Heh. If there were any agreement within the US publicly available about what constitutes US national interests we'd all be smarter -- but nobody really takes us seriously and so that's okay.Yes it is. Been that way for 200 plus years. Our first big ship purchase in 1794 was six large frigates built in six shipyards in six different States. Madness. it's a minor miracle we'll still here.Watching the US budget debate.. A truly bizarre spectacle.Those people -- me included -- are no more arrogant than you are. They are stating their opinion on an internet discussion board. They are stating their belief or sensing of the mood or issue. Most are probably reasonably accurate. With over 300M people from virtually every nation, total consensus is almost impossible so most people bounce back with responses that mirror their reading and conversations with others.Ken, you would have noted that I often ask some of the serial offenders in the use of "we" who in so doing somewhat arrogantly purport to speak on behalf of the American people on what basis do they believe they are able to speak on behalf of the American people. Never had a straight answer.True -- and that obviously is my opinion, hopefully reasonably well informed and as I see the actions and reactions of whoever constitutes the current administration added to long term or habitual US predilections.Now you have used the term national interest in terms of how it guides US decision making.It is confusing and it is not helpful; however it is a function of the governmental system we have and most of us are content with it-- while acknowledging that it does indeed cause problems in foreign policy. An added factor that many miss is that US domestic politics will always be a bigger driver of what occurs than most anything overseas. Always.I have noted that supposed US national interest seems to change with every change in Administration. This has not done US credibility much good in the third-world or anywhere. In the good old bad days this could have meant that what you did last year was OK but if you do that this year you could receive a visit from a few squadrons of B52s. All very confusing.There's some truth in that but it isn't really that simple. There is also the problem that an item of national interest can be known to many but for many reasons cannot be discussed openly -- an example is Franklin Roosevelt deliberately goading the Japanese into war. Everyone knew it, no one in the US government could talk about it in an open forum. There are a couple of hot items nowadays but to discuss them in an open forum isn't a good idea.I served with a fine ex-Marine officer in the 70s and asked him this question back then. His reply was something like this. The use of "national interest" is the fall back position for a person who has no sane and/or logical argument to support his position on normally some foreign policy issue. After that the argument degenerates into a "not it isn't", "yes it is" exchange where the merits of the various arguments are then lost.
Still, some are out and long standing. For example, one enduring US national interest that has drawn responses from the US for almost two centuries is that Europe doesn't need to play heavily in the Western Hemisphere. Another is free passage and open sea lanes. Those and a few others are pretty well embedded while many if not most change with the Administration and its priorities -- some, like Afghanistan and Iraq occur when others decide the US will not react to a provocation.In theory, the Department of State and the National Security Council react to the President's desires in the are of foreign affairs. Presidents are people and they have beliefs and whims. They change every four or eight years. Some -- not much -- continuity is provided by DoD's excessive intrusion into the foreign affairs arena and by State but it still is the lead of the President that drives most thingsSo to my point. Who decides what is in the US national interest? How do those under possible threat of (nowadays) a drone strike find out what the Americans believe to be in their national interest before its too late?
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