President Bush's UN Speech

The headline on the Washington Post's transcript of President Bush's speech to the UN yesterday is utterly wrong: "At U.N., Bush Defends His Decision to Go to War". Um, he did that, yes. It was a pretty small and pro-forma defense, though, in a speech that is notable for much more. What President Bush has done, in essence, is to articulate a formula for a new world order, based on Thomas Barnett's PNM theory (connectivity trumps all, and we can end major wars and terrorism by developing the most disconnected countries), and an incredibly optimistic departure for someone who came into office as nearly an isolationist.

I'm not going to take apart Bush's speech in detail - no time - but I do want to note that Bush is laying out here a future for the world that is a radical departure from theories held by the US prior to 9/11, and by Europe to this day. Essentially, the President is trying to formulate a world in which the spread of democracy and economic opportunity is the duty and responsibility of the developed nations, in which health crises like AIDS and tuberculosis are treated by the developed nations in order to remove their economy-killing effects, and where the peace is largely kept by regional forces. It's a sweeping agenda, and well worth the read.

It is my hope that the President will make a series of speeches focusing on the various aspects of this agenda, and in particular that he will sell it to the other developed nations. It would be a far better approach than the Axis of Weasels' opportunism and cynicism, or China's attempts to imitate that, or Russia's increasing isolation and belligerance. For that matter, it would be a far better approach than Kerry's cut and run policy.