With Blair Gone, Japan, India Future U.S. Allies
Will Mannen
Issue date: 11/14/06 Section: Opinions
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Courage and tragedy are perfectly compatible. Tony Blair proved this last September when giving his final address before the Labour Party. As always, he stressed the need to be America's greatest ally, an issue that has nearly sunk his career.
One wonders why Blair went out on a limb for Bush. After all, Eisenhower didn't back Britain's invasion of the Suez. Harold Wilson didn't send troops to Vietnam. In the same vein, Blair could have just put some commandos in Kabul after September 11 and revved up for the ban on fox-hunting at home.
Yet Blair was first and foremost a liberal. He saw alliance with America as the only hope for Middle Eastern democracy, and he saw Middle Eastern democracy as the only hope for defeating extremism. In a sense, it's an outgrowth of his Third Way progressivism.
Blair, then, was the best of partners because he didn't just share a threat with the U.S. He actually advanced his own vision. More precisely, he personified the two qualities that the U.S. needs from its future allies: a willingness to promote the spread of liberal institutions, and a willingness to maintain sizeable defense expenditures.
Japan and India are the prime candidates for development as future allies. While guided currently by short-term interests, they could, down the road, emerge as democratic powers, not just powers that happen to be democracies.
Japan has long been cultivating an international role for itself, despite its pacifist constitution. It first sent peacekeepers to Namibia in 1989 and now deploys larger contingents in places like Iraq. It also provided the U.S. with logistical support during 2001's Afghan War.
Still, a dramatic change can only occur if Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is able to eliminate Article 9 and build up the country's forces. Some consider this goal flagrantly nationalistic, but that misses the point. Abe sees Japan as one of the world's great democracies, not a latter-day empire.
A fanged Japan wouldn't just work with the U.S. to contain North Korea. It would support a Blairist notion of progress. Its involvement in East Timor and Iraq, for instance, signals a commitment to failing states. Even its foreign aid program, Dan Blumenthal and Gray Schmitt point out in The Weekly Standard, will soon hinge on the democratic reforms of recipient nations.
One wonders why Blair went out on a limb for Bush. After all, Eisenhower didn't back Britain's invasion of the Suez. Harold Wilson didn't send troops to Vietnam. In the same vein, Blair could have just put some commandos in Kabul after September 11 and revved up for the ban on fox-hunting at home.
Yet Blair was first and foremost a liberal. He saw alliance with America as the only hope for Middle Eastern democracy, and he saw Middle Eastern democracy as the only hope for defeating extremism. In a sense, it's an outgrowth of his Third Way progressivism.
Blair, then, was the best of partners because he didn't just share a threat with the U.S. He actually advanced his own vision. More precisely, he personified the two qualities that the U.S. needs from its future allies: a willingness to promote the spread of liberal institutions, and a willingness to maintain sizeable defense expenditures.
Japan and India are the prime candidates for development as future allies. While guided currently by short-term interests, they could, down the road, emerge as democratic powers, not just powers that happen to be democracies.
Japan has long been cultivating an international role for itself, despite its pacifist constitution. It first sent peacekeepers to Namibia in 1989 and now deploys larger contingents in places like Iraq. It also provided the U.S. with logistical support during 2001's Afghan War.
Still, a dramatic change can only occur if Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is able to eliminate Article 9 and build up the country's forces. Some consider this goal flagrantly nationalistic, but that misses the point. Abe sees Japan as one of the world's great democracies, not a latter-day empire.
A fanged Japan wouldn't just work with the U.S. to contain North Korea. It would support a Blairist notion of progress. Its involvement in East Timor and Iraq, for instance, signals a commitment to failing states. Even its foreign aid program, Dan Blumenthal and Gray Schmitt point out in The Weekly Standard, will soon hinge on the democratic reforms of recipient nations.
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CG
posted 11/14/06 @ 7:37 PM EST
Tony Blair alos responded when asked by a member of his parliament why he soupports the war in Iraq that, "A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in. (Continued…)
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