Topics to Explore

Moneynomics (33) Science (29) General (26) Business (25) informative (22) research (22) Healthrive (21) Interesting (20) Technology (20) insightful (20) Books (16) offbeat (16) Economy (15) Culture (14) Physics (14) Electrical (13) Engineering (13) Electronics (12) America (11) Economics (11) World Affairs (11) World Views (11) psychology (11) Arts (10) Authors (10) Foreign Policy (10) GenSci (10) COGpsych (9) Creative (9) Globalization (9) Hard Science (9) History (9) Interview (9) Mental Health (9) cogsci (9) Health (8) Neuroscience (8) hacktive (8) Entertainment (7) United States (7) brain (7) Career (6) China (6) Cosmos (6) Job Search (6) Jobs (6) Kids (6) Lifehacks (6) Literature (6) Logictive (6) Perceptive (6) Space (6) Tips and Tricks (6) ee (6) how to (6) infographic (6) video (6) Astronomy (5) Energy (5) Green Energy (5) Politics (5) Resume (5) Universe (5) Wisdom (5) innovative (5) innovators (5) nanotechnology (5) Autism (4) Entrepreneur (4) Inspiration (4) Lifentials (4) Quote (4) Religion (4) WTF (4) geek (4) Crime (3) Employment (3) Endings (3) Genetics (3) Green Tech (3) Infotainment (3) Job-Hunt (3) Pics (3) Social Sciences (3) Women (3) apple (3) cover letter (3) explainer (3) movies (3) philosophy (3) social issues (3) AstroPhysics (2) Beginnings (2) Blog (2) Education (2) Electric Vehicles (2) Evolution (2) Food (2) Frugal (2) Funny (2) Future (2) Gaming (2) Internet (2) Men (2) Music (2) Nutrition (2) Parenting (2) Quantum (2) Review (2) School (2) SciFi (2) Short story (2) Smart (2) Songs (2) Stories (2) TV Shows (2) advertising (2) cars (2) children (2) environment (2) inventors (2) phenomenon (2) power (2) speculative (2) Aotomobiles (1) Architechture (1) Comics (1) Cooking (1) DIY (1) Death (1) Divorce (1) Europe (1) Family (1) Fiction (1) Fuel Cells (1) Games (1) History of science (1) Human body (1) Lessons (1) Marriage (1) Medicine (1) MultiCulturism (1) NPR (1) Nature (1) Old age (1) Organized crime (1) Parents (1) Personal finance (1) Pregnancy (1) Programming (1) Projects (1) Quantum mechanics (1) Renewable energy (1) Retirement (1) Revolution (1) Satire (1) Science fiction (1) Sex (1) Social Media (1) Sociology (1) Solar (1) Space Travel (1) Stats (1) Talks (1) Tesla (1) Theoretical Physics (1) Thoughtful Meditations (1) Weight loss (1) Wikipedia (1) aging (1) biology (1) diet (1) documentary (1) excerpt (1) feminism (1) flash game (1) ideas (1) indie (1) marketing (1) marvel (1) psychiatry (1) sceptic (1) superhero (1) technology and mathematics (1) x-men (1)

Sunday, September 11, 2011

The Worst Mistake America Made After 9/11: How focusing too much on the war on terror undermined our economy and global power.

 

On Sept. 11, 2001, the post-Cold War era that began so euphorically on Nov. 9, 1989, abruptly ended. The long decade that stretched from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the fall of the World Trade Center was marked by military spending cuts, domestic political scandals, and a general sense that American foreign policy was adrift. President George H.W. Bush had talked of the "New World Order" but had no policy to fit the clever phrase. President Bill Clinton had a clutch of policies but never found a neat way to describe them.

In the wake of al-Qaida's attack on New York and Washington, an organizing principle suddenly presented itself. Like the Cold War, the new "war on terror," as it instantly became known, clearly defined America's friends, enemies, and priorities. Like the Cold War, the war on terror appealed both to American idealism and to American realism. We were fighting genuine bad guys, but the destruction of al-Qaida also lay clearly within the sphere of our national interests. The speed with which we all adopted this new paradigm was impressive, if somewhat alarming. At the time, I marveled at the neatness and cleanliness of this New New World Order and observed "how like an academic article everything suddenly appears to be."

 

In our single-minded focus on Islamic fanaticism, we missed, for example, the transformation of China from a commercial power into an ambitious political power. We failed to appreciate the significance of economic growth in China's neighborhood, too. When President George W. Bush traveled in Asia in the wake of 9/11, he spoke to his Malaysian and Indonesia interlocutors about their resident terrorist cells. His Chinese colleagues, meanwhile, talked business and trade.

We also missed, at least initially, the transformation of Russia from a weak and struggling partner into a sometimes hostile opponent. Through the lens of the war on terror, Vladimir Putin, president of Russia in 2001, looked like an ally. He, too, was fighting terrorists, in Chechnya. Though his was quite a different war against quite different terrorists (and not only against terrorists), for a brief period he nevertheless convinced his American counterparts that his struggle and their struggle were more or less the same thing.

 

Thanks to the war on terror, we missed what might have been a historic chance to make a deal on immigration with Mexico. Because all of Latin America was irrelevant to the war on terror, we lost interest in, and influence on, that region, too. The same goes for Africa, with the exception of those countries with al-Qaida cells. In the Arab world, we aligned ourselves closely with authoritarian regimes because we believed they would help us fight Islamic terrorism, despite the fact that their authoritarianism was an inspiration to fanatical Islamists. If we are now treated with suspicion in place like Egypt and Tunisia, that is part of the explanation.

Finally, we stopped investing in our own infrastructure—think what $3 trillion could have done for roads, research, education, or even private investment, if a part of that sum had just been left in taxpayers' pockets—and we missed the chance to rethink our national energy policy. After 9/11, the president could have gone to the nation, declared an emergency, explained that wars would have to be fought and would have to be paid for—perhaps, appropriately, through a gasoline tax. He would have had enormous support. It's hard to remember now, but I could just about fill the tank of my car for $20 back in 2001. At the time, I'd have been happy to make it $21 if it helped the marines in Afghanistan. Instead, the president cut taxes and increased defense spending. We are only now paying the price.

 

Continue reading here.

 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please b.Logictive! :)