Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
You need to re-read the Friedman article. Those random Americans are drivers of many things...That would seem to be a norm. You 'out there' are of course aware that what comes out of the White House often bears absolutely no relationship to reality and you might be well advised to pay a bit more attention to random Americans...
Thats a waste of time as their is no US consensus. But then again I suspect that with a foreign policy record like the US it is understandable that nobody wants to take responsibility for what has happened in the past or even yesterday. I am beginning to see it as a cultural phenomenon. Pretty sad really.

And again, re-read the article. As you have finally realized, US foreign policy is driven by domestic politics, stuff that comes out of the WH is addressed almost always to a domestic audience and may be the very opposite of what's actually being done internationally.
This brings us right back to the start of all this. This is why the US foreign policy is seen as bipolar and so often jaw-droppingly incompetent. I understand you when you say that's how the US is - and its not going to change - and I repeat to you that because of this the outside world -increasingly - is losing both respect and fear for the US. I would go further and suggest the relationships between the US and Third World countries is more like that of a John and a prostitute - in that as long as the US keeps throwing cash around they will get the attention. Of course when the cash gets tight their calls might not get returned.

I would not presume to tell you what is in the best interests of South Africa yet you often presume to tell us what is in the best interest of the US...
You can say what you like about South Africa - I don't have an immature sensitivity over criticism of that nature which would lead to a knee jerk reaction.

You get that wrong about as often as does the White House...
And you get it right all the time?