Kerry's foreign policy disintegrates even *before* he gets into office (not that he's going to)

What are three of the major foreign policy initiatives Kerry mentioned in the debate on Thursday?

1. Get our "allies" (read: France and Germany) to help us
2. Give Iran nuclear fuel (!!!)
3. Have bilateral talks with North Korea

All of those plans have pretty much fallen apart, even before Kerry gets into office (which he won't anyway...).

1. Germany and France have no intention of sending troops to Iraq even if Kerry is elected.
2. Today Iran preemptively rebuffed Kerry's plan to give them nuclear fuel
3. And China, one of our allies in dealing with North Korea, has stated that "the 'entire international community' agreed that the six-nation approach was the best way to deal with the problem", and China's foreign minister called the six-way talks "the only feasible and correct option".

These things illustrates the folly of having your foreign policy initiatives wholly depend on the decisions of others! I also think it's important in pointing out Kerry's contradiction in wanting multilateral support except in dealing with North Korea.

Some links via Jeff Harrell.

Update: Heh: "You know, it’s never a good sign when a couple of your major policy proposals blow up in your face before you’re elected."

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21:29 (utc-4)
edited: 2004-10-04 00:54 (utc-4)

 

Going to see Noam Chomsy speak tomorrow at Rutgers

I'm going to see Noam Chomsky speak at Rutgers tomorrow. My brother told me over IM that the topic of his presentation is "Rules of World Order; Doctrines, Visions, Reality". At first I'd thought he'd said "Rules of WORD order" (you know, syntax) I may not be able to take it... I may have to leave the presentation early, lest my head explode.

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19:39 (utc-4)

 

Kerry totally cheated

Kerry totally cheated in the debate. I was skeptical at first, but he's clearly taking out a cheat sheet. Man!

Update: Here's a link to the video. Discussion and more links on LGF.

Update: Here's a high resolution video. It really does look like a paper that he then unfolded, best I can tell. It definitely doesn't look like a pen. It seems possible that it's a PDA of some kind since it looks like he flipped the top up, though it's more likely that it's a paper he was unfolding. It'll be interesting to see if this story goes anywhere.

Update (10/5, 2:30am): Charles has been covering this today and it appears it was definitely a pen Kerry pulled out of his pocket. Good! I'm glad this can be put to rest. Of course, what Kerry did is still against the debate rules he agreed to, but I'm really glad the man who might be our next president didn't cheat in the debate.

Update (10/5: 10:45): Last update. Mike has good comments.

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16:31 (utc-4)
edited: 2004-10-05 22:46 (utc-4)

 

James Lileks on the debate

James Lilkes has a must-read screed on the first presidential debate:

I hate the debates. I have a vision of 65 million undecided Americans tuning in and making a snap judgment for all the wrong reasons. Wow, he pounded the podium to emphasize each word - but the other guy pounded each syllable. What’s this about sealing Fallujer? Is it leaking? Did they have a flood?

But mostly I hate the debates because I simply cannot abide hearing certain statements I’ve been hearing over, and over, and over again. I can’t take any more talk about bringing allies to the table. Which ones? Brazil? Mynmar? Microfrickin’nesia? Are there some incredibly important and powerful nations out there whose existence has hitherto escaped me? Fermany? Gerance? The Galactic Order of the Belgian Dominion? Did we piss off the Vulcans? Who? If we mean “France and Germany,” then please explain to me why the reluctant participation of these two countries somehow bestows the magic kiss of legitimacy. They want in? Fine. They don’t? Fine. At this point mooning over France is like being that sophomore loser dorm pal who spent his dateless weekends telling his loser roommate about a high school sweetheart who stood him up for the prom. Give it up. Move on. I understand; they are wise and nuanced, we are young and dumb. We’re the cowboy leaning with his back against the bar, elbows on the rail, watching the door; we need our European betters to teach us how to ape the subtle forms of Nijinsky, limbs arrayed in the exquisite form of the Dying Swan. Understood. But I don’t want to be the Dying Swan. And I don’t want posture lessons from a country that spent the last 20 years flopping on its back and grabbing its ankles when Saddam showed up waving stacks of Francs in exchange for bang-sticks. Don’t you think I know about France’s relations with Saddam? Surely the advocates of the French Touch must know, and don’t care. Or they don’t know – in which case their advice is useless.

Germany? Whatever.

And it took lots of dead Americans to be able to say that.

Also dead Russians. Is Russia the great ally we’ve dissed? If we invite Russia to help, then we have to tell them things. I don’t want to tell them things. At least as they relate to the battlefield.

Perhaps the “ally” is that big blue wobbly mass known as the UN, that paragon of moral clarity, that conscience of the globe. You want to really anger a UN official? Tow his car. Short of that you can get away with anything. (Sudan is on the human rights commission, to cite a prominent and amusing detail. It’s like putting Tony Soprano on the New Jersey Waste Management Regulation Board.) I don’t worry that the UN is angry with us. I’d be worried if they weren’t. And I find it interesting that someone who would complain about outsourcing peevishly notes that we hired <psycho screeching strings> HALLIBURTON </strings> to do the work instead of throwing buckets of billions to French and German contractors who sold them the jets and built the bunkers.

I’ve been hearing this shite for years! That’s why I can’t stand the debates!

There's much more, of course. Roger Simon comments: "In an age of terrorism, we act as if we're electing class president. Weird."

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06:05 (utc-4)
edited: 06:10 (utc-4)