-- begin forwarded message: -- Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 00:01:11 +0900 From: Hendrik To: Multiple recipients of NETSOURCE-L <netsource-l@mail.think.service> Subject: [NS] Global sheriff who bends the rules Global sheriff who bends the rules Comment Pascal Boniface ONE of the priorities of United States foreign policy is to combat what it calls "rogue states". By that it means countries whose behaviour is incompatible with the rules generally accepted by the international community. They include Cuba, North Korea, Libya and Iraq. That definition poses three problems: the US fixes the criteria itself; it is highly selective in how it applies them (what, for instance, makes Cuba less democratic than Saudi Arabia?); and the US itself could well qualify for inclusion on the list, much as it would like to be the world's sheriff. Its stance on capital punishment, for instance, puts it in the same basket as a country such as China - hardly something to be proud of. Two German nationals were recently executed in the US despite pleas for mercy from the German government. What would happen if two Americans were executed in Germany in the face of pleas from Washington? The pilot of a US military plane that severed a cable car wire, plunging 20 people to their deaths in Italy, was acquitted by an American military court. The flight recordings had been erased "by mistake". True, the US president apologised - something that has become a habit with him - and offered financial compensation. But imagine what would have happened if an Italian pilot, whose rashness had caused the death of 20 Americans, were freed by an Italian court? In Iraq, without any mandate or even a proper policy, the US continues its bombing raids, which are hurting the civilian population much more than they are Saddam Hussein. How would the US respond if another country adopted a "USA Liberation Act" - along the lines of Washington's "Iraq Liberation Act" - specifying that it aimed to topple the regime headed by Bill Clinton and was planning to devote $97 million to that end? Most countries have signed a convention that bans the manufacture or use of anti-personnel landmines. But not the US, which apparently needs such weapons to ensure its security. How would it react if sanctions were imposed on it for refusing to sign the convention? Similarly, the US does not want to get involved in setting up an international court empowered to judge war crimes. The US has urged India and Pakistan to sign the total nuclear test ban treaty - a treaty the Senate has yet to ratify. While Europe, Japan and the developing countries have agreed to work for the protection of the environment, Washington refuses to take part in a joint effort if it involves constraints. It is not so much American isolationism as American unilateralism that is to be feared. Convinced that it has a "manifest destiny", embodies universal values and is the only "indispensable nation", the US cannot understand that anyone should wish to oppose it. Any such attitude is inevitably interpreted as hostility to those same universal values, and not to the American national interest. Because the US no longer has an enemy or a partner that can measure up to it, it does not see why it should abide by the rules of prior consultation. What the US fails to realise is that unilateralism could well rob it of its image as a protector of universal values - values that increasingly boil down to Washington's interpretation of the American national interest. That interest would be better served if the US opted for more extensive international consultation. -- Source: The Guardian Weekly, v.160 I.14 (for week ending April 4, 1999), p. 14 -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Subscription information, appended by the listserver: * if you want to leave this list please send an empty message to <leave-netsource-list@hiz.bc.ca> * if you know someone who wants to join this list, please tell them to send an empty message to <join-netsource-list@hiz.bc.ca> ----------------------------------------------------------------- -- end forwarded message --