Clinton touts US as global leader
“The US can, will, and must lead in this new century,” said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
However, it is how the US is leading that has put the subject of American foreign policy in question. But that was not part of the analysis at the Council on Foreign Relations, where the country’s top diplomat praised the Obama administration’s can-do spirit of American engagement and the progress of the administration’s foreign policy objectives.
“Today we can say with confidence that this model of American leadership which brings every tool at our disposal to be put to work on behalf of our national interest works,” said Clinton.
In the middle of wars and an on-going occupation, a resurgent Taliban that has been working with the Pakistani intelligence agency, the same one the US is funding, and with re-launched peace talks in danger of collapsing, US foreign policy is looking more like US exceptionalism to some.
Touting the banner of American democracy and diplomatic engagement, Clinton cited the success of the sanctions she campaigned for against Iran.
“Our deepen support for global organizations such as the IAEA underscores the authority of the international system. Iran on the other hand continues to single itself out through its own actions for refusing to let inspectors to visit,” she said.
This without mentioning the IAEA’s struggle to get Israel to allow inspection into what some high ranking officials call Israel’s ambiguous nuclear arsenal.
Clinton also noted that funding countries or territories in need of direction will help their advancement, like the West Bank.
“The United States invests hundreds of millions of dollars to build Palestinian capacity because we know progress on the ground improves security and helps lay the foundation for a future Palestinian state,” added Clinton.
A move some argue is further dividing the Palestinian people and making them suspicious of the Palestinian Authority’s cozy relationship with the US.
“If the Palestinian Authority cannot claim legitimacy over the territory that it governs, it’s going to be very difficult to convince the Americans, the Israelis or anyone else for that matter, that they will be able to deliver,” said Yousef Munayyer, the executive Director of the Palestine Center.
Clinton made it very clear in her speech, that the developed and the developing world needs the United States for Guidance, leadership, advancement, democracy and the preservation of human rights. However, not everyone subscribes to the statement. The rise in secret war tactics like targeted assassinations and drone attacks are very much part of the US foreign policy apparatus, which Clinton left out of her speech.
“For the past year and half the Obama administration has been increasing the budget for the special operations command. This is what we are seeing, we are seeing state authorized selective assassinations, it was a policy created by the Bush administration, but it’s a policy that has been enforced and continued under the Bush administration. So it’s really just a question of U.S. State policy,” said author Eva Golinger.
It is a policy that is not so hidden from the public eye, but definitely not part of what Clinton would like the world to know about enforcing US foreign policy and global cooperation.
Clinton concluded her by speech saying, “We are a nation that has always believed we have the power to shape our own destiny."
And perhaps the destiny of others, no matter what the future repercussions may be.
