June 24, 2005

State of the Union, world: troubling

Edit: Link fixed

The New York Review of Books has a long, must-read article on how U.S. foreign policy under Bush is failing us and the world, called "The New World Order."

I know what you might be thinking: what could the effete intellectuals at the NY Review of Books, a source we have actually never used on this blog, possibly know about the War on Terror? Well, the article is actually a review of several publications, including books by David Rieff, a reporter who once believed U.S. responsibility in international affairs boiled down to a choice between "imperalism and barbarism" for the world but who now sees the Iraq war as a disaster, and by Andrew J. Bacevich, West Point grad, Vietnam vet, and conservative Catholic who directs the study of international relations at Boston University. The author of the review is Tony Judt, director of the Remarque Institute at NYU.

Supported by Rieff and Bacevich, Judt accurately paints a picture of America under the Bush adminstration as a military state dangerously bordering on imperalism. He also describes the state of the U.N. and the desparate need for international cooperation instead of U.S. unilateralism.

The article is sizeable at 18 pages but all the better for its historical and textual detail, including informative footnotes as per NYRB standard.

Anyone who, say, supports John Bolton or votes Republican I especially encourage to read it, for it should really give you pause.

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