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| McCain Backs `League of Democracies' to Defend Values |
| 2008-03-27 |
| John McCain called for a new ``League of Democracies'' to advance western values and said he'd explore a free-trade agreement with the European Union in a speech outlining his foreign policy positions. ``We have to strengthen our global alliances as the core of a new global compact -- a League of Democracies -- that can harness the vast influence of the more than 100 democratic nations around the world to advance our values and defend our shared interests,'' McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, told the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. Such democracies include the European Union as well as India, Japan, Australia, Brazil, South Korea, South Africa, Turkey and Israel, McCain said. ``We cannot build an enduring peace based on freedom by ourselves, and we do not want to,'' he said. The Group of Eight leading industrial nations should be expanded to include Brazil and India, but exclude Russia, he said. ``Rather than tolerate Russia's nuclear blackmail or cyber attacks, western nations should make clear that the solidarity of NATO, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, is indivisible and that the organization's doors remain open to all democracies committed to the defense of freedom,'' McCain said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 LH, calling the Human Rights Council useless is too high praise; they are a significant net evil |
| Posted by: mhw 2008-03-27 13:11 |
| #4 Many of the technical orgs are quite useful. Really its only the UNGA, the Human Rights Council and UNESCO that are useless. Wait, did i say "only"? :) Actually even UNESCO does some good things, and the UNGA provides a diplomatic meeting place of some use. And UNSC is not only valuable where it sends troops. The League of Democracies, even without a military force, would have value in international politics. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2008-03-27 10:52 |
| #3 As the UNSC has proven it is the only part of the UN that isn't utterly useless, so too, this 'Justice League' idea means nothing without a military. Again, I like to point out that modern industrial armies are a recent phenomenon. For the last 1500 years, mercenary armies were much more practical for most small engagements. They are small and cheap, which is usually what is needed for less important assignments like what we call "peacekeeping" today. It puts less strain on a nation to deploy them somewhere. Such an organizations would not be an ineffectual conglomeration like the UN "baby blue berets", but would be *operated* by the US and under our direction and led by either current or former military officers, like the French Foreign Legion. Optimally, they would be kept on a private island in the Caribbean, and not permitted entry to any democratic nation. There would be no political heartburn for deploying them in nasty places like Lebanon or Darfur. However, they would be uniformed soldiers under the protection of the Geneva Convention and have to obey the rules of war. Their weapons would be limited to light infantry, and their logistical support would be by the US military, so their maximum size would be a brigade or two. As such, they couldn't either engage or last in a fight with a professional army, but would be perfect to keep a bunch of ignorant savages from slaughtering women and children. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-03-27 09:45 |
| #2 Is he trying to hint that the UN is broken and doesn't really advance the ideals of freedom and democracy? If he isn't, he should be. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-03-27 08:08 |
| #1 (1) Now, where did I see this concept first? (2) more than 100 democratic nations around the world ????????? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-03-27 04:24 |