I just sent note to Eric Alterman of Slate (and the Center for
American Progress) summarizing my foreign policy concerns regarding
China and Sudan. I think the note is worth sharing with you:
Dear Eric, Here is
an issue I suggest you and your readers may want to dig into. The Sudan
situation points to profoundly unaddressed issues in American foreign
policy. [Consider:]
At the debate the other night, the topic of Sudan was barely
touched–which was probably the right tactical choice for both
candidates, but it also highlighted how little we (as a nation) are
focused on this important issue.
In advance of the debate I took some time to outline nine questions I wish they’d answered,
assuming an American public prepared to handle the discussion. My
questions ranged from high minded to realist. Boiled down to three:
High minded: Should human rights play a role in our foreign policy?
It seems that many of our current world problems can be traced to a
past where we supported “friends” with awful human rights
values–Saddam, Osama, etc. Perhapas a human-rights-centered foreign
policy would help us focus on developing civil society and democratic
capability. It might also make us a less attractive subject for
terrorist recruiting programs.
Strategic: What is the most desireable ecology of US power and
influence, international organizations and international law? How do we
hope if will co-evolve? How should the United Nations be restructured?
Do we need other organizations to pick up UN roles? For example,
Condoleeza Rice recently suggested that the G7 might sponsor
peacekeeping forces–what do we think about that?
Tactical and realist: What do we do about China? China is truly the
west’s next major competitor on the world stage–and China is investing
now to shape a very different future from one we would want.
At the center of China’s program to shape the next world, China is
securing oil sources for the next decade. China is making a strong push
into the middle east and Africa, as well as south Asia. Sudan provides China’s oil exploration and oil services base in Africa, and the Sudanse oil fields are China’s only major international discovery and production success to date.
The reason that the very shaky government of Sudan can perpetrate a
genocide despite strong international condemnation is that it is so
uncritically supported by China. More to the point, China is actively
courting middle east and African oil producing nations, becoming the
preferred partner to authoritarians and Islamists who are fearful of
the United States. The result is an emerging bloc of nations sharing authoritarian values combined with market capitalism.
These nations are becoming the core of a rapidly evolving economic and
diplomatic ecosystem whose sphere of influence that quietly but
strongly rivals that of the US.