Explain which philosophy of foreign policy which we discussed in class you think the U.S. should adopt and why. In the process, explain how you think we should address issues in at least two different countries.
My thesis is that we should use the Realism/Realpolitik and Idealism/Political ideology theories mixed together so that we may preserve ourselves as a country and our interest, but like the UN we should make a union between all nations making it based on mutual friendship and some type of trust so we don’t have to worry about all of these wars. And I also believe that we should take care of North Korea and Iran by first try to end embassies over to try and diffuse the situation, and it that doesn’t work, then we try and force them into taking action and see the reasoning behind what we say. The problem we have with both Iran and North Korea right now is that they both aren’t supposed to have so many nuclear weapons, but they keep amassing all of these nuclear weapons and threatening lives of other countries and those of us here in the U.S. It is in the best interest of both us and other counties for North Korea and Iran to be rid of these weapons before they can use them. And I think that because we can’t not get their attention to listen to reasoning in a civil manner; we should bomb their nuclear weapons systems to that they will for sure won’t be able to launch any nuclear weapons any more for a very long time. This will also send a clear message that they shouldn’t have those nuclear weapons and that they should stop and listen to reason. My reasoning behind using the Realism and Idealism theories mixed together because then we are doing what best for our country and what is best for us and a whole world. There may be times then these theories clash yes, but it would be in our interest to be at some type of peace. This idealism theory is essentially the UN, but the UN tries to control what other countries are trying to do. Instead we should try and respect each other’s governments and try and be mutual acquaintances instead of starting wars of little arguments. And by incorporating idealism with realism we would be able to trade with more countries easier and might be able to go into less debt with China. In conclusion, we need to better our relations with other countries, but we also need to use force when we have to like with Iran and North Korea. And by using the theories I stated above our world will be able to function together better as a whole and we will be improving our country and doing what is best.
My thesis is that the philosophy of Realism/Realpolitik or Idealism/political Ideology should be adopted into our foreign policy system and I think we should settle our problems with China and North Korea or Iran. We should adopt Realism or Idealism into our foreign policy because Realism will help us preserve America’s interests with only using our means and Idealism is based on “mutual cooperation between all nations based on their common interests. . . based on a common good”. America is in a precarious state. We are trying to finish wars, we’re in major debt to China and other countries, and we’ve even had terrorism from within from Aurora, Newtown, and now the Boston Marathon. Now there are threats from North Korea that we will be nuked. We look to our government to try and help find a way out of all this, and so far negotiation is barely stalling the trigger. We need to stop these people from doing this and upsetting the peace we’ve tried to forge between nations. I agree with Mary that we should bomb Iran’s or North Korea’s Nuclear weapons facility so we can send a “clear message that they shouldn’t have those nuclear weapons and they should stop to listen to reason”. We should also hold them accountable for threatening to nuke other countries without any provocation. China is also a problem because we depend so much on China’s trade and we also happen to be in a $17 trillion debt to China. I propose that we limit our trade with China and use some of our Foreign aid money to pay off the monstrous debt we have accumulated. Once we pay off the debt, our economy can only go up. In conclusion, I believe the realism or idealism philosophy should be adopted to our foreign policy, we should pay off our debt with China and limit our trade, and we should stop Iran and North Korea from going AWOL with nuclear weapons.
I think that we should adopt the Realism policy. We need to protect our own people and worry about our country’s security before we worry about anybody else. We may have to make some rough relationships in order to do that but we can’t put or people in jeopardy to help other countries. Our economy suffers from spending money on helping other countries when we have needs of our own that are not met. The problem with Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan is a direct threat to our nation’s security with threats of terrorism to the United States. I agree with Mary in saying that we need to use force when dealing with countries like Iran and North Korea. This problem needs to be dealt with in military force and not a political agreement. The terrorists hate America and will not come to an agreement. We should take down Al Qaeda and show them they cannot mess with us, which will also discourage any other groups or countries from wanting to start anything with us. We currently support Israel in their progress of being independent from Palestine. This is all morally good and all, but it is not our fight to get into. We need to stop spending money on helping with foreign affairs and use it for things we need here especially when we are 17 trillion dollars in debt. We also risk American soldier’s lives when we use our military to help other countries that aren’t even a threat to us. People might get mad and question morals saying that’s not the right thing to do, but honestly that’s not how the world works.
The following is the first half of Danika's blog ... I agree with Mary when she says that we should have a mix of both the Realism and Idealism theories. I believe that our country should act in the best interest of other countries. I also believe there are certain situations in which we need to act for the betterment of our country. In handling North Korea, I would be prepared for an attack, but our country should not make the first move. Finally, I believe our country should continue to support Israel and be an ally.
First of all, I support helping other countries for their common good. Matthew 7:12 says, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” As a Christian, I believe we should serve others and not disrespect them and act against their interest. A lot of issues are difficult though. There are no easy answers, especially when we wish to do what Jesus would do. Should we get involved in another country’s affairs or should we not? For example, do we help other countries overthrow their radical governments or would that hurt their economy, anger their people, and destroy their political standings? The United States should never be the country to meddle into another country’s business without reason. We may want to fight injustice in another country, help a new government start, fight diseases, but we need to worry about our own country first. All the bad stuff is happening in our country too. According to Huffington Post, poverty is climbing and is at a whopping 15 percent in America. Fox News reports that 65 percent of Americans are worried about our economy and debt. Our government should be fighting our problems, not solving some other country’s problems. If a country or people are in a desperate situation, such as the Jews were during WWII, we should seek to help them. We cannot solve every single country’s problems, though. Our government does not have that power.
I do believe America should, in certain situations, respond in the best interest of our country. Not so much on the basis of maintaining our power, but defending our security. My example is the war against radical Islam/terrorism. On 9/11, we were attacked. I do not believe there was any question of whether we should have gone to war or not gone to war. Our country needs to prevent further attacks. We do not want to lose more of our citizens’ defenseless lives. Unfortunately, the enemy country’s people may suffer, but their leaders should have thought that one through before they tried to hurt our citizens. All actions have consequences. Our government’s job is to protect our people, and if attacks continue, we need to respond.
The following is the second half of Danika's blog ... Recently, North Korea has been a posing threat to America. North Korea is a communist country, lead by the infamous Kim Jong-Un. One of our main concerns is that North Korea fails to denuclearize their weapons. Our nation is afraid they are going to launch an attack on us quite soon. So what do we do? Many people, such as New York Times writer Jeremi Suri, believe that, “Destroying the North Korean missile before it is launched is the best of bad options on the Korean Peninsula.” I, on the other hand, believe the best we can do is to watch North Korea’s movements carefully and to be prepared. Maybe their bark is worse than their bite. Maybe they seriously want to attack us. I do not think we should jump into war if we can avoid the cost and loss of lives war includes. If we are not prepared, major damage could be done to our country and people. Telling the North Korean government they are not allowed to use their nuclear weapons is not going to be effective. People who have bad intentions never listen to rules or pacts we made once upon a time to prevent this situation. We should be prepared and observe their actions carefully.
Finally, I believe we should continue our allegiance to Israel. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, Israel and America’s friendship dates back to the time of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, both whom admired the Hebrew people. We have supported Israel (when they have been a nation) ever since the founding of our country. I also wish America to continue to support Israel due to the religious beliefs both our countries were founded upon. Unfortunately, our country is slowly turning away from our faith based roots, but Israel shares many of the same ideas as America, say AIPAC.org (American Israel Public Affairs Committee). We both believe in “commitment to democracy, the rule of law, freedom of religion and speech and human rights […] Both nations were founded by refugees seeking political and religious freedom. Both were forced to fight for independence against foreign powers. Both have absorbed waves of immigrants seeking political freedom and economic well-being. And both have evolved into democracies that respect the rule of law, the will of voters and the rights of minorities.” I believe for these reasons we should continue to support Israel.
The United States has a huge role in world politics, and it influences many countries on how their government should run. However, a question has risen: Should the US be so involved in the politics and economics of other countries or should it simply worry about things that only involve its well being? There are several foreign policy philosophies, and I will be talking about the “Realism” or “Realpolitik” philosophy. I think that the United States is too involved in foreign well being, when we should be more concerned with our own. This may sound selfish, but it is important that we decrease our foreign aid to help our own countries debt. Our government loves to spend money, so when a foreign aid program comes along, it seems that the government jumps at the chance to spend a bunch of money. This may sound nice and caring, but it is not good for our own well being. Tax payers’ money is being sent across the ocean instead of helping to improve things here. The philosophy of Realism is “a view that, when applied to world politics, assumes that nations preserve their vital interests (such as their security) by whatever means they have.” I believe that this policy is the best one that the US could have. Today, North Korea has been making serious threats against the United States. What is the reason for this? The United States has decided to require North Korea to get rid of their nuclear weapons. North Korea, on the other hand, doesn’t think that the US has the right to tell them what to do when it comes to their nuclear facilities. If the US used the Realism philosophy and minded their own business, we might not have North Korea posing threats to us. I do not agree with Mary when she said that we should just bomb their nuclear plants and destroy their weapons, because blowing up a nuclear plant would cause serious destruction and take the lives of many innocent civilians instead of just our enemy combatants. I do not think that destroying a country is something the US has the right to do. Another country that the US is very involved with is the nation of Israel. We have been allied with them for a very long time, and have protected them when they have been attacked or threatened. I agree with Danika here in that we should maintain our alliance with Israel since we have been allied with them for so long and withdrawing our alliance with them would cause more problems than keeping it would. Israel and the areas around it do not pose serious threats to the US and we don’t spend a terrible amount of money maintaining our alliance with Israel and protecting them. In conclusion, I think that the US should follow the Realism approach to foreign policy to save money and to not anger other countries in which we have little to no rights in their economic or political systems.
There are many different philosophies and ideas about how our country should approach foreign policy. I think the best idea is to combine the realism and idealism philosophies. Realism view focuses on a country taking care of itself and making sure its needs are met first. Idealism focuses on mutual cooperation between countries, working together to take care of each other to ensure needs being met. Our country needs to learn to manage our own business better. There are issues with the economy and society that need to be addressed. Like the realism philosophy, I believe these issues should be dealt with before getting involved with other countries. The United States needs to address its debt before spending money helping other countries address theirs. We have people in our country who are homeless, jobless and living in poverty that need help before we help other countries. But, I do think we also need to develop relationships with other countries that help us both. We should develop positive relationships with other countries to prevent conflicts and wars. One country that the U.S. is having problems with is Iraq. The United States entered into war in Iraq in 2003. The US, with the combined forces of Britain, Poland, and Australia, invaded to remove the Ba’ath party, under Saddam Hussein, from power. The United States has been involved in Iraq for ten years and has spent over $800 billion dollars. Saddam Hussein was put on trial and executed in 2006. A new government was started and a new constitution was approved, and yet we are still spending money by our continued presence in Iraq. At what point should we focus on the problems here in our own country? It is good to help out other countries, but there comes a time when we need to stop helping others if it is at the expense of our economy. Another country that the United States is having problems with is North Korea. This communist country, under the leadership of Kim Jong-Un, is threatening nuclear attacks against the U.S. North Korea is upset with us because we are telling them what we think they should do. The U.S. is concerned with violations in human rights and failure to get rid of nuclear weapons. I disagree with Mary that we should bomb their nuclear plants to get rid of their weapons. This would just cause more conflict and war. Our goal should be to exist peacefully and with mutual cooperation. Bombing North Korea would cause retaliation and unnecessary conflict. I believe the United States should focus on domestic affairs and foreign affairs. I believe we should help other countries, but not at the expense of helping our own. We need to be careful to live peacefully with countries and not overstep our boundaries.
I think that the United States should take the Realism philosophy. With this view countries preserve their own interests with their resources that they have. We would just take care of ourselves before we worry about other countries problems. I think this would be beneficial because we have a lot of our own problems already. I believe Switzerland should be our role model financially and politically. They are one of the richest countries in the world and have the highest wealth per adult. They do not go into war with other countries and they continue to be prosperous. If we don’t make other countries angry, they leave us alone and they will not pose a threat. We should leave North Korea and Iran alone because how can we tell them to get rid of their nuclear weapons when we still have ours. We spend a lot of military power and money trying to fix the world’s problems when it isn’t even really helping us get anywhere. I disagree with Mary when she says that we should bomb Iran and North Korea’s nuclear plants. This would cause a mass destruction of life and many other countries that are now our friends will turn against us. I agree with Danika how she says we should watch North Korea and be prepared. I agree with trying to help Iraq maintain peace and create their new government. History shows that when you leave a country in turmoil that it gives open way for any person to take over and become a dictator. This was shown after WWI, when Adolf Hitler took over Germany. When we came in and destroyed Iraq’s old government, it is our duty to help grow and maintain their new government. Concerning the China issue, I think we should keep trading with them because they are our main provider of cheap products to buy and we are one of their main providers of resources. If either of us quit trading with each other, then both economies will suffer. They have 20 percent of the world’s population but only 7 percent of its resources; therefore we can provide resources for them.
Ideally the United States should adopt the political ideology philosophy of foreign policy and work with the other countries to better the world as a whole. However, because so many countries are based on the realpolitik philosophy and only think of themselves, the United States could only do so much with the political ideology. Lately the unipolar system the United States seems to have been using is working but we don’t have the funds to continue it and allowing another superpower such as China take over the system won’t continue to prosper like it has with the United States. China, for example, would only focus on helping themselves versus rebuilding other countries after a war like the United States has with many countries such as Iraq. With regards to foreign relations in countries such as Iraq and North Korea, I think the United States approach is reasonable and should be continued. In Iraq the war is over and the troops the United States still has in the area are there to help the people rebuild their country and make sure that peace remains. In North Korea we should continue to try to persuade Kim Jong-un to stop creating the nuclear weapons and if he continues to threaten us we will eventually need to take action to destroy the weapons before they start another war. Only more strife will be the result of any military action with North Korea, but we can’t just sit back and wait until they strike at us or any neighboring countries. I agree with Emily when she says that the government jumps at the chance to spend a bunch of money, for a good cause, but it’s not good for our own country’s well being. However, as true as this statement is, the world has a delicate balance among the nations. If every single country becomes set on the realpolitik stance and only looks after themselves, the balance will begin to fail. Our system of trading with other countries is what sustains us, we don’t need to trade as much as we do, but stopping trade all together is not the best plan either. The world needs to work together and create the perfect balance of sustaining each other and maintaining peace.
I choose foreign policy number one, realism to preserve our nation’s best interest, because not many counties care for our best interest but we care for everyone else’s. I think we need to finally care for ourselves. I agree with Emily when she says “I think that the United States is too involved in foreign wellbeing, when we should be more concerned with our own.” The problem in North Korea and Iran is to reduce nuclear weapons, so we, the U.S., need to reduce as well to make North Korea and Iran do the same. This will reduce risk of harm everywhere. North Korea today is in a very isolated, communist government, so if they were a little more open the U.N. would not be pressuring them so much they want to blow everyone up. North Korea has been accused of human right violations, tradition of detaining foreigners, and failure to denuclearize; for these reasons the U.S. needs to step in calmly to decrease the threat of North Korea blowing everything up for foolish reasons. We need to limit our and Russia’s nuclear power in order Iran is about the same, the only difference is they would most likely use their nuclear weapons as a terrorist attack, and hurt innocent bystanders in the process. In my opinion, I feel that Iran is more dangerous than North Korea, because Iran has part of a religion that wants to ‘destroy the west’. The west is Europe and the United States. They can defiantly do some damage. In conclusion, I think that the U.S. needs to mind its own business and withdraw our alliances that are making our country worse and that would not help us if we needed it.
The United States of America is a big country. A country that many other countries look to for help, a country that other countries look to when they need government help. We need to make sure that we are able to help them in that way, but the only way we can do this is if we fix the problems we have before we go to help other countries. The best philosophy for this would be Realism or Realpolitik and also Idealism. Our priorities should be to make the U.S a better country, getting out of debt mainly. But we shouldn’t cut off all of our alliances or cease to help other countries. The first philosophy that I will talk about is Realism or Realpolitik. This philosophy is mainly about helping your own country stronger or better. This may sound selfish but I believe this is a good idea. The United States is constantly helping out other countries, which is great, but we are in a trillion dollar debt to China. I don’t think we are in a very good spot to be lending out money. We need to be more focused on getting the U.S out of debt before we go lending other countries money. The United States is a country whom everyone looks up too. As Emily said “Tax payers’ money is being sent across the ocean instead of helping to improve things here.” We need to start paying back our debt before we lend other countries money. This is why I believe Realism is one of the best choices. Then there’s idealism. I also believe that we should have idealism. We have an alliance we Israel that we shouldn’t break. Both countries have similar beliefs. As Danika said in her final paragraph, “We both believe in “commitment to democracy, the rule of law, freedom of religion and speech and human rights […], AIPAC.org (American Israel Public Affairs Committee)”. We have many similarities. Why would we want to cut our alliance with them? They are an influence to us just as we are to them. As Mary explained North Korea has nuclear weapons in their possession. They have threatened to use them on us and other countries. If we try to stop North Korea from doing this, we would be helping the world. With problems that concern the world I think we should have a basic understanding what other countries do in order to do what is best for each country. This is why I believe we should include Idealism. In conclusion, I believe we should have both Realism and Idealism. We have a massive debt. We need to start paying more attention to that debt instead of getting mixed up in other countries business when they don’t ask for it. Our money problem needs to be dealt with before we go out lending other countries money. But we also need Idealism. We can still help other countries, if it doesn’t involve money. If we join with other countries and discuss what would be the best way to help each country, we can make the nation stronger and more peaceful. A mix of both Realism and Idealism is best because we maintain peace but we can also start working on our out-of-hand debt.
The US sees itself as a keeper of the peace in recent years, though its motives have usually been internal, and for the benefit of our own country. Through this we see that the US has a Real Politik approach to the world, and I agree with this because the US doesn’t have the right to be involved in the decisions of other countries, unless it involves the well-being of our own country. North Korea is a country currently hostile to the US, and the US is yet to respond. I think, because of the Realism approach, that we should respond if necessary, peacefully if possible. I agree with Emily when she says “I do not agree with Mary when she said that we should just bomb their nuclear plants and destroy their weapons” because that would piss them off quite a bit and make them enemies of the US for as they are in existence. Another country the US is involved in is Iran, unlike North Korea, Iran’s motives for attacking the US are religious, and are unlikely to be settled with quiet discussion. This is a tricky situation because the government is also based on their religion, and is supporting the terrorist activities of the Shi’a. I think the US should stick with our Real Politik approach and act on the defensive, should Iran act with military action.
I agree with Mary, in that, I believe that the US should remain involved in world affairs and that all of the foreign policies have a use, as all countries need to be treated according to the various circumstances of their policies and behaviors. A completely necessary component of foreign is that of assisting other countries which are in need of assistance. The major excuse against assisting other countries is our current debt, but the actual amount of the federal budget given to foreign aid is only about one percent. For 2012 the total budget was about 3.18 trillion dollars, so do the math, this means that if we dedicate the whole budget for aid to reducing the debt, it would take us one-hundred years to remove one-sixth of our debt. This is also not including that we are constantly gaining debt, and interest on the debt, and interest on the interest of the debt… So, not only is this excuse wrong, it goes against the basic morals of the Christian religion. There are numerous references for giving to the poor. I have heard many times people say that other nation’s poverty isn’t our problem, well if you are a Christian, that statement is wrong. Deuteronomy 15:7-11 “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be”, Proverbs 29:2 “Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.” These verses both point out that it is God’s command we give to the poor, and these examples don’t even tap into the commands Jesus made in the New Testament. Foreign aid is a necessary part of foreign policy. Granted peace is always the goal of any foreign relation, war is still necessary in this fallen world. More often now war has become a threat than a last resort. Currently Syria was found to have used chemical weapons. Chemical weapons have been outlawed in numerous war conventions including the Geneva conventions after WWI. Obama has also laid down several lines that cannot be crossed but the Syrian president keeps sticking his toes over the line. The Syrian president is like a toddler seeing how much he can get away with without getting in trouble. Instead of following up on any punishment, Obama has been too afraid of his own threat of war to help the rebels in Syria. War, granted its costs, has many good out comes and in many ways it acts as a defibulator for the world. With WWII as an example, even though we were in the great depression, factories grew immensely to provide for the large demand for machinery. It also solved the problem that humanity had with the actions of the holocaust. War may be costly but the benefits of the possible results make war a reasonable last resort.
I believe the U.S. should adopt the philosophy of idealism or political ideology. This is the belief that it is possible to construct an international political system based on mutual cooperation between all nations based on their common interest. I believe that if we stop posing as a threatening nation, we would have a lot fewer enemies. Of course there is never going to be a time where every single country gets along but, if the United States were to focus on better ourselves rather than focusing on everyone else’s problems we would be much closer to harmony then if we were to continue how we are. One of the countries I will be discussing is China. We are almost 17 trillion dollars in debt and the majority of it is to China. If they wanted, China could take us over right now. We need to reconsider how we view China. There are pros and cons of trading and relying so much on China. I think we should start to modify our trading routines from being outside our country so much to trying to provide for ourselves by ourselves. If we continue to depend on China so much, we give them the key to our government; they will be able to manipulate us just by threatening to overrun us. I’m not saying that we should become hostel toward them if fact, exact opposite of that. We need to continue to be friendly toward them and try to pay off our debt even if it’s just a little each year. This will keep a calm relationship while helping us start providing for ourselves again. Recently, North Korea has been a rising threat toward the United States. The infamous Kim Jung-Un has been making serious threats to destroy the United States. I completely disagree with Mary when she says that we should just bomb their nuclear plants and destroy their weapons. This is a horrible idea. Bombing them just opens up a door to nuclear war and nobody wants that. We have already seen the effects the nuclear power has, just look at Chernobyl. It will be contaminated for millions of years. I don’t think we should just ignore the threats but all we can do is keep a close eye on their every move and be prepared for the worst. I think the threats from North Korea are empty threats because if they were to bomb us, they just made it ok for anyone to bomb them back. We need to cut off any ties to North Korea and continue with our lives here. There isn’t anything else we can do. There are many more countries that we need to look at and decide how to react to them. I believe if we try to keep calm when dealing with China, North Korea and all the other countries that we will be much better off. Peace is contagious. Yes there will be the few radical countries that want to take over the world but if we all work together, we can stop them humanly. We need to realize that when we talk about a country we’re not just talking about a piece of land millions of miles away, we’re talking about people just like you and I. I’m willing to bet that they want consideration and respect just as much as we do. The best thing to do now is keep calm and carry on.
The United States is one of the major countries in the world. It is often said that if the U.S. goes down then the rest of the world would then follow. With that I think the United States should primarily focus on its own economy before trying to stick our nose into everyone else’s business. I think that our country should take the “Realism” or “Realpolitik” solution when dealing with foreign policy. The philosophy of Realism is “a view that, when applied to world politics, assumes that nations preserve their vital interests (such as their security) by whatever means they have.” I believe this should be our main focus, and I agree with Emily in that we should first focus on our own well being before we waste all our money on all the problems of foreign countries which has no benefits for our country. We should keep American tax dollars inside our country in order to first build up our own economy before we help other countries. Also if we have a strong economy then all the other countries will also benefit from us as well. North Korea is becoming a major threat against us lately. Many reports are that they are stockpiling nuclear weapons and are planning on attacking the U.S. The United States has ordered North Korea to stop developing nuclear weapons. If the North Korea is planning on nuking us who thinks they will listen when we tell them to stop making weapons? I agree with Danika in that the only thing we can do is watch them carefully and prepare ourselves. I disagree with Mary in that we should just bomb North Korea’s weapons. That would not solve anything and it would just make them even more angry at us. When dealing with North Korea the only thing the U.S. should worry about is our national security. In dealing with Israel the United States needs to continue in upholding our alliance with them. We have always been allies with Israel and even though supporting them is not really benefitting us. It also is not harming us and not that much money is spent in helping Israel. Also if we leave Israel it will create a whole lot of new problems instead of solving any. In the Bible God also calls for us to protect His country. "And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed." Genesis 12:3.
I think the Unites States should adopt the realism or real politics method. The United States today is very involved in other countries problems and governments. The United States needs to spend more time dealing with our own problems while still maintaining a good relationship with the other countries of the world. I agree with Emily and I think we should use our considerably means to protect our own countries well-being instead of pouring all our money into other countries problems. Two countries we are having problems with are North Korea and Afghanistan. North Korea is threatening us with nuclear weapons. They are making these threats against us because we are requiring them to get rid of their nuclear weapons program. Afghanistan is home to the Taliban which harbors terrorists and also funds them. We currently have troops in Afghanistan to try and put a stop to terrorism. In conclusion we need to stop putting so much effort into other countries problems and start paying more attention to our own.
I believe “Realism”/“Realpolitik” should play a part in our foreign policy. I agree with Emily that our country is way to involved in foreign affairs. However when other country's become a threat we do need to get involved and stop the problem before innocent people get hurt. we are spending much needed money on other countries. For instance I think it was good that we stepped in and delt with the problems in Iraq, but now we are just wasting money and need to pull our armed forces out of the country. We cant just pick fights with country's or then it will never end. We need to just use realism and preserve our interests. our country's safety is number one, but part of that is not starting problems and by that I mean if there is an issue with another country solve the problem the fastest,cheapest, and easiest way so not to waste tax payers money. Especially when we are in this much debt. North Korea has been making nuclear missile threats and the options are simple. Either go to war and destroy the nuclear weapons and ruin many lives as well as spend millions of dollars or stay at the mercy of them. I agree with Danika that that simply telling them what to do isn't going to work , but the cost of war is much to high. So we should keep a close eye on them and be prepared for anything. If we show them we have the power and the resources that they don't. They will have no choice but to back down.
I think we should adopt the Unipolar System for two reasons, the first one being that the U.S. needs to focus on helping ourselves out of debt instead of trying to help the other countries. Secondly, we will be able to gain more by taking a more powerful approach toward foreign policy.
If the U.S. continues to spend as it does we will never be able to dig ourselves out of the hole of tremendous debt we are already in. This policy would make us take more of a "worry about me" approach and allow us to start chipping away at this debt. I know that we have many allies and they all are in need of help but so are we and at some point they have to understand that we don't have the means to support them or even ourselves at the moment. I understand that this will hurt the U.S. too but even if we lose some allies in the long run I think this is our best chance at obtaining stability as a nation. President Obama is trying to please everyone and keep peace and that is totally understandable but he needs to realize all he's doing is killing our chances of getting out of this debt.
If we adopt the Unipolar system then we would assume a dominating position in trade and that would allow us to get better deals in trade for not only us but for our allies to try to help them out also. I'm not implying that we cheat out all the other countries but I am saying that we should be able to get fair trade prices because of the power we hold as a nation.
the unipolar system in all reality has many flaws but one thing I know for sure is that it would be the foreign policy that would get us out of debt the fastest (not that it would even be all that fast).
If we adopted this policy then we would have more leverage against north Korea and maybe then we could get Kim Jun Il to back down with his nuclear weapons. also we could get more allies that would also bug him to drop the program. That would take away form a lot of the tension there is in foreign relations right now.
Danika and Emily both said that we should keep our alliance with Israel because it would be easier to just pay them and keep them on our side then it would be to lose them. I also agree with this even though I think we should stop giving money to countries. I say this because we have so many enemies in that area that we can't really afford to lose them as an alliance. Not that I am afraid that they would join up with some of our other enemies there but because we have enough enemies as it is over there and to my knowledge we don't give them all that much money.
in conclusion, I know that the Unipolar system has many flaws but what policy doesn't? In my opinion it best fits the needs we have and gives us the quickest fix possible for our national debt crisis.
Our country’s foreign policy structure is a joke. We live in a “dog eat dog” world and we are trying to play “baby sitter” to every country that isn’t doing exceptionally well. I believe very strongly in the “realism/realpolitik approach. We need to take care of ourselves first because if we don’t, our current state of vulnerability will most certainly come to a dangerous point. This is not to say that I don’t believe in fair play and cooperation with other nations (political ideology), I am just able to see that the world isn’t candy land with gumdrop mountains and dancing bears. The real world doesn’t stop to help you if you fall down, it keeps on going. The ONLY time we should be helping others is when we can afford to part with that money forever. “Neither a borrower nor a lender be”. This is the approach we need to take with our foreign aid policies. When it comes to issues like defending other countries against threats from nations such as North Korea and the Middle East area, we need to stay out of it. Unless they are directly threatening the U.S.A., or in some cases a formidable and useful ally nation, we shouldn’t get involved.
The reason our great nation continues to dig this growing hole is simple: we care too much. This probably sounds mean, but you’ll get over it you big sissy. I know Mrs. Draayer has pointed out several times in class that we are called to help others, and in an ideal world this all sounds terrific and dandy, but this reasoning has one crippling flaw. How can we prosper and grow as a nation when we spend billions upon billions of dollars defending a country (Iraq) that A.) Is pretty much a useless ally B.) Doesn’t appreciate our efforts C.) Has nothing to offer us in return. We weren’t even involved in the beginning of that war! Hussein was terrorizing his own people and he ruled with an iron fist. The people didn’t have much, but the nation did fairly well. There was absolutely no reason to get involved. After 9/11, then it became OUR problem and I back that decision 100%, but getting involved in the first place was stupid. I am not trying to attack Mrs. Draayer’s point of view, I am merely examining what I believe to be little “holes” in the logic. (No disrespect intended) The North Korea situation is a bit different. At first I thought, who cares if they wipe out a bunch of people and become a world power. This was an error on my part, however, because if they wipe out South Korea we are going to have some big problems. Now on top of threatening to wipe South Korea off the face of the globe, they keep pointing nukes at us and are trying to agitate us. I actually think we need to get more involved here. The United Nations getting together and telling North Korea to “stop all the nuke threats” is like Tom Tucker telling Peter Griffin to “stay out of that ice cream”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_232OsC4gE It is ridiculous. We need to stay on top of this issue before it gets out of and we lose control of the situation. If they threaten us we threaten them right back. If they attack, we attack as well. We cannot take this lightly. We need to be better at handling these kinds of situations.
I agree with Lisa’s statement about how we should handle our debt to China. Limiting trade to help pay off debts is a great start to rebuilding this nation’s financial security, and at this point in time, financial security is a coveted position that we haven’t quite achieved yet. In conclusion, I believe we need to stop helping others until we have our own heads above water. We need to keep a defensive and cautious stance when it comes to national security. We need a better plan to reduce debt. Finally, we need to come together as a nation. We need some American pride up in here! If we do all of these things, Peter will think twice about chancing some ice cream.
The following post is from Josh Stein ... Our country has had a very unique history as one of the first countries to be created almost exclusively by immigrants, that being said the original immigrants who came and made this country have become people of their own geographic and out of many one has arisen: american. We as a country now have our own agendas and problems to deal with, helping other countries become countries with as many benefits as us is a very nice dream but that is what it is. If we do not deal with our own problems we may lose some of the freedoms we enjoy, and that is a very distressing thought, we need to deal with our own problems even at the expense of other countries. For those reasons I think we need to follow the "realism" or "real politick" policies.
Part of what makes our country so great is the fact that we do enjoy a better standard of living than most people in the world, skeptically.org records that we are #10 on the HDI. that is very high considering the number of countries on our planet. We still need to focus on our economy and try to reform and improve the failing systems and our crushing debt problems. We are almost 17 trillion dollars in debt and we are spending our money on helping other countries that will in all probability not pay us back.
One of our main issues with this is our involvement in Israel and our monetary support of their country. We have been sending money to help keep the jewish people from being invaded and their country being taken, am I saying this is a bad thing, no. I still think that we should assist needing countries just not on the scale we are doing right now.
I disagree with Mary on how we should deal with countries that are aggravated with us, instead of just bombing them we should focus on improving our defenses and stop interfering with them and that would remove much of the anger from their dealings with us. Not to mention the effects of bombing nuclear plants would induce, the cons would far outweigh the pros.
I conclude by saying that we as Americans should focus on our own problems and stop spending so much of our money and attention of foreign affairs. To do this we should follow the Realism approach.
The following is from Brant ... I believe realism and real politik is the best way to run our country. Realism and real politik pretty much states that we should just mind our own business and use our own resources and take care of our own skin. We should be relying on our own resources to get us by before we rely on other countries business. If we want this country to run better than it is we need to buy and use our own resources so we can make money. When we buy from other countries our money goes to them, but when we buy from our own country then our money circulates through the US and it is still our money. So we profit in two ways from this. I agree with Lisa than we should adopt realism. It will help us preserve our own interests and help our country prosper like it should. With Korea posing a nuclear threat I believe that we should stay prepared to defend ourselves. I don’t think we should just jump into way with them, we are already finishing a war and the cost of another way right now would not help our debt situation either. I think Danika’s quote was good “maybe their bark is worse than their bite” but regardless it doesn’t hurt to be ready.
The following is from Brandon ... I believe the U.S. should have a Real Politik view when interacting with the countries of the world. This would result in a Unipolar system with the U.S. on top, and as long as we don’t oppress the lesser countries I believe that this is the best system we can achieve. The Political Ideology would be the most effective in keeping peace, because everyone would be equal.
The following comment is from CJ ... I believe that the philosophy that should be added is realism/realpolitik and worry bout whats needs to be done here.
I believe this because we are into too much right now and we have problems of our own that are not being handled the way the should. We are so into other countries, that we are not doing a very good job handling our own problems. China is an example of this. China is an example because we are in great debt, not just with china, and the deficit is not going anywhere but up. I think that we should try and start paying off our debts before it would be impossible to do, not that its pretty close already. We have aided people in war even though they could handle themselves. We are still there even though the world is over. We should not be there doing nothing but being a police or come to for questions. They should just handle things for themselves.
I agree with Emily when she says that we shouldnt blow up North Koreas nuclear facilities. I agree with this statement and the one that says it would kill many civilians. Killing civilians could lead to a horrible war and be heavily deadly. Another war for the U.S. would or could be devastating. We should just deal with our problems in our country because we have plenty to deal with.
We have lots of problems in our own country, we dont need to deal with everybody else's problems as well. The bombing at Boston was a devastating time and was unnecessary in many ways. I hope the people who set the bombs got what they deserved and more if necessary.
The realism foreign policy approach when it is applied means a nation preserves its vital interests by whatever means they have. I think the US has been following this approach but we have gone outside of what is vital for our nation. If we look at our situation with Iran we wanted to step in and try to establish a democracy and to put a leader in power that was willing to work with the US. The leader in Iran kept ties with Nazi Germany after WW2, so the country already filled with extremist Muslims would be led by a leader who kept ties with people who just got their butt kicked by America so of course the Nazis would want to get back at the US. The Muslims also hate the US so that would be a country full of extremists and anti-Americans, I think stepping in was defiantly an interest in our own security. The reason why America has stepped in to places like Iraq and North Korea is because those countries do not like America and are armed with weapons of mass destruction. I’m glad we are looking at their nuclear programs and trying to shut them down because I don’t want countries willing to shoot off those weapons to have them. It probably sounds hypocritical for the US to say get rid of your nukes and we’ll keep ours but the reason we had nukes in the first place is because we wanted to make sure that someone picked a fight with us we have the bigger guns so we will win. These counties aren’t showing the same behavior. Iran is dominantly extremist Muslims who are taught that America is a monster their religion says that their sole purpose in life is to destroy the infidels and western civilization. 9/11 their attacked demonstrated to us that they are willing to attack us. Our problem is we spend a lot of money on countries that are not threatening us but also aren’t helping us. They expect us to just help without them returning these countries are not vital so we need stop being the police for these countries. I agree with Dylan that this is a “Dog eat dog” world countries that can’t take care of themselves are not doing us any good and we have our own problems so those countries need to find a way to take care of themselves. I know as Christians we should help those in need but there are people in need in our own country, we should be focusing on them. Foreign policy is tricky but we need to be focusing on protecting our own people and morals before we go spending our resources on countries that are doing us no good. And I think spending money on keeping countries with the wrong intent from getting weapons of mass destruction and who are willing to attack us is money well spent.
The following is from Collin ... I think that we should adopt the Realism policy. We need to protect our own people and worry about our country’s security before we worry about anybody else. We may have to make some rough relationships in order to do that but we can’t put or people in jeopardy to help other countries. Our economy suffers from spending money on helping other countries when we have needs of our own that are not met.
The problem with Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan is a direct threat to our nation’s security with threats of terrorism to the United States. I agree with Mary in saying that we need to use force when dealing with countries like Iran and North Korea. This problem needs to be dealt with in military force and not a political agreement. The terrorists hate America and will not come to an agreement. We should take down Al Qaeda and show them they cannot mess with us, which will also discourage any other groups or countries from wanting to start anything with us.
We currently support Israel in their progress of being independent from Palestine. This is all morally good and all, but it is not our fight to get into. We need to stop spending money on helping with foreign affairs and use it for things we need here especially when we are 17 trillion dollars in debt. We also risk American soldier’s lives when we use our military to help other countries that aren’t even a threat to us. People might get mad and question morals saying that’s not the right thing to do, but honestly that’s not how the world works.
The following is from McKenzie ... There are many different philosophies on how a country should approach foreign policy. I believe the United States should follow the Realism view or the Realpolitik view. This means that we need to worry about the United States and our own needs first before helping other countries. I believe this because we have many unemployed people needing help. We have a large national debt. Instead of spending money on helping the people here in our own country, the United States is spending money on other countries or on things that are not a priority. We need to take care of our national debt and our citizens before spending money on helping other countries. We are helping other countries with their wars, but yet have tragic events happening in our own country. One country that we are dealing with is North Korea. North Korea has a communist government and is threatening the United States with nuclear attacks. The U.S. is concerned over North Korea’s failure to denuclearize. Because the U.S. is telling North Korea what to do, they are responding in a destructive way. The United States, if we followed a Realism approach, would not get involved with North Korea and their issues. I do not agree with Mary in her idea of bombing nuclear weapon systems. I think we should focus on our own problems. We need to protect ourselves, but not invite trouble. Another country that the United States is involved with is Afghanistan. Afghanistan went through a communist revolution in 1978. The United States took sides with rebels who wanted to overthrow the communist government. Currently, we are still involved in helping the Civil War in Afghanistan. The U.S. wants to get rid of the terrorists. We have been involved for a long time and have spent a lot of money helping the rebels. I do not think we should still have troops in Afghanistan because it does not seem to be helping.
I think that the US should start to focus on itself more often than trying to help everyone else out. Because when we try to help everyone else out we end up doing something that they don’t need and they get mad, so in the end it doesn’t help us in any way. The US should worry only about itself and be a strictly depending on itself country. I agree with Collin when he says that we should adopt the realism policy and start to focus on our country and fix what’s wrong with us before we worry about anyone else. There are many countries trying to attack us and mess up our security, this is one reason I believe we shouldn’t have helped them in the first place.
My thesis is that we should use the Realism/Realpolitik and Idealism/Political ideology theories mixed together so that we may preserve ourselves as a country and our interest, but like the UN we should make a union between all nations making it based on mutual friendship and some type of trust so we don’t have to worry about all of these wars. And I also believe that we should take care of North Korea and Iran by first try to end embassies over to try and diffuse the situation, and it that doesn’t work, then we try and force them into taking action and see the reasoning behind what we say.
ReplyDeleteThe problem we have with both Iran and North Korea right now is that they both aren’t supposed to have so many nuclear weapons, but they keep amassing all of these nuclear weapons and threatening lives of other countries and those of us here in the U.S. It is in the best interest of both us and other counties for North Korea and Iran to be rid of these weapons before they can use them. And I think that because we can’t not get their attention to listen to reasoning in a civil manner; we should bomb their nuclear weapons systems to that they will for sure won’t be able to launch any nuclear weapons any more for a very long time. This will also send a clear message that they shouldn’t have those nuclear weapons and that they should stop and listen to reason.
My reasoning behind using the Realism and Idealism theories mixed together because then we are doing what best for our country and what is best for us and a whole world. There may be times then these theories clash yes, but it would be in our interest to be at some type of peace. This idealism theory is essentially the UN, but the UN tries to control what other countries are trying to do. Instead we should try and respect each other’s governments and try and be mutual acquaintances instead of starting wars of little arguments. And by incorporating idealism with realism we would be able to trade with more countries easier and might be able to go into less debt with China.
In conclusion, we need to better our relations with other countries, but we also need to use force when we have to like with Iran and North Korea. And by using the theories I stated above our world will be able to function together better as a whole and we will be improving our country and doing what is best.
My thesis is that the philosophy of Realism/Realpolitik or Idealism/political Ideology should be adopted into our foreign policy system and I think we should settle our problems with China and North Korea or Iran. We should adopt Realism or Idealism into our foreign policy because Realism will help us preserve America’s interests with only using our means and Idealism is based on “mutual cooperation between all nations based on their common interests. . . based on a common good”. America is in a precarious state. We are trying to finish wars, we’re in major debt to China and other countries, and we’ve even had terrorism from within from Aurora, Newtown, and now the Boston Marathon. Now there are threats from North Korea that we will be nuked. We look to our government to try and help find a way out of all this, and so far negotiation is barely stalling the trigger. We need to stop these people from doing this and upsetting the peace we’ve tried to forge between nations. I agree with Mary that we should bomb Iran’s or North Korea’s Nuclear weapons facility so we can send a “clear message that they shouldn’t have those nuclear weapons and they should stop to listen to reason”. We should also hold them accountable for threatening to nuke other countries without any provocation. China is also a problem because we depend so much on China’s trade and we also happen to be in a $17 trillion debt to China. I propose that we limit our trade with China and use some of our Foreign aid money to pay off the monstrous debt we have accumulated. Once we pay off the debt, our economy can only go up. In conclusion, I believe the realism or idealism philosophy should be adopted to our foreign policy, we should pay off our debt with China and limit our trade, and we should stop Iran and North Korea from going AWOL with nuclear weapons.
ReplyDeleteI think that we should adopt the Realism policy. We need to protect our own people and worry about our country’s security before we worry about anybody else. We may have to make some rough relationships in order to do that but we can’t put or people in jeopardy to help other countries. Our economy suffers from spending money on helping other countries when we have needs of our own that are not met.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan is a direct threat to our nation’s security with threats of terrorism to the United States. I agree with Mary in saying that we need to use force when dealing with countries like Iran and North Korea. This problem needs to be dealt with in military force and not a political agreement. The terrorists hate America and will not come to an agreement. We should take down Al Qaeda and show them they cannot mess with us, which will also discourage any other groups or countries from wanting to start anything with us.
We currently support Israel in their progress of being independent from Palestine. This is all morally good and all, but it is not our fight to get into. We need to stop spending money on helping with foreign affairs and use it for things we need here especially when we are 17 trillion dollars in debt. We also risk American soldier’s lives when we use our military to help other countries that aren’t even a threat to us. People might get mad and question morals saying that’s not the right thing to do, but honestly that’s not how the world works.
The following is the first half of Danika's blog ...
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mary when she says that we should have a mix of both the Realism and Idealism theories. I believe that our country should act in the best interest of other countries. I also believe there are certain situations in which we need to act for the betterment of our country. In handling North Korea, I would be prepared for an attack, but our country should not make the first move. Finally, I believe our country should continue to support Israel and be an ally.
First of all, I support helping other countries for their common good. Matthew 7:12 says, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” As a Christian, I believe we should serve others and not disrespect them and act against their interest. A lot of issues are difficult though. There are no easy answers, especially when we wish to do what Jesus would do. Should we get involved in another country’s affairs or should we not? For example, do we help other countries overthrow their radical governments or would that hurt their economy, anger their people, and destroy their political standings? The United States should never be the country to meddle into another country’s business without reason. We may want to fight injustice in another country, help a new government start, fight diseases, but we need to worry about our own country first. All the bad stuff is happening in our country too. According to Huffington Post, poverty is climbing and is at a whopping 15 percent in America. Fox News reports that 65 percent of Americans are worried about our economy and debt. Our government should be fighting our problems, not solving some other country’s problems. If a country or people are in a desperate situation, such as the Jews were during WWII, we should seek to help them. We cannot solve every single country’s problems, though. Our government does not have that power.
I do believe America should, in certain situations, respond in the best interest of our country. Not so much on the basis of maintaining our power, but defending our security. My example is the war against radical Islam/terrorism. On 9/11, we were attacked. I do not believe there was any question of whether we should have gone to war or not gone to war. Our country needs to prevent further attacks. We do not want to lose more of our citizens’ defenseless lives. Unfortunately, the enemy country’s people may suffer, but their leaders should have thought that one through before they tried to hurt our citizens. All actions have consequences. Our government’s job is to protect our people, and if attacks continue, we need to respond.
The following is the second half of Danika's blog ...
ReplyDeleteRecently, North Korea has been a posing threat to America. North Korea is a communist country, lead by the infamous Kim Jong-Un. One of our main concerns is that North Korea fails to denuclearize their weapons. Our nation is afraid they are going to launch an attack on us quite soon. So what do we do? Many people, such as New York Times writer Jeremi Suri, believe that, “Destroying the North Korean missile before it is launched is the best of bad options on the Korean Peninsula.” I, on the other hand, believe the best we can do is to watch North Korea’s movements carefully and to be prepared. Maybe their bark is worse than their bite. Maybe they seriously want to attack us. I do not think we should jump into war if we can avoid the cost and loss of lives war includes. If we are not prepared, major damage could be done to our country and people. Telling the North Korean government they are not allowed to use their nuclear weapons is not going to be effective. People who have bad intentions never listen to rules or pacts we made once upon a time to prevent this situation. We should be prepared and observe their actions carefully.
Finally, I believe we should continue our allegiance to Israel. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, Israel and America’s friendship dates back to the time of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, both whom admired the Hebrew people. We have supported Israel (when they have been a nation) ever since the founding of our country. I also wish America to continue to support Israel due to the religious beliefs both our countries were founded upon. Unfortunately, our country is slowly turning away from our faith based roots, but Israel shares many of the same ideas as America, say AIPAC.org (American Israel Public Affairs Committee). We both believe in “commitment to democracy, the rule of law, freedom of religion and speech and human rights […] Both nations were founded by refugees seeking political and religious freedom. Both were forced to fight for independence against foreign powers. Both have absorbed waves of immigrants seeking political freedom and economic well-being. And both have evolved into democracies that respect the rule of law, the will of voters and the rights of minorities.” I believe for these reasons we should continue to support Israel.
The United States has a huge role in world politics, and it influences many countries on how their government should run. However, a question has risen: Should the US be so involved in the politics and economics of other countries or should it simply worry about things that only involve its well being? There are several foreign policy philosophies, and I will be talking about the “Realism” or “Realpolitik” philosophy.
ReplyDeleteI think that the United States is too involved in foreign well being, when we should be more concerned with our own. This may sound selfish, but it is important that we decrease our foreign aid to help our own countries debt. Our government loves to spend money, so when a foreign aid program comes along, it seems that the government jumps at the chance to spend a bunch of money. This may sound nice and caring, but it is not good for our own well being. Tax payers’ money is being sent across the ocean instead of helping to improve things here. The philosophy of Realism is “a view that, when applied to world politics, assumes that nations preserve their vital interests (such as their security) by whatever means they have.” I believe that this policy is the best one that the US could have.
Today, North Korea has been making serious threats against the United States. What is the reason for this? The United States has decided to require North Korea to get rid of their nuclear weapons. North Korea, on the other hand, doesn’t think that the US has the right to tell them what to do when it comes to their nuclear facilities. If the US used the Realism philosophy and minded their own business, we might not have North Korea posing threats to us. I do not agree with Mary when she said that we should just bomb their nuclear plants and destroy their weapons, because blowing up a nuclear plant would cause serious destruction and take the lives of many innocent civilians instead of just our enemy combatants. I do not think that destroying a country is something the US has the right to do.
Another country that the US is very involved with is the nation of Israel. We have been allied with them for a very long time, and have protected them when they have been attacked or threatened. I agree with Danika here in that we should maintain our alliance with Israel since we have been allied with them for so long and withdrawing our alliance with them would cause more problems than keeping it would. Israel and the areas around it do not pose serious threats to the US and we don’t spend a terrible amount of money maintaining our alliance with Israel and protecting them.
In conclusion, I think that the US should follow the Realism approach to foreign policy to save money and to not anger other countries in which we have little to no rights in their economic or political systems.
There are many different philosophies and ideas about how our country should approach foreign policy. I think the best idea is to combine the realism and idealism philosophies. Realism view focuses on a country taking care of itself and making sure its needs are met first. Idealism focuses on mutual cooperation between countries, working together to take care of each other to ensure needs being met. Our country needs to learn to manage our own business better. There are issues with the economy and society that need to be addressed. Like the realism philosophy, I believe these issues should be dealt with before getting involved with other countries. The United States needs to address its debt before spending money helping other countries address theirs. We have people in our country who are homeless, jobless and living in poverty that need help before we help other countries. But, I do think we also need to develop relationships with other countries that help us both. We should develop positive relationships with other countries to prevent conflicts and wars.
ReplyDeleteOne country that the U.S. is having problems with is Iraq. The United States entered into war in Iraq in 2003. The US, with the combined forces of Britain, Poland, and Australia, invaded to remove the Ba’ath party, under Saddam Hussein, from power. The United States has been involved in Iraq for ten years and has spent over $800 billion dollars. Saddam Hussein was put on trial and executed in 2006. A new government was started and a new constitution was approved, and yet we are still spending money by our continued presence in Iraq. At what point should we focus on the problems here in our own country? It is good to help out other countries, but there comes a time when we need to stop helping others if it is at the expense of our economy.
Another country that the United States is having problems with is North Korea. This communist country, under the leadership of Kim Jong-Un, is threatening nuclear attacks against the U.S. North Korea is upset with us because we are telling them what we think they should do. The U.S. is concerned with violations in human rights and failure to get rid of nuclear weapons. I disagree with Mary that we should bomb their nuclear plants to get rid of their weapons. This would just cause more conflict and war. Our goal should be to exist peacefully and with mutual cooperation. Bombing North Korea would cause retaliation and unnecessary conflict.
I believe the United States should focus on domestic affairs and foreign affairs. I believe we should help other countries, but not at the expense of helping our own. We need to be careful to live peacefully with countries and not overstep our boundaries.
I think that the United States should take the Realism philosophy. With this view countries preserve their own interests with their resources that they have. We would just take care of ourselves before we worry about other countries problems. I think this would be beneficial because we have a lot of our own problems already.
ReplyDeleteI believe Switzerland should be our role model financially and politically. They are one of the richest countries in the world and have the highest wealth per adult. They do not go into war with other countries and they continue to be prosperous.
If we don’t make other countries angry, they leave us alone and they will not pose a threat. We should leave North Korea and Iran alone because how can we tell them to get rid of their nuclear weapons when we still have ours. We spend a lot of military power and money trying to fix the world’s problems when it isn’t even really helping us get anywhere. I disagree with Mary when she says that we should bomb Iran and North Korea’s nuclear plants. This would cause a mass destruction of life and many other countries that are now our friends will turn against us. I agree with Danika how she says we should watch North Korea and be prepared.
I agree with trying to help Iraq maintain peace and create their new government. History shows that when you leave a country in turmoil that it gives open way for any person to take over and become a dictator. This was shown after WWI, when Adolf Hitler took over Germany. When we came in and destroyed Iraq’s old government, it is our duty to help grow and maintain their new government.
Concerning the China issue, I think we should keep trading with them because they are our main provider of cheap products to buy and we are one of their main providers of resources. If either of us quit trading with each other, then both economies will suffer. They have 20 percent of the world’s population but only 7 percent of its resources; therefore we can provide resources for them.
Ideally the United States should adopt the political ideology philosophy of foreign policy and work with the other countries to better the world as a whole. However, because so many countries are based on the realpolitik philosophy and only think of themselves, the United States could only do so much with the political ideology. Lately the unipolar system the United States seems to have been using is working but we don’t have the funds to continue it and allowing another superpower such as China take over the system won’t continue to prosper like it has with the United States. China, for example, would only focus on helping themselves versus rebuilding other countries after a war like the United States has with many countries such as Iraq.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to foreign relations in countries such as Iraq and North Korea, I think the United States approach is reasonable and should be continued. In Iraq the war is over and the troops the United States still has in the area are there to help the people rebuild their country and make sure that peace remains. In North Korea we should continue to try to persuade Kim Jong-un to stop creating the nuclear weapons and if he continues to threaten us we will eventually need to take action to destroy the weapons before they start another war. Only more strife will be the result of any military action with North Korea, but we can’t just sit back and wait until they strike at us or any neighboring countries.
I agree with Emily when she says that the government jumps at the chance to spend a bunch of money, for a good cause, but it’s not good for our own country’s well being. However, as true as this statement is, the world has a delicate balance among the nations. If every single country becomes set on the realpolitik stance and only looks after themselves, the balance will begin to fail. Our system of trading with other countries is what sustains us, we don’t need to trade as much as we do, but stopping trade all together is not the best plan either. The world needs to work together and create the perfect balance of sustaining each other and maintaining peace.
I choose foreign policy number one, realism to preserve our nation’s best interest, because not many counties care for our best interest but we care for everyone else’s. I think we need to finally care for ourselves. I agree with Emily when she says “I think that the United States is too involved in foreign wellbeing, when we should be more concerned with our own.”
ReplyDeleteThe problem in North Korea and Iran is to reduce nuclear weapons, so we, the U.S., need to reduce as well to make North Korea and Iran do the same. This will reduce risk of harm everywhere. North Korea today is in a very isolated, communist government, so if they were a little more open the U.N. would not be pressuring them so much they want to blow everyone up. North Korea has been accused of human right violations, tradition of detaining foreigners, and failure to denuclearize; for these reasons the U.S. needs to step in calmly to decrease the threat of North Korea blowing everything up for foolish reasons. We need to limit our and Russia’s nuclear power in order
Iran is about the same, the only difference is they would most likely use their nuclear weapons as a terrorist attack, and hurt innocent bystanders in the process. In my opinion, I feel that Iran is more dangerous than North Korea, because Iran has part of a religion that wants to ‘destroy the west’. The west is Europe and the United States. They can defiantly do some damage.
In conclusion, I think that the U.S. needs to mind its own business and withdraw our alliances that are making our country worse and that would not help us if we needed it.
The United States of America is a big country. A country that many other countries look to for help, a country that other countries look to when they need government help. We need to make sure that we are able to help them in that way, but the only way we can do this is if we fix the problems we have before we go to help other countries. The best philosophy for this would be Realism or Realpolitik and also Idealism. Our priorities should be to make the U.S a better country, getting out of debt mainly. But we shouldn’t cut off all of our alliances or cease to help other countries.
ReplyDeleteThe first philosophy that I will talk about is Realism or Realpolitik. This philosophy is mainly about helping your own country stronger or better. This may sound selfish but I believe this is a good idea. The United States is constantly helping out other countries, which is great, but we are in a trillion dollar debt to China. I don’t think we are in a very good spot to be lending out money. We need to be more focused on getting the U.S out of debt before we go lending other countries money. The United States is a country whom everyone looks up too. As Emily said “Tax payers’ money is being sent across the ocean instead of helping to improve things here.” We need to start paying back our debt before we lend other countries money. This is why I believe Realism is one of the best choices.
Then there’s idealism. I also believe that we should have idealism. We have an alliance we Israel that we shouldn’t break. Both countries have similar beliefs. As Danika said in her final paragraph, “We both believe in “commitment to democracy, the rule of law, freedom of religion and speech and human rights […], AIPAC.org (American Israel Public Affairs Committee)”. We have many similarities. Why would we want to cut our alliance with them? They are an influence to us just as we are to them. As Mary explained North Korea has nuclear weapons in their possession. They have threatened to use them on us and other countries. If we try to stop North Korea from doing this, we would be helping the world. With problems that concern the world I think we should have a basic understanding what other countries do in order to do what is best for each country. This is why I believe we should include Idealism.
In conclusion, I believe we should have both Realism and Idealism. We have a massive debt. We need to start paying more attention to that debt instead of getting mixed up in other countries business when they don’t ask for it. Our money problem needs to be dealt with before we go out lending other countries money. But we also need Idealism. We can still help other countries, if it doesn’t involve money. If we join with other countries and discuss what would be the best way to help each country, we can make the nation stronger and more peaceful. A mix of both Realism and Idealism is best because we maintain peace but we can also start working on our out-of-hand debt.
The US sees itself as a keeper of the peace in recent years, though its motives have usually been internal, and for the benefit of our own country. Through this we see that the US has a Real Politik approach to the world, and I agree with this because the US doesn’t have the right to be involved in the decisions of other countries, unless it involves the well-being of our own country.
ReplyDeleteNorth Korea is a country currently hostile to the US, and the US is yet to respond. I think, because of the Realism approach, that we should respond if necessary, peacefully if possible. I agree with Emily when she says “I do not agree with Mary when she said that we should just bomb their nuclear plants and destroy their weapons” because that would piss them off quite a bit and make them enemies of the US for as they are in existence.
Another country the US is involved in is Iran, unlike North Korea, Iran’s motives for attacking the US are religious, and are unlikely to be settled with quiet discussion. This is a tricky situation because the government is also based on their religion, and is supporting the terrorist activities of the Shi’a. I think the US should stick with our Real Politik approach and act on the defensive, should Iran act with military action.
I agree with Mary, in that, I believe that the US should remain involved in world affairs and that all of the foreign policies have a use, as all countries need to be treated according to the various circumstances of their policies and behaviors.
ReplyDeleteA completely necessary component of foreign is that of assisting other countries which are in need of assistance. The major excuse against assisting other countries is our current debt, but the actual amount of the federal budget given to foreign aid is only about one percent. For 2012 the total budget was about 3.18 trillion dollars, so do the math, this means that if we dedicate the whole budget for aid to reducing the debt, it would take us one-hundred years to remove one-sixth of our debt. This is also not including that we are constantly gaining debt, and interest on the debt, and interest on the interest of the debt… So, not only is this excuse wrong, it goes against the basic morals of the Christian religion. There are numerous references for giving to the poor. I have heard many times people say that other nation’s poverty isn’t our problem, well if you are a Christian, that statement is wrong. Deuteronomy 15:7-11 “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be”, Proverbs 29:2 “Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.” These verses both point out that it is God’s command we give to the poor, and these examples don’t even tap into the commands Jesus made in the New Testament. Foreign aid is a necessary part of foreign policy.
Granted peace is always the goal of any foreign relation, war is still necessary in this fallen world. More often now war has become a threat than a last resort. Currently Syria was found to have used chemical weapons. Chemical weapons have been outlawed in numerous war conventions including the Geneva conventions after WWI. Obama has also laid down several lines that cannot be crossed but the Syrian president keeps sticking his toes over the line. The Syrian president is like a toddler seeing how much he can get away with without getting in trouble. Instead of following up on any punishment, Obama has been too afraid of his own threat of war to help the rebels in Syria. War, granted its costs, has many good out comes and in many ways it acts as a defibulator for the world. With WWII as an example, even though we were in the great depression, factories grew immensely to provide for the large demand for machinery. It also solved the problem that humanity had with the actions of the holocaust. War may be costly but the benefits of the possible results make war a reasonable last resort.
I believe the U.S. should adopt the philosophy of idealism or political ideology. This is the belief that it is possible to construct an international political system based on mutual cooperation between all nations based on their common interest. I believe that if we stop posing as a threatening nation, we would have a lot fewer enemies. Of course there is never going to be a time where every single country gets along but, if the United States were to focus on better ourselves rather than focusing on everyone else’s problems we would be much closer to harmony then if we were to continue how we are.
ReplyDeleteOne of the countries I will be discussing is China. We are almost 17 trillion dollars in debt and the majority of it is to China. If they wanted, China could take us over right now. We need to reconsider how we view China. There are pros and cons of trading and relying so much on China. I think we should start to modify our trading routines from being outside our country so much to trying to provide for ourselves by ourselves. If we continue to depend on China so much, we give them the key to our government; they will be able to manipulate us just by threatening to overrun us. I’m not saying that we should become hostel toward them if fact, exact opposite of that. We need to continue to be friendly toward them and try to pay off our debt even if it’s just a little each year. This will keep a calm relationship while helping us start providing for ourselves again.
Recently, North Korea has been a rising threat toward the United States. The infamous Kim Jung-Un has been making serious threats to destroy the United States. I completely disagree with Mary when she says that we should just bomb their nuclear plants and destroy their weapons. This is a horrible idea. Bombing them just opens up a door to nuclear war and nobody wants that. We have already seen the effects the nuclear power has, just look at Chernobyl. It will be contaminated for millions of years. I don’t think we should just ignore the threats but all we can do is keep a close eye on their every move and be prepared for the worst. I think the threats from North Korea are empty threats because if they were to bomb us, they just made it ok for anyone to bomb them back. We need to cut off any ties to North Korea and continue with our lives here. There isn’t anything else we can do.
There are many more countries that we need to look at and decide how to react to them. I believe if we try to keep calm when dealing with China, North Korea and all the other countries that we will be much better off. Peace is contagious. Yes there will be the few radical countries that want to take over the world but if we all work together, we can stop them humanly. We need to realize that when we talk about a country we’re not just talking about a piece of land millions of miles away, we’re talking about people just like you and I. I’m willing to bet that they want consideration and respect just as much as we do. The best thing to do now is keep calm and carry on.
The United States is one of the major countries in the world. It is often said that if the U.S. goes down then the rest of the world would then follow. With that I think the United States should primarily focus on its own economy before trying to stick our nose into everyone else’s business. I think that our country should take the “Realism” or “Realpolitik” solution when dealing with foreign policy.
ReplyDeleteThe philosophy of Realism is “a view that, when applied to world politics, assumes that nations preserve their vital interests (such as their security) by whatever means they have.” I believe this should be our main focus, and I agree with Emily in that we should first focus on our own well being before we waste all our money on all the problems of foreign countries which has no benefits for our country. We should keep American tax dollars inside our country in order to first build up our own economy before we help other countries. Also if we have a strong economy then all the other countries will also benefit from us as well.
North Korea is becoming a major threat against us lately. Many reports are that they are stockpiling nuclear weapons and are planning on attacking the U.S. The United States has ordered North Korea to stop developing nuclear weapons. If the North Korea is planning on nuking us who thinks they will listen when we tell them to stop making weapons? I agree with Danika in that the only thing we can do is watch them carefully and prepare ourselves. I disagree with Mary in that we should just bomb North Korea’s weapons. That would not solve anything and it would just make them even more angry at us. When dealing with North Korea the only thing the U.S. should worry about is our national security.
In dealing with Israel the United States needs to continue in upholding our alliance with them. We have always been allies with Israel and even though supporting them is not really benefitting us. It also is not harming us and not that much money is spent in helping Israel. Also if we leave Israel it will create a whole lot of new problems instead of solving any. In the Bible God also calls for us to protect His country. "And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed." Genesis 12:3.
I think the Unites States should adopt the realism or real politics method. The United States today is very involved in other countries problems and governments. The United States needs to spend more time dealing with our own problems while still maintaining a good relationship with the other countries of the world. I agree with Emily and I think we should use our considerably means to protect our own countries well-being instead of pouring all our money into other countries problems. Two countries we are having problems with are North Korea and Afghanistan. North Korea is threatening us with nuclear weapons. They are making these threats against us because we are requiring them to get rid of their nuclear weapons program. Afghanistan is home to the Taliban which harbors terrorists and also funds them. We currently have troops in Afghanistan to try and put a stop to terrorism. In conclusion we need to stop putting so much effort into other countries problems and start paying more attention to our own.
ReplyDeleteI believe “Realism”/“Realpolitik” should play a part in our foreign policy. I agree with Emily that our country is way to involved in foreign affairs. However when other country's become a threat we do need to get involved and stop the problem before innocent people get hurt. we are spending much needed money on other countries. For instance I think it was good that we stepped in and delt with the problems in Iraq, but now we are just wasting money and need to pull our armed forces out of the country.
ReplyDeleteWe cant just pick fights with country's or then it will never end. We need to just use realism and preserve our interests. our country's safety is number one, but part of that is not starting problems and by that I mean if there is an issue with another country solve the problem the fastest,cheapest, and easiest way so not to waste tax payers money. Especially when we are in this much debt.
North Korea has been making nuclear missile threats and the options are simple. Either go to war and destroy the nuclear weapons and ruin many lives as well as spend millions of dollars or stay at the mercy of them. I agree with Danika that that simply telling them what to do isn't going to work , but the cost of war is much to high. So we should keep a close eye on them and be prepared for anything. If we show them we have the power and the resources that they don't. They will have no choice but to back down.
I think we should adopt the Unipolar System for two reasons, the first one being that the U.S. needs to focus on helping ourselves out of debt instead of trying to help the other countries. Secondly, we will be able to gain more by taking a more powerful approach toward foreign policy.
ReplyDeleteIf the U.S. continues to spend as it does we will never be able to dig ourselves out of the hole of tremendous debt we are already in. This policy would make us take more of a "worry about me" approach and allow us to start chipping away at this debt. I know that we have many allies and they all are in need of help but so are we and at some point they have to understand that we don't have the means to support them or even ourselves at the moment. I understand that this will hurt the U.S. too but even if we lose some allies in the long run I think this is our best chance at obtaining stability as a nation. President Obama is trying to please everyone and keep peace and that is totally understandable but he needs to realize all he's doing is killing our chances of getting out of this debt.
If we adopt the Unipolar system then we would assume a dominating position in trade and that would allow us to get better deals in trade for not only us but for our allies to try to help them out also. I'm not implying that we cheat out all the other countries but I am saying that we should be able to get fair trade prices because of the power we hold as a nation.
the unipolar system in all reality has many flaws but one thing I know for sure is that it would be the foreign policy that would get us out of debt the fastest (not that it would even be all that fast).
If we adopted this policy then we would have more leverage against north Korea and maybe then we could get Kim Jun Il to back down with his nuclear weapons. also we could get more allies that would also bug him to drop the program. That would take away form a lot of the tension there is in foreign relations right now.
Danika and Emily both said that we should keep our alliance with Israel because it would be easier to just pay them and keep them on our side then it would be to lose them. I also agree with this even though I think we should stop giving money to countries. I say this because we have so many enemies in that area that we can't really afford to lose them as an alliance. Not that I am afraid that they would join up with some of our other enemies there but because we have enough enemies as it is over there and to my knowledge we don't give them all that much money.
in conclusion, I know that the Unipolar system has many flaws but what policy doesn't? In my opinion it best fits the needs we have and gives us the quickest fix possible for our national debt crisis.
Our country’s foreign policy structure is a joke. We live in a “dog eat dog” world and we are trying to play “baby sitter” to every country that isn’t doing exceptionally well. I believe very strongly in the “realism/realpolitik approach. We need to take care of ourselves first because if we don’t, our current state of vulnerability will most certainly come to a dangerous point. This is not to say that I don’t believe in fair play and cooperation with other nations (political ideology), I am just able to see that the world isn’t candy land with gumdrop mountains and dancing bears. The real world doesn’t stop to help you if you fall down, it keeps on going. The ONLY time we should be helping others is when we can afford to part with that money forever. “Neither a borrower nor a lender be”. This is the approach we need to take with our foreign aid policies. When it comes to issues like defending other countries against threats from nations such as North Korea and the Middle East area, we need to stay out of it. Unless they are directly threatening the U.S.A., or in some cases a formidable and useful ally nation, we shouldn’t get involved.
ReplyDeleteThe reason our great nation continues to dig this growing hole is simple: we care too much. This probably sounds mean, but you’ll get over it you big sissy. I know Mrs. Draayer has pointed out several times in class that we are called to help others, and in an ideal world this all sounds terrific and dandy, but this reasoning has one crippling flaw. How can we prosper and grow as a nation when we spend billions upon billions of dollars defending a country (Iraq) that A.) Is pretty much a useless ally B.) Doesn’t appreciate our efforts C.) Has nothing to offer us in return. We weren’t even involved in the beginning of that war! Hussein was terrorizing his own people and he ruled with an iron fist. The people didn’t have much, but the nation did fairly well. There was absolutely no reason to get involved. After 9/11, then it became OUR problem and I back that decision 100%, but getting involved in the first place was stupid. I am not trying to attack Mrs. Draayer’s point of view, I am merely examining what I believe to be little “holes” in the logic. (No disrespect intended) The North Korea situation is a bit different. At first I thought, who cares if they wipe out a bunch of people and become a world power. This was an error on my part, however, because if they wipe out South Korea we are going to have some big problems. Now on top of threatening to wipe South Korea off the face of the globe, they keep pointing nukes at us and are trying to agitate us. I actually think we need to get more involved here. The United Nations getting together and telling North Korea to “stop all the nuke threats” is like Tom Tucker telling Peter Griffin to “stay out of that ice cream”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_232OsC4gE
It is ridiculous. We need to stay on top of this issue before it gets out of and we lose control of the situation. If they threaten us we threaten them right back. If they attack, we attack as well. We cannot take this lightly. We need to be better at handling these kinds of situations.
I agree with Lisa’s statement about how we should handle our debt to China. Limiting trade to help pay off debts is a great start to rebuilding this nation’s financial security, and at this point in time, financial security is a coveted position that we haven’t quite achieved yet.
In conclusion, I believe we need to stop helping others until we have our own heads above water. We need to keep a defensive and cautious stance when it comes to national security. We need a better plan to reduce debt. Finally, we need to come together as a nation. We need some American pride up in here! If we do all of these things, Peter will think twice about chancing some ice cream.
The following post is from Josh Stein ...
ReplyDeleteOur country has had a very unique history as one of the first countries to be created almost exclusively by immigrants, that being said the original immigrants who came and made this country have become people of their own geographic and out of many one has arisen: american. We as a country now have our own agendas and problems to deal with, helping other countries become countries with as many benefits as us is a very nice dream but that is what it is. If we do not deal with our own problems we may lose some of the freedoms we enjoy, and that is a very distressing thought, we need to deal with our own problems even at the expense of other countries. For those reasons I think we need to follow the "realism" or "real politick" policies.
Part of what makes our country so great is the fact that we do enjoy a better standard of living than most people in the world, skeptically.org records that we are #10 on the HDI. that is very high considering the number of countries on our planet. We still need to focus on our economy and try to reform and improve the failing systems and our crushing debt problems. We are almost 17 trillion dollars in debt and we are spending our money on helping other countries that will in all probability not pay us back.
One of our main issues with this is our involvement in Israel and our monetary support of their country. We have been sending money to help keep the jewish people from being invaded and their country being taken, am I saying this is a bad thing, no. I still think that we should assist needing countries just not on the scale we are doing right now.
I disagree with Mary on how we should deal with countries that are aggravated with us, instead of just bombing them we should focus on improving our defenses and stop interfering with them and that would remove much of the anger from their dealings with us. Not to mention the effects of bombing nuclear plants would induce, the cons would far outweigh the pros.
I conclude by saying that we as Americans should focus on our own problems and stop spending so much of our money and attention of foreign affairs. To do this we should follow the Realism approach.
The following is from Brant ...
ReplyDeleteI believe realism and real politik is the best way to run our country. Realism and real politik pretty much states that we should just mind our own business and use our own resources and take care of our own skin.
We should be relying on our own resources to get us by before we rely on other countries business. If we want this country to run better than it is we need to buy and use our own resources so we can make money. When we buy from other countries our money goes to them, but when we buy from our own country then our money circulates through the US and it is still our money. So we profit in two ways from this. I agree with Lisa than we should adopt realism. It will help us preserve our own interests and help our country prosper like it should.
With Korea posing a nuclear threat I believe that we should stay prepared to defend ourselves. I don’t think we should just jump into way with them, we are already finishing a war and the cost of another way right now would not help our debt situation either. I think Danika’s quote was good “maybe their bark is worse than their bite” but regardless it doesn’t hurt to be ready.
The following is from Brandon ...
ReplyDeleteI believe the U.S. should have a Real Politik view when interacting with the countries of the world. This would result in a Unipolar system with the U.S. on top, and as long as we don’t oppress the lesser countries I believe that this is the best system we can achieve. The Political Ideology would be the most effective in keeping peace, because everyone would be equal.
The following comment is from CJ ...
ReplyDeleteI believe that the philosophy that should be added is realism/realpolitik and worry bout whats needs to be done here.
I believe this because we are into too much right now and we have problems of our own that are not being handled the way the should. We are so into other countries, that we are not doing a very good job handling our own problems. China is an example of this. China is an example because we are in great debt, not just with china, and the deficit is not going anywhere but up. I think that we should try and start paying off our debts before it would be impossible to do, not that its pretty close already. We have aided people in war even though they could handle themselves. We are still there even though the world is over. We should not be there doing nothing but being a police or come to for questions. They should just handle things for themselves.
I agree with Emily when she says that we shouldnt blow up North Koreas nuclear facilities. I agree with this statement and the one that says it would kill many civilians. Killing civilians could lead to a horrible war and be heavily deadly. Another war for the U.S. would or could be devastating. We should just deal with our problems in our country because we have plenty to deal with.
We have lots of problems in our own country, we dont need to deal with everybody else's problems as well. The bombing at Boston was a devastating time and was unnecessary in many ways. I hope the people who set the bombs got what they deserved and more if necessary.
The realism foreign policy approach when it is applied means a nation preserves its vital interests by whatever means they have. I think the US has been following this approach but we have gone outside of what is vital for our nation.
ReplyDeleteIf we look at our situation with Iran we wanted to step in and try to establish a democracy and to put a leader in power that was willing to work with the US. The leader in Iran kept ties with Nazi Germany after WW2, so the country already filled with extremist Muslims would be led by a leader who kept ties with people who just got their butt kicked by America so of course the Nazis would want to get back at the US. The Muslims also hate the US so that would be a country full of extremists and anti-Americans, I think stepping in was defiantly an interest in our own security.
The reason why America has stepped in to places like Iraq and North Korea is because those countries do not like America and are armed with weapons of mass destruction. I’m glad we are looking at their nuclear programs and trying to shut them down because I don’t want countries willing to shoot off those weapons to have them. It probably sounds hypocritical for the US to say get rid of your nukes and we’ll keep ours but the reason we had nukes in the first place is because we wanted to make sure that someone picked a fight with us we have the bigger guns so we will win. These counties aren’t showing the same behavior. Iran is dominantly extremist Muslims who are taught that America is a monster their religion says that their sole purpose in life is to destroy the infidels and western civilization. 9/11 their attacked demonstrated to us that they are willing to attack us.
Our problem is we spend a lot of money on countries that are not threatening us but also aren’t helping us. They expect us to just help without them returning these countries are not vital so we need stop being the police for these countries. I agree with Dylan that this is a “Dog eat dog” world countries that can’t take care of themselves are not doing us any good and we have our own problems so those countries need to find a way to take care of themselves. I know as Christians we should help those in need but there are people in need in our own country, we should be focusing on them.
Foreign policy is tricky but we need to be focusing on protecting our own people and morals before we go spending our resources on countries that are doing us no good. And I think spending money on keeping countries with the wrong intent from getting weapons of mass destruction and who are willing to attack us is money well spent.
The following is from Collin ...
ReplyDeleteI think that we should adopt the Realism policy. We need to protect our own people and worry about our country’s security before we worry about anybody else. We may have to make some rough relationships in order to do that but we can’t put or people in jeopardy to help other countries. Our economy suffers from spending money on helping other countries when we have needs of our own that are not met.
The problem with Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan is a direct threat to our nation’s security with threats of terrorism to the United States. I agree with Mary in saying that we need to use force when dealing with countries like Iran and North Korea. This problem needs to be dealt with in military force and not a political agreement. The terrorists hate America and will not come to an agreement. We should take down Al Qaeda and show them they cannot mess with us, which will also discourage any other groups or countries from wanting to start anything with us.
We currently support Israel in their progress of being independent from Palestine. This is all morally good and all, but it is not our fight to get into. We need to stop spending money on helping with foreign affairs and use it for things we need here especially when we are 17 trillion dollars in debt. We also risk American soldier’s lives when we use our military to help other countries that aren’t even a threat to us. People might get mad and question morals saying that’s not the right thing to do, but honestly that’s not how the world works.
The following is from McKenzie ...
ReplyDeleteThere are many different philosophies on how a country should approach foreign policy. I believe the United States should follow the Realism view or the Realpolitik view. This means that we need to worry about the United States and our own needs first before helping other countries. I believe this because we have many unemployed people needing help. We have a large national debt. Instead of spending money on helping the people here in our own country, the United States is spending money on other countries or on things that are not a priority. We need to take care of our national debt and our citizens before spending money on helping other countries. We are helping other countries with their wars, but yet have tragic events happening in our own country.
One country that we are dealing with is North Korea. North Korea has a communist government and is threatening the United States with nuclear attacks. The U.S. is concerned over North Korea’s failure to denuclearize. Because the U.S. is telling North Korea what to do, they are responding in a destructive way. The United States, if we followed a Realism approach, would not get involved with North Korea and their issues. I do not agree with Mary in her idea of bombing nuclear weapon systems. I think we should focus on our own problems. We need to protect ourselves, but not invite trouble.
Another country that the United States is involved with is Afghanistan. Afghanistan went through a communist revolution in 1978. The United States took sides with rebels who wanted to overthrow the communist government. Currently, we are still involved in helping the Civil War in Afghanistan. The U.S. wants to get rid of the terrorists. We have been involved for a long time and have spent a lot of money helping the rebels. I do not think we should still have troops in Afghanistan because it does not seem to be helping.
I think that the US should start to focus on itself more often than trying to help everyone else out. Because when we try to help everyone else out we end up doing something that they don’t need and they get mad, so in the end it doesn’t help us in any way. The US should worry only about itself and be a strictly depending on itself country. I agree with Collin when he says that we should adopt the realism policy and start to focus on our country and fix what’s wrong with us before we worry about anyone else. There are many countries trying to attack us and mess up our security, this is one reason I believe we shouldn’t have helped them in the first place.
ReplyDelete