August 18, 2005, Like a Good Neighbor...
Evidently, American heavy-handedness regarding the International Criminal Court has had another effect: resentment of nations in the Americas because we have reduced aid packages to them in petty retaliation for refusing to grant Americans blanket immunity from the I.C.C.
This is reminiscent of all that good will we got by cutting out countries not members of the "Coalition of the Billing" from bidding on Iraqi reconstruction contracts.
In the case of the I.C.C. aid cut-offs, however, it jeopardizes relationships with nations that help us battle things like, oh, drug trafficking and terrorism. Worse, it creates a vacuum where our strategic... competitors... like, say, China (which, as we speak, is conducting an unprecedented all-forces war-games exercise with our pals, the Russians...) can buy into some relationships with countries pretty close to our doorstep (and certainly well within our traditional sphere of influence), simply because the freaking Bush Adminstration has a bug up its ass about "American exceptionalism"... the sort of bug that... creates openings for our... competitors...
Just another area where the Bush Adminsitration prepares us for "the long term"... assuming the world ends next Wednesday.
Comments
"assuming the world ends next Wednesday."
Unlikely but not impossible, given the half-hearted search for bin Laden.
Posted by Linkmeister at August 20, 2005 3:16 AM