 New York Senator Hillary Clinton called for a broad reform of US foreign policy that would include better cooperation with other nations and bilateral talks with enemy nations.
| Like the six-way talks with North Korea for example. |
Criticizing President George W. Bush's foreign policy from Iraq to Afghanistan and North Korea to Iran, the wife of former president Bill Clinton called for a more internationalist approach to foreign policy in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York-based foreign policy think tank. "First, and most obviously, we must by word and deed renew internationalism for a new century," said Clinton, a likely Democratic Party presidential candidate for the 2008 election.
| Even if a big chunk of the world doesn't want to work with us for their own reasons, we have to tie ourselves to them. |
"We did not face World War II alone, we did not face the Cold War alone, and we cannot face the global terrorist threat or other profound challenges alone either," she said.
| I guess we're condemned to keep the French as a boat anchor ... |
Clinton also defended the idea of bilateral talks with nations that Washington has been avoiding, such as Iran and Cuba. "We must value diplomacy as well as a strong military," Clinton continued. "We should not hesitate to engage in the world's most difficult conflicts on a diplomatic front."
"Direct negotiations are not a sign of weakness; they're a sign of leadership," she said.
| So what exactly are we supposed to talk about? Seems like every time a Dhimmicrat engages in direct talks with our enemies we end up giving stuff away. Carter and Iran. Clinton and China. Clinton and North Korea. Carter and Nicaragua. Seems like a pattern to me. |
Clinton blasted what she said was the Bush administration's "simplistic division of the world into good and evil. They refuse to talk to anyone on the evil side, as some have called that idealistic. I call it dangerously unrealistic."
| We talk with plenty of people on the 'evil side' if there's something to talk about and a reasonable chanced that talk will be useful. We're talking with the NKors despite what she says. But what exactly do we talk with Iran about? They've already told the IAEA, the EU and the UN to go screw on the one issue that matters. |
Referring to the Bush administration's refusal to talk directly to North Korea she said: "Six years of policy with no carrots no sticks and only bad results."
| Exactly how would you handle it, Hil? Tell us how you'd get Kimmie to cough up the nukes. Consider it a public service, especially since you are a, you know, Senator. |
Clinton bemoaned "the lost opportunities of the years since September 11," when people around the world rallied to offer support for the United States following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
| For about a week as I recall, except for the French where it was about a day. |
"Five years later much of the world wonders what America is now," she said.
Concerning Iraq, Clinton blasted the administration's policy, and said the best policy instead would progressively redeploy US troops in the region, call for a regional conference to help discuss options and advocate for the creation of an organization aiming at guaranteeing a division of oil income among all Iraqis.
| Oh yes, an 'international conferenece' wherein those paragons of virtue, the Syrians, Iranians and Saoodis, would tell the Iraqis what they should do. And I take it the redeployment of our troops 'in the region' includes Okinawa and Guam. |
"In an increasingly interdependent world," Clinton said, "it is in our interest to stand for human rights, to promote religious freedom, democracy, women's rights, social justice and economic empowerment."
| Which we do now. See Dubya's speeches. He hits each of those points pretty hard. |
"But reality is, we cannot force others, nations and people, to accept those values. We have to support those who embrace them and lead by example," she said.
| We can't force them, but we can make sure the ones who don't support these things don't get any help from us. And we'd better make damned sure that the ones who don't, and who also are a threat to us, get hammered. |
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