03/09/06
In 1997 Zbigniew Brzezinski came out with his book The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives. David Gordon, commenting on the book at http://www.mises.org/misesreview_detail.asp?control=115 , pointed out: “Professor Brzezinski displays in this book an inordinate fondness for intellectual games. A minor and forgivable weakness, you might think. But unfortunately the games our author proposes to play put at risk the lives of millions of Americans. Our eminent author, the former security advisor to President Jimmy Carter, that jellyfish of strength, finds America faced with a unique opportunity. Great empires have existed throughout history: the Roman, the Chinese, the Mongol, the British. But never before now has a country been in a position to dominate the entire world. "The collapse of its rival [the U.S.S.R.] left the United States in a unique position. It became simultaneously the first and only truly global power" (p. 11).
I fear that Brzezinski’s view of the world as America’s chessboard is a common one among America’s leaders- both Republican and Democrat. And I also fear that most Americans have little clue that “the lives of millions of Americans” are at risk because America is trying to play God.
The exaggerated vision of US authority in the world is reflected in the "National Security Strategy of the United States", a document issued by President Bush’s Administration. Here is a description of the strategy, found at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/politics/16strategy.html?ei=5065&en=f6cd69dc096fddff&ex=1143090000&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print :
“…chief among the sections that remain unchanged is the most controversial section of the 2002 strategy: the elevation of pre-emptive strikes to a central part of United States strategy…the wording of the warning about confrontation with Iran comes just two pages after the strategy reiterates the 2002 warning that the United States reserves the right to take "anticipatory action to defend ourselves, even if uncertainty remains as to the time and place of the enemy's attack." The juxtaposition is unlikely to be lost on Iran's leaders…
Another article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/15/AR2006031502297_pf.html concerning the document on strategy writes this:
“…the new version of the strategy underscores in a more thematic way Bush's desire to make the spread of democracy the fundamental underpinning of U.S. foreign policy, as he expressed in his second inaugural address last year. The opening words of the strategy, in fact, are lifted from that speech: ‘It is the policy of the United States to seek and support democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.’…”
What all of this in fact means is that the US will use “pre-emptive” (i.e., offensive) military force if necessary to maintain and spread its humanistic agenda.
But God has a way of bringing men and nations down in size.