans berating Barack Obama for
failing to be “proactive,” for repeatedly being caught by surprise,
and for not exerting “American leadership” to keep the world’s hot
spots under control and, most important, in harmony with “American
interests.”

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