eternal return

Robert Kagan's monthly Washington Post column appeared today and it is sobering yet worthwhile reading.

Here is the email I wrote him in response:*



"Mr. Kagan,

I was intrigued to read your column in the Washington Post today. Having graduated from Georgetown and spent most of my summer in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, I can confirm that many in the region agree with you: Democrat, Republican, it's all the same. But it is not necessarily the recurring doctrine of military engagement (the characteristically American 'belief in the utility and even justice of military action,' as you put it) that accounts for their defeated indifference. Rather, many are repelled by American policy in the region since, quite simply, the birth of Israel: the birth then of one of the most sturdy alliances in the post-World War II era.

The unquestioning American support for the state of Israel since its formation is, in the opinion of many Arabs I met, further substantiation to your claim that '[h]istorically, and especially in the six decades since the end of World War II, there has been much more continuity than discontinuity' in our American foreign policy. In the opinion of more than a few people in the region, this is America's great downfall.

Simply my observations.

So, it seems that at least there is some type of consensus. What you have predicted is a devastating possibility, indeed -- that when this new Congress is elected, then when this rogue administration is finally laid to rest, and, perhaps much later, whenever this disastrous military campaign finally ceases ('when the smoke [quite literally] clears,') you, the rest of the world, and I will still see 'much the same America.' "

Here I do not intend to take a position on the justifications for the relationship between the US and Israel, one way or the other. I am just pointing out that we are each disenchanted with American policy for different reasons. What we have in common is understanding the Democrats and Republicans in a relativist and almost apathetic fashion.
The politicians and policymakers seem to do the same things over and over.
The eternal return.
However, while the basic ideology may remain the same, this administration has created some very new and alarming problems in its implementation.



*My logic: if he doesn't read it -- and I was already shafted by a semi-celebrated intellectual this week -- at least you, my loyal fan base, will.