Lecture on US Foreign Policy

[Moonlight Graham]

This is an incredibly enlightening and thought-provoking lecture if you're interested in U.S. foreign policy, or even US political history. Check it out, the guy comes at the issue from a very bipartisan, non-ideological perspective.

Edited December 5, 2009 by Moonlight Graham

[Melanie_]

This is an incredibly enlightening and thought-provoking lecture if you're interested in U.S. foreign policy, or even US political history. Check it out, the guy comes at the issue from a very bipartisan, non-ideological perspective.

MG, would you mind summarizing what you found most thought provoking about this lecture? Its over an hour and a half long, so more detail on the specific points you would like to discuss would be helpful.

[Moonlight Graham]

MG, would you mind summarizing what you found most thought provoking about this lecture? Its over an hour and a half long, so more detail on the specific points you would like to discuss would be helpful.

Its not really that long, you can skip the 5-minute introduction by that other annoying guy, and the last half of the video is a question period. The lecture itself is only about 30 minutes or so.

But mainly the lecture argues that U.S. foreign policy should return to a "concert of power" system as was used after WWII during the Cold War. After the Cold War, the U.S. gov't thought that the best way to provide the most security to the U.S. and the world was to create a US hegemony, which still exists today obviously. The lecturer argues that hegemony isn't the best system of security for the international community, but concert of power is.

He bases his argument on the original goals of the U.S. constitution, and uses quotes from many of America's great political thinkers (Washington, Wilson, Roosevelt, Eisenhower etc.). He brings up many other fascinating points.

Its not coming from a current neo-con perspective, or a lefty peace-lover argument, its very common sense & realpolitik. Just watch the first 5 minutes of the guy's speech and see if it hooks you.

[eyeball]

Its not really that long, you can skip the 5-minute introduction by that other annoying guy, and the last half of the video is a question period. The lecture itself is only about 30 minutes or so.

But mainly the lecture argues that U.S. foreign policy should return to a "concert of power" system as was used after WWII during the Cold War. After the Cold War, the U.S. gov't thought that the best way to provide the most security to the U.S. and the world was to create a US hegemony, which still exists today obviously. The lecturer argues that hegemony isn't the best system of security for the international community, but concert of power is.

He bases his argument on the original goals of the U.S. constitution, and uses quotes from many of America's great political thinkers (Washington, Wilson, Roosevelt, Eisenhower etc.). He brings up many other fascinating points.

Its not coming from a current neo-con perspective, or a lefty peace-lover argument, its very common sense & realpolitik. Just watch the first 5 minutes of the guy's speech and see if it hooks you.

I'm far from being hooked myself.

The reason this concert of powers approach morphed into hegemony is that deviations from the goals of its constitution and stated principles during the Cold War pissed off vast numbers of people in the process. The war is now getting hot again as a result.

Our evolution into a mature planet-wide civilization that is based on respect for human rights, law and order and democracy is simply not going to occur so long as people and governments trump virtue with things like economics. Why real politik and common sense don't incorporate this reality is suspect in my view.

Edited December 5, 2009 by eyeball

[Moonlight Graham]

I'm far from being hooked myself.

How much did you watch? Did you at least get past the introduction speaker (that guy is a bit of a loser) & into the actual lecture?

[Oleg Bach]

The American foreign policy consists of a big dog shoving it's snout into the feeding bowls of all other dogs that happen to be smaller and weaker - need I say more?