The Insanity Builds

Some of the more lucid of you might remember back to ye olden days of 2002, when the Bush Administration propounded it's new-and-improved National Security Strategy of the United States. This was the document which codified the policy of preemption. That is, the United States would attack any power which grew to have the potential to threaten American rule. As Gwynne Dyer has summarized it, "this is called Hubris, and it is generally followed by Nemesis." It might sound ridiculous that a nation might commit to ruling the world until the end of time, but there you have it.

Well, hang on to your hats boys and girls, because the new National Defense Strategy of the United States is a doozy.

“Our strength as a nation state will continue to be challenged by those who employ a strategy of the weak focusing on international fora, judicial processes and terrorism,” it says.

Wow. Look at that for a second. There is the Defense Department of the United States, equating the International Criminal Court and the United Nations with terrorism. That's right everybody. Canada, signatory to the Ottawa Treaty and the Rome Treaty (land mines and the ICC) is now considered by the United States to be a nation on par with Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. After all, aren't we pursuing a "strategy of the weak"?

But now, let's look at these two documents in combination. The NSS of 2002 says the US will attack anyone who has the potential power to check their power. This new NDS says that any country that pursues a "strategy of the weak" is trying to check US power. How is this not a formula for global, permanent war?

I hope no one is getting too comfortable.
(Link via Billmon)