SPIEGEL: You famously coined the term “Reagan Doctrine” to describe Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy. What is the “Obama Doctrine?”
Krauthammer: I would say his vision of the world appears to me to be so naïve that I am not even sure he’s able to develop a doctrine. He has a view of the world as regulated by self-enforcing international norms, where the peace is kept by some kind of vague international consensus, something called the international community, which to me is a fiction, acting through obviously inadequate and worthless international agencies. I wouldn’t elevate that kind of thinking to a doctrine because I have too much respect for the word doctrine.
SPIEGEL: Are you saying that diplomacy always fails?
Krauthammer: No, foolishness does. Perhaps when he gets nowhere on Iran, nowhere with North Korea, when he gets nothing from the Russians in return for what he did to the Poles and the Czechs, gets nowhere in the Middle East peace talks — maybe at that point he’ll begin to rethink whether the world really runs by international norms, consensus, and sweetness and light, or whether it rests on the foundation of American and Western power that, in the final analysis, guarantees peace.
SPIEGEL: That is the cynical approach.
Krauthammer: The realist approach. Henry Kissinger once said that peace can be achieved only one of two ways: hegemony or balance of power. Now that is real realism. What the Obama administration pretends is realism is naïve nonsense.
The real problem with Obama’s policy is that it will have to be paid for – in blood and treasure. After a century in which we learned the very hard way about how dictators are to be treated, Obama is going back to 1933 and figuring that they are just misunderstood nationalists who have legitimate gripes about the stronger powers in the world.
There is no international community. International law is only that which the United States enforces by brute, military force. Freedom is only protected by American power. The enemies of freedom and decency are kept at bay only by rank fear of the United States. Tinker with that – for a moment say that law will be enforced by treaties in and of themselves; that freedom is defended by words; that enemies are just misunderstood friends…and the wicked of the world will lunge for our throat. Why? Because wicked people are just that: wicked. There is no excuse for evil – they know darned well they shouldn’t do what they do, but they do it anyway because they like to do it and feel empowered by getting away with the ruthless oppression of others. Its really no more complex than that.
War is a terrible thing, but it isn’t the most terrible thing. We can have peace and freedom – but we can only have it if we have the military means and the moral will to use the means if pressed to it. We are not to fly off half cocked; we are not to see war as a primary means of conflict resolution…but everyone out there, friend and foe, must be convinced that if we are pushed hard enough, we will strike with devastating force. Only thus will there be a chance for peace – for a short moment, the world was being treated to proof positive about this – right after the fall of Baghdad when Libya gave up its nukes, Syria started to give up on Lebanon, Iran started to talk about peaceful relations…and then we got bogged down with internal, political debates where the left tried to use the war as a means to defeat Republicans…and the world took note of our national irresolution, saw that Bush would not be deterred, but also understood that Bush wouldn’t be President forever. They set the stage and they waited – and their patience has been rewarded: they now have an American President who doesn’t understand – and doesn’t want to understand – what they are made of.
They will strike at us – openly and in secret – as soon as they can.
Blogs For Victory 