SPIEGEL Interview with Madeleine Albright: Romney Has a 'Shallow Understanding of For

[sysop]

Madeleine Albright, 75, served as secretary of state under President Bill Clinton. In an interview with SPIEGEL, she explains why the US remains an "indispensable nation," says that President Barack Obama needs another term in office and accuses his challenger Mitt Romney of "demagogical campaigning."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-865308.html

[SStrengari]

I don't put much value to a woman who referred to a group protesting U.S. actions in Kosovo at a Prague book-signing as "disgusting Serbs". Very diplomatic of a woman who is regarded as a "diplomat"!

[wmwchris]

Spiegel - Shame dich! Why have you dug this fossil out to take a swipe at Romney on the eve of the election? As if the current foreign policy is coherent or appropriate? To be fair, your magazine did actually ask and push for an answer on Syria.

"SPIEGEL: So the "beacon of hope" will just sit back and watch the Syrian opposition being slaughtered?"
Well done. But the rest of this reportage is less than stellar.

1. Why interview this war criminal in the first place? Her foreign policy “experience” (ostensibly the basis for criticizing Mitt Romney’s “lack thereof”) consists of disastrous stints at the UN and as Secretary of State.

It's interesting to listen to Ms. Albright ignore her own history of failures, foreign adventures of choice (Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia), acts of absence (Rwanda, Srebrenica) and warmongering (as late as 2001 she was still rattling the saber about Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction" and calling for war -- a fact conveniently forgotten the moment a republican actually did what she demanded for years!).

While at the UN her collusion with Kofi Annan and Bill Clinton resulted in the unimpeded murder of over 7,000 men and boys in Srebrenica. And don't listen to the propaganda, the Dutch WERE armed and the American pilots flying overhead begged for permission to engage. On another high note, padding her great foreign policy knowledge is her direct and personal role in ensuring the U.S. military was prevented from entering Rwanda for over 7 weeks and prohibiting electronic jamming of Rwandan radio stations which were relaying death orders. The 800,000 butchered civilians would question her foreign policy “expertise” were they alive today.

That she can live with the blood of so many innocents on her hands because she and her boss were political cowards when men (and women) of principal were needed at the wheel, well it just beggars the imagination. Lest we forget her refusal to do anything about the dangerous location and security situation of American missions abroad, specifically when begged for funding to protect the missions in East Africa, she simply ignored them (and months later Nairobi and Dar es Salaam bombings occurred – exactly as intelligence and security officials had repeatedly predicted).

2. It certainly may be fashionable to spout the current
popular talking points, but when making claims that potentially influence hundreds of thousands of sophisticated readers, it is worth the time to check the facts or at least not contort things to push a false story line:

“SPIEGEL: Yet it is China, and not countries in the Middle East, that holds the vast majority of American debt. Would Washington not be better advised to focus more on relations with Beijing?”

Really? First, China holds very little of America’s federal debt. As of today, current federal debt is an astounding $16.4 TRILLION Dollars. IF we believe your assertion, things are very gloomy indeed and China will dictate to America “how things will be.” But your assertion is patently false and appears to be intentionally so. A nine year old can search and get the correct information in less than 10 seconds on the Internet. The reality is that the largest holders of U.S. federal debt are….. Americans and American Institutions, not China! Americans own $9.95 trillion or over 61% of all federal debt. The Chinese own $1.13 trillion of our debt. That is 6.9%, or a little less than one tenth of our total. And contrary to the claims one seems to hear everywhere these days, that figure has been declining (down over $100 billion in 2012).

Yes federal debt is outrageous and unacceptable. But if we default on it, those in the most jeopardy of not getting their money back are AMERICANS, not the Chinese. Please spend five minutes checking facts next time rather than hashing over a falsehood about China owning the “vast majority of American debt.” Federal (national) debt is only part of the story anyway. Add in state and local government totals, corporate debt, consumer debt and unfunded pension liabilities and then you have a very frightening story!

[titus_norberto]

Summarizing the interview: Osama Bin Laden is dead and USA is indispensable to the world…

Bin Laden’s assassination and “indispensability”, two key aspects demonstrating how detached American politicians from REALITY are.

In regards to Bin Laden it is clearly “non sequitur”, Bin Laden was utterly inoffensive where he was, Pakistan.

On the other hand, this crime deteriorated USA’s stance with a nominal “ally” to the point of having a situation of a virtual war operated via remote control using drones without authorization and with the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI openly waging a war against them.

Not capturing and trying Bin Laden in an impartial court of justice deteriorated USA’s image as an “indispensable” champion for international law, law abider, and respecting the principles of sovereignty and jurisdiction (Bin Laden was within Pakistani jurisdiction) in the eyes of Muslim nations and the rest of the world at large.

On the contrary, “Wanted dead or alive”, is not the most indispensable message the world needs right now, this is simply a vendetta of Biblical proportions adding nothing to USA’s credibility.

It adds nothing, or perhaps is worst, to American’s citizens around the globe and USA’s “security”.

China, India, Russia, Latin America, Iran, Japan and many others (perhaps Europe as well…) show that USA is not indispensable at all; they also show that they are interested in LESS unasked and unwarranted “indispensability” on the part of the US…

USA is most indispensable for Israel; in fact Israel is an impossible country without USA or another Big Brother instead…, as well as to certain extent, to the UK as well…
The converse is not true, Israel and even the UK are neither indispensable for the world nor the US.

On the other hand, yes, Albright is right in this, without USA Israel would have not been able to acquire as much territory as it acquired since the UN resolution in 1948; thus, the corollary is that Israel has vested interest in DESTABILIZING the Middle East.

The proof is the fact that the only Israel’s neighbour not affected by the recent Arab Spring is the easily pliable monarchy of Jordan…

Thus, for as long as USA is remains indispensable as well as AVAILABLE in the Middle East “kerfuffle”, Israel will continue fanning-up the flames in its vested interest…

In that sense I do believe that Albright is correct with respect of USA’s INDISPENSABILITY…

Norberto