Our Problematic New Grand Strategy by Oliver DeMille

The power of a Grand Strategy can hardly be overstated. When a nation adopts a Grand Strategy, it dominates national policy and influences all national choices over time. Few, if any, policies go against or are even allowed to compete with the accepted Grand Strategy. And while not everyone knows what a Grand Strategy is, the intelligentsia of both parties tends to follow the Grand Strategy with the energy and passion of religious doctrine. They may disagree on many things, but they both adhere to the Grand Strategy. So what is the new Grand Strategy of the United States? The answers are outlined in an article by Zbigniew Brzezinski: "A New U.S. Grand Strategy: Balancing the East, Upgrading the West". Things have changed drastically over the past decade, Brzezinski assures us, and by 2012 a new Grand Strategy is overdue. The outlines of this new plan include the following: The "central focus" for the United States in the years ahead is threefold: (1) revitalize the U.S., (2) help the West expand, and (3) create a balance in the East that will allow China to successfully rise without becoming an enemy. The expansion of the West will create a democratic free zone from North America and Western Europe to a number of other nations, including Eastern Europe, Russian, Turkey, Japan and South Korea. In the East, U.S. power and influence will attempt to create a cooperative relationship between China and Japan and keep Chinese-Indian relations from turning to violent conflict. To accomplish all this, the U.S. must become a better "promoter and guarantor" of unity and simultaneously a "balancer and conciliator between the major powers of the East." To have any credibility in these roles, the U.S. must effectively "renovate itself at home." This requires, says Brzezinski, four things: (1) better innovation, (2) improved education, (3) a balance of American power and diplomacy, and (4) a better focus on quality political leadership in Washington. One of the most important changes ahead must be an effective improvement of relations between the United States and the European Union. The two sides of the Atlantic have been drifting apart since the fall of the Berlin Wall, but this trend must be reversed. Otherwise, growing conflicts between the United States, the European Union, and Russia could weaken the West and cause it to splinter and become increasingly pessimistic. This would also promote a more contentious China. The U.S. should decrease military power in Asia and emphasize increased cooperation with China. Taiwan will at some point have to reconcile in some way with China. Unfortunately, there are a number of problems with this new strategy. If this is the outline of the years ahead, the U.S. will definitely face an era of deepening international confusion and tension.
FREEDOM MATTERS - Oliver DeMille