20 May 2011
Will Libya be Obama's Bay of Pigs?
The U.S. should avoid massive intervention in the revolution in Libya. More largely, things have changed and foreign military action is no longer a necessary or economically practical solution to human rights outrages. Of course, there may be an exception when it comes to obviating natural disasters or autonomous genocides.
Who's responsibility is it to maintain and pay for a large standing armed force? When a petty dictator like Qaddafi (and, for that matter, Saddam or Milosevic) enforces the oppression of his nation through state apparatus that appears to be only eradicable by expensive international intervention, invasion and bombing are the old solution.
Communications technology and electronic personal networking have progressed to the point that formerly disenfranchised popular movements are able, with good organization and surreptitious support from abroad, have shown themselves able to overthrow those dictators.
The Europeans are on to something when they reduce their armed forces. The U.S. does not to take up any slack. Together they should invest in enabling local populations to assert themselves rather than in imposing political order from outside.
The U.S. should avoid massive intervention in the revolution in Libya. More largely, things have changed and foreign military action is no longer a necessary or economically practical solution to human rights outrages. Of course, there may be an exception when it comes to obviating natural disasters or autonomous genocides.
Who's responsibility is it to maintain and pay for a large standing armed force? When a petty dictator like Qaddafi (and, for that matter, Saddam or Milosevic) enforces the oppression of his nation through state apparatus that appears to be only eradicable by expensive international intervention, invasion and bombing are the old solution.
Communications technology and electronic personal networking have progressed to the point that formerly disenfranchised popular movements are able, with good organization and surreptitious support from abroad, have shown themselves able to overthrow those dictators.
The Europeans are on to something when they reduce their armed forces. The U.S. does not to take up any slack. Together they should invest in enabling local populations to assert themselves rather than in imposing political order from outside.
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