Militarism or Diplomacy?

Militarism or diplomacy? The president’s foreign policy perils and pitfalls examined By Brian E. Muhammad -Contributing Writer- | Last updated: Jan 7, 2014 - (FinalCall.com) - For President Obama 2013 was wrought with political woes at home and turmoil abroad. Though touted as a liberal Democrat, in contrast, observers say Obama’s foreign policies are as imperialistic as the Bush administration’s and in some ways more hawkish. drone-policy.jpg With the expansion of drone wars, Guantanamo Bay still open and revelations of a global spying apparatus that has targeted leaders of friendly governments, some believe the U.S. is an empire in decline and are interested in how he will handle looming foreign policy challenges in the year ahead. “I would have to characterize U.S. foreign policy in 2013 as a continuation of the policies that were laid out and agreed to under the Bush administration,” said Ajamu Baraka, veteran human rights activist and associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. Mr. Baraka said this will continue. Other analysts say that U.S. foreign policy has become more militarized under President Obama. “The U.S. Empire is still out there, but it’s significantly weaker in certain ways. One of the dangers is that as U.S. influence, economically, politically, diplomatically, culturally—as those fade…what’s left is the military and that’s very dangerous,” Phyllis Bennis, Director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC, told the Final Call. “It’s the old hammer and nail theory—if you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail,” she added. http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/National_News_2/article_101122.shtml