JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to strengthen our global alliance as the core of a new global compact, a league of democracies that can harness the vast influence of the more than 100 democratic nations around the world to advance our values and defend our shared interests.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUME: And in that league of democracies, Senator McCain would not include Russia. He would include countries like India and Brazil, both of whom have democratic systems and both of whom have, at least to some extent, in the case of Brazil, market economies. India is, I guess, a market economy and it has always been a democracy. So, what about his ideas, a kinder, gentler diplomacy, perhaps, with our allies, but what else? What about this speech — Charles.
KRAUTHAMMER: Well, I like the idea of the league of democracies, and only in part because I and others had proposed it about six years ago. What I like about it, it's got a hidden agenda. It looks as if it's all about listening and joining with allies, all the kind of stuff you'd hear a John Kerry say, except that the idea here, which McCain can't say, but I can, is to essentially kill the U.N.
No one is going to walk out of the U.N. There's a lot of emotional attachment to it in the United States, so we're not going to leave. How do you kill it? You establish a parallel institution of democracies that actually does stuff, that actually acts in the world, and that is not acting either against our interests or doing nothing, as the U.N. almost all the time does. And that's a good idea.
He secondly proposed that we kick Russia out of the G8. That's a mistake. Again, you don't kick them out. Keep the G8 as a useless institution of, you know, windbagging and talking. Establish a parallel institution with the other seven, add, as he proposed, Brazil and India, and create a new — give it a new name, and that way...
HUME: Make it an economical alliance, as well.
KRAUTHAMMER: With an economical alliance. In other words, what we need are new — we tried after World War II, universal institutions, including everybody. The problem is if you include everyone, Cuba, Chavez and all these guys, it's going to end up either useless or bad, as we've learned in the U.N. experience, so the new idea, which is 50 years late, but I think is coming now, is establish institutions of real democracies and act together with them in that structure.
HUME: If you can.
Here are some Youtube videos of the speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMmB7yPYElE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp6K--HcQdc
3 comments:
Krauthammer is astute as always. So long as the albatross of vote bank pandering remains remains with us I doubt how effective India is going to be in any league.
The conservative American commentator David Brooks has a piece on the McCain speech today http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/opinion/28brooks.html?ref=opinion
This is an idea which is very good in principle - even Brahma Chellaney has long argued for the "Democracy Dividend". It will be made even better Japan and India grab the "heavyweight" seats
Socal, I like the idea of NDA Chief Ministers of Indian states coming together to coordinate policies, in order to bypass the worthless swamp of the leftists.
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/NDA-chief-ministers-to-meet-today/289621/
That's in a way a similar to the League of Democracies idea.
Post a Comment