Tweet
All presidential candidates prior to election time outline their views on foreign policy and future actions they are willing to take. How extensively presidential campaigns focus on foreign policy issues varies according to the global momentum and pre-existing, if at all, circumstances that affect the nation directly. This year's elections are again stigmatized by issues that have long tormented the last two administrations such as the war in Iraq, the search for a foreign policy for Iran, the impacts of the global market on U.S. economy and of course the war on terror.
Both major parties' presidential candidates have partially expressed their views on foreign policy and have painted an eloquent picture of their aspirations. Nevertheless, it is important to know how the candidates have formed their opinions, who are the people that inspire and advise them. It is important not only because the knowledge of motives will be revealing when the time comes for these politicians to take action, but because the Armenian community needs to be informed as to what they should expect from each candidate and how their expectations regarding Armenian issues can be met by casting that ballot vote.
The McCain Team
Beginning with Senator McCain's group of advisors, one has to admit that it is an interestingly peculiar one; the team is comprised by two factions and one person standing in the middle.
The first faction includes Robert Kagan and William (Bill) Kristol. Both are founders of the Project for the New American Century, a neo-conservative letterhead group. Neo-conservative thought is a phenomenon of the 90's that found an outlet for expression after consecutive administration failures and flaws within the foreign policy spectrum. It advocates for more interference in global issues and specifically does not hesitate to call for military intervention. Neo-conservatives believe that American hegemony is the only reliable defense against a breakdown of peace and international order.
Robert Kagan is a monthly columnist on international affairs for the Washington Post, a contributing editor at the New Republic, and a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he focuses on international relations and security issues. He is well-known for his fierce criticism towards President Clinton on the Yugoslavian conflict, upon which he claimed “U.S. troops were bored and did almost nothing over there”.
His motto is interventionism. In an article, entitled “The Next Intervention,” published by the Washington Post in August 2007, Kagan perceived the world as divided between the “great democracies of our world” that should act as global watch-dogs and the communist and theocratic states that he calls monsters.
Kagan's views also entail a more active approach to military intervention; he thinks the U.S. should step into the conflicts more actively and not withdraw from those it has already engaged in. What's more, he has expressed an opinion that could prove very dangerous if applied--that the use of force could be based on a consensus among the world's great democratic nations. At the foundation of this position is the by-passing of international laws and legal procedures constituted by the United Nations and as a result, the by-passing of decade-long pure diplomatic cooperation among the vast majority of nations.
Despite the fact that Kagan has not expressed an opinion on Armenian issues, he believes that European conflicts, wherever these are, are of interest to the U.S. not a mere humanitarian basis and that all challenges should be met.
Kagan finds a strong supporter of his views in William Kristol who is the leader of the Project for the Republican Future, a conservative think-tank. Besides establishing a conservative periodical called The Weekly Standard, which he serves as editor for, he also is an op-ed writer for the New York Times. Kristol differs from the average Republican in the sense that he is considered to have launched the neo-conservative movement.
Kristol thinks Reagan was the ultimate American president; which explains part of his support towards John McCain, whom he sees as a new Reagan, and his fierce critique against President Bush. Senator McCain's statements were strengthened by Kristol's support for the war in Iraq--his was the most out-spoken supporting opinion--and his suggestions for tough sanctions against Iran. Kristol denounces President Bush for wanting to withdraw from Iraq and aligns U.S. interests with Israeli ones. On July 24, 2006 Kristol claimed in the Weekly Standard that “their [Israel's] war is our war too”
The other faction met within the McCain advisors are the realists; politicians and theorists who believe that relations between states are determined by a comparative level of power that derives primarily from their military and economic capabilities. Realists distrust long-term cooperation or alliances and consider security and survival to be the state's major concerns.
One of the realist advisors in McCain's camp is Colin Powell who focuses on Turkey and the Middle East. He considers Turkey a good friend and ally and was very satisfied with the state's cooperation on the Iraqi border issue. But this is not the only type of support he offers to Turkey; he believes the Middle East is Turkey's neighborhood as well and he would be content to see Turkey assuming a more active role in the area. He supported the country with its E.U. negotiations and was a great sponsor of the Annan plan (a U.N. plan for the Cyprus conflict resolution that, by and large, supported the Turkish-Cypriot side despite the huge violations of international law it perpetrated).
Apart from his pro-Turk convictions, during his service as Secretary of State under the first George W. Bush administration, he aspired to provide stability and security to Russia's Central Asian/Caucasus neighbors so that Russia would not find ground for threats against them. When it comes to human rights issues, even though he persistently denied calling the Armenian Genocide a genocide, he had no second thoughts calling the Sudan case a genocide and felt proud that the U.S. mobilized the international community to take action upon the issue.
The realist faction is completed by Brent Scowcroft, former National Security advisor under Ford and Bush Sr. Scowcroft is another Bush critic for the latter's handling of the Iraq invasion and the Arab-Israeli conflict. In an interview for the London Financial Times in 2004, he said that President Bush was mesmerized by Ariel Sharon, implying that the U.S. was too involved in Israel's affairs. He is strongly averse to pro-Armenian actions, something understandable if we look at his personal friendship with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and his chairmanship at the American Turkish Council.
In 2006, he held a meeting with Azerbaijan's president under the auspices of the Council of Foreign Relations of which he is a member. During the meeting, he stated that he is very happy that Azeri-U.S. relations have come a long way since the U.S. imposed sanctions against Azerbaijan because of the Nagorno-Karabakh war, upon which issue he openly supports Azerbaijan. His support for regimes that hostile to Armenia, however, does not end with Azerbaijan.
Scowcroft also happens to be a major advocate for financial assistance for Turkey directly from the U.S. government or via the International Monetary Fund. Last year, Scowcroft warned Dennis Hastert that even the discussion of the Armenian genocide on the floor of the House of Representatives would be counter-productive to U.S. interests, since it will pull Turkey away from the West.
The fifth non-factionist advisor is a well-known lobbyist named Randy Scheunemann who was recruited by Sen. McCain to bolster his arguments about Iraq. Scheunemann happens to be a former advisor to former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Scheunemann helped draft the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 that authorized $98 million in U.S. aid to Iraqi exile groups.
His current concerns develop around the promotion of former Soviet-bloc states in undertaking business using Iraq's reconstruction; hence he has accused Condoleezza Rice in the past of appeasement regarding the Russo-Georgian conflict. Nevertheless, he himself has been accused of belonging to a group of people who create threats to compel the U.S. to engage in new wars. Scheunemann lobbies for weapon-manufacturing and service-providing companies like Halliburton, Lockheed/Martin, Northrop Grumman Corp.--all companies that benefit from the use of military force by the U.S. government and its allies, including Turkey and Azerbaijan.
On July 23, 2004, Scheunemann visited Nagorno Karabakh as a member of a group of experts to present the “Project on Transitional Democracies” and the German Marshall Fund of the U.S. These two organizations work to realize the “Project on the Resolution of Europe's Frozen Conflicts”. Taking under consideration that he went there representing his company, Orion Strategies, which provides strategic planning, policy and consulting services to governments, corporate groups, foundations and private clients, Scheunemann seems to hold Karabakh's exploitation as future investment ground in his agenda. In Karabakh, he met with then Minister of Production Infrastructure Development, representatives from the Defense Ministry and Karabakh's civic sector and foreign businessmen who invest in the state's economy.
Finally, Sen. McCain's group is enhanced by Gen. Anthony Zinni as an unpaid advisor that offers his expertise in issues related to Iraq, the Kurdish problem and the Middle East.
Both major parties' presidential candidates have partially expressed their views on foreign policy and have painted an eloquent picture of their aspirations. Nevertheless, it is important to know how the candidates have formed their opinions, who are the people that inspire and advise them. It is important not only because the knowledge of motives will be revealing when the time comes for these politicians to take action, but because the Armenian community needs to be informed as to what they should expect from each candidate and how their expectations regarding Armenian issues can be met by casting that ballot vote.
The McCain Team
Beginning with Senator McCain's group of advisors, one has to admit that it is an interestingly peculiar one; the team is comprised by two factions and one person standing in the middle.
The first faction includes Robert Kagan and William (Bill) Kristol. Both are founders of the Project for the New American Century, a neo-conservative letterhead group. Neo-conservative thought is a phenomenon of the 90's that found an outlet for expression after consecutive administration failures and flaws within the foreign policy spectrum. It advocates for more interference in global issues and specifically does not hesitate to call for military intervention. Neo-conservatives believe that American hegemony is the only reliable defense against a breakdown of peace and international order.
Robert Kagan is a monthly columnist on international affairs for the Washington Post, a contributing editor at the New Republic, and a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he focuses on international relations and security issues. He is well-known for his fierce criticism towards President Clinton on the Yugoslavian conflict, upon which he claimed “U.S. troops were bored and did almost nothing over there”.
His motto is interventionism. In an article, entitled “The Next Intervention,” published by the Washington Post in August 2007, Kagan perceived the world as divided between the “great democracies of our world” that should act as global watch-dogs and the communist and theocratic states that he calls monsters.
Kagan's views also entail a more active approach to military intervention; he thinks the U.S. should step into the conflicts more actively and not withdraw from those it has already engaged in. What's more, he has expressed an opinion that could prove very dangerous if applied--that the use of force could be based on a consensus among the world's great democratic nations. At the foundation of this position is the by-passing of international laws and legal procedures constituted by the United Nations and as a result, the by-passing of decade-long pure diplomatic cooperation among the vast majority of nations.
Despite the fact that Kagan has not expressed an opinion on Armenian issues, he believes that European conflicts, wherever these are, are of interest to the U.S. not a mere humanitarian basis and that all challenges should be met.
Kagan finds a strong supporter of his views in William Kristol who is the leader of the Project for the Republican Future, a conservative think-tank. Besides establishing a conservative periodical called The Weekly Standard, which he serves as editor for, he also is an op-ed writer for the New York Times. Kristol differs from the average Republican in the sense that he is considered to have launched the neo-conservative movement.
Kristol thinks Reagan was the ultimate American president; which explains part of his support towards John McCain, whom he sees as a new Reagan, and his fierce critique against President Bush. Senator McCain's statements were strengthened by Kristol's support for the war in Iraq--his was the most out-spoken supporting opinion--and his suggestions for tough sanctions against Iran. Kristol denounces President Bush for wanting to withdraw from Iraq and aligns U.S. interests with Israeli ones. On July 24, 2006 Kristol claimed in the Weekly Standard that “their [Israel's] war is our war too”
The other faction met within the McCain advisors are the realists; politicians and theorists who believe that relations between states are determined by a comparative level of power that derives primarily from their military and economic capabilities. Realists distrust long-term cooperation or alliances and consider security and survival to be the state's major concerns.
One of the realist advisors in McCain's camp is Colin Powell who focuses on Turkey and the Middle East. He considers Turkey a good friend and ally and was very satisfied with the state's cooperation on the Iraqi border issue. But this is not the only type of support he offers to Turkey; he believes the Middle East is Turkey's neighborhood as well and he would be content to see Turkey assuming a more active role in the area. He supported the country with its E.U. negotiations and was a great sponsor of the Annan plan (a U.N. plan for the Cyprus conflict resolution that, by and large, supported the Turkish-Cypriot side despite the huge violations of international law it perpetrated).
Apart from his pro-Turk convictions, during his service as Secretary of State under the first George W. Bush administration, he aspired to provide stability and security to Russia's Central Asian/Caucasus neighbors so that Russia would not find ground for threats against them. When it comes to human rights issues, even though he persistently denied calling the Armenian Genocide a genocide, he had no second thoughts calling the Sudan case a genocide and felt proud that the U.S. mobilized the international community to take action upon the issue.
The realist faction is completed by Brent Scowcroft, former National Security advisor under Ford and Bush Sr. Scowcroft is another Bush critic for the latter's handling of the Iraq invasion and the Arab-Israeli conflict. In an interview for the London Financial Times in 2004, he said that President Bush was mesmerized by Ariel Sharon, implying that the U.S. was too involved in Israel's affairs. He is strongly averse to pro-Armenian actions, something understandable if we look at his personal friendship with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and his chairmanship at the American Turkish Council.
In 2006, he held a meeting with Azerbaijan's president under the auspices of the Council of Foreign Relations of which he is a member. During the meeting, he stated that he is very happy that Azeri-U.S. relations have come a long way since the U.S. imposed sanctions against Azerbaijan because of the Nagorno-Karabakh war, upon which issue he openly supports Azerbaijan. His support for regimes that hostile to Armenia, however, does not end with Azerbaijan.
Scowcroft also happens to be a major advocate for financial assistance for Turkey directly from the U.S. government or via the International Monetary Fund. Last year, Scowcroft warned Dennis Hastert that even the discussion of the Armenian genocide on the floor of the House of Representatives would be counter-productive to U.S. interests, since it will pull Turkey away from the West.
The fifth non-factionist advisor is a well-known lobbyist named Randy Scheunemann who was recruited by Sen. McCain to bolster his arguments about Iraq. Scheunemann happens to be a former advisor to former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Scheunemann helped draft the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 that authorized $98 million in U.S. aid to Iraqi exile groups.
His current concerns develop around the promotion of former Soviet-bloc states in undertaking business using Iraq's reconstruction; hence he has accused Condoleezza Rice in the past of appeasement regarding the Russo-Georgian conflict. Nevertheless, he himself has been accused of belonging to a group of people who create threats to compel the U.S. to engage in new wars. Scheunemann lobbies for weapon-manufacturing and service-providing companies like Halliburton, Lockheed/Martin, Northrop Grumman Corp.--all companies that benefit from the use of military force by the U.S. government and its allies, including Turkey and Azerbaijan.
On July 23, 2004, Scheunemann visited Nagorno Karabakh as a member of a group of experts to present the “Project on Transitional Democracies” and the German Marshall Fund of the U.S. These two organizations work to realize the “Project on the Resolution of Europe's Frozen Conflicts”. Taking under consideration that he went there representing his company, Orion Strategies, which provides strategic planning, policy and consulting services to governments, corporate groups, foundations and private clients, Scheunemann seems to hold Karabakh's exploitation as future investment ground in his agenda. In Karabakh, he met with then Minister of Production Infrastructure Development, representatives from the Defense Ministry and Karabakh's civic sector and foreign businessmen who invest in the state's economy.
Finally, Sen. McCain's group is enhanced by Gen. Anthony Zinni as an unpaid advisor that offers his expertise in issues related to Iraq, the Kurdish problem and the Middle East.
