An article in the latest Foreign Affairs suggests that there may be significant potential for developing an antiwar movement in the US, one which could draw in Trump voters as well as progressives opposed to the country's huge and wasteful military budget and its failed interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.
Republican and Democratic party elites are misreading both US power and the mood of the US public in hewing to the post–Cold War bipartisan consensus that US imperialism can police the world, write Dan Caldwell and Reid Smith, two Republican analysts with the Koch-sponsored non-governmental organization Stand Together. "In the post-pandemic era, the U.S. economy has struggled with inflation, undermining voters’ willingness to subsidize wealthy allies and fund foreign wars in perpetuity. More urgently, the U.S. military continues to face recruiting challenges, and much of its essential equipment is worn down after nearly 25 years of high-intensity operations. It has nearly exhausted its stockpiles of critical munitions and weapons in its support of Ukraine and partners in the Middle East. The United States’ limited industrial capacity makes these stockpiles difficult to replenish’, they write. Caldwell and Smith are not intent on building a mass antiwar movement but reflect the view of strategists in both parties who have seen a need since the Obama administration to concentrate limited US economic and military resources on confronting China. "The United States should militarily retrench from regions in which American interests are less pronounced, such as Europe and the Middle East, especially when the United States’ current responsibilities can be outsourced to relatively wealthy and capable allies in those regions who have more at stake....The United States should ask allies in East Asia to shoulder similarly heightened levels of responsibility in order to manage competition with China through strategic balancing rather than a security spiral that could easily end in a full-on war." Without referring to Trump’s declared intention to appoint militarists like Gaetz, Hegseth, and Rubio to key positions in his administration they anticipate that "Trump’s victory will no doubt accelerate a debate that was already roiling the Republican Party between conventional hawks and proponents of a more restrained, 'America first' foreign policy”. As for the broad US electorate, "domestic issues such as immigration and inflation were their main concerns, these priorities reflect—and were driven by—their shifting attitudes toward American foreign policy. Indeed, foreign policy proved a decisive issue for key communities in crucial swing states. In the aftermath of the United States’ post-9/11 foreign policy disasters, an increasing number of Americans oppose their country’s heavy reliance on the use of military force to achieve its foreign policy objectives. "Harris’s attempt to out-hawk Trump on foreign policy did not deliver her an electoral boost. It now appears more likely that her association with the Cheneys and her tacit approval of Biden’s generous material support to Israel alienated more key voters than it reassured.” Caldwell and Smith conclude that “if the U.S. policymaking class could more broadly agree that the United States has overreached in its foreign policy and must correct course, that would help ensure that the country does not repeat the deadly mistakes of the last 20 years.” It remains to be seen whether changing elite opinion is wishful thinking, but there is compelling evidence that “the most recent election strongly suggests that this course correction is what American voters want." -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#33630): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/33630 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/109618874/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Anti-intervention sentiment.pdf
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