(from Stephen Walt)
#1: You frequently
find yourself advocating that the United States send troops, drones,
weapons, Special Forces, or combat air patrols to some country that you
have never
visited, whose language(s) you don't speak, and that you never paid much
attention to until bad things started happening there.
#2: You tend to argue that the United States is morally
obligated to "do something" rather than just stay out of nasty
internecine
quarrels in faraway lands. In the global
classroom that is our digitized current world, you believe that being a
bystander -- even thousands of miles away -- is as bad as being the
bully. So you hardly ever find yourself saying that "we should sit this
one out."
#3: You think globally and speak, um, globally. You are quick to condemn human rights
violations by other governments, but American abuses (e.g., torture, rendition,
targeted assassinations, Guantánamo, etc.) and those of America's allies get a pass. You worry privately (and correctly) that
aiming your critique homeward might get in the way of a future job.
#4: You are a strong proponent of international law, except
when it gets in the way of Doing the Right Thing. Then you emphasize its limitations and
explain why the United
States doesn't need to be bound by it in this case.
#5: You belong to the respectful chorus of those who
publicly praise the service of anyone in the U.S. military, but you would
probably discourage your own progeny from pursuing a military career.
#6. Even if you don't know very much about military history,
logistics, or modern military operations, you are still convinced that military
power can achieve complex political objectives at relatively low cost.
#7: To your credit, you have powerful sympathies for anyone
opposing a tyrant. Unfortunately, you
tend not to ask whether rebels, exiles, and other anti-regime forces are trying
to enlist your support by telling you what they think you want to hear. (Two words: Ahmed Chalabi.)
#8. You are convinced
that the desire for freedom is hard-wired into human DNA and that Western-style
liberal democracy is the only legitimate form of government. Accordingly, you believe that democracy can
triumph anywhere -- even in deeply divided societies that have never been democratic
before -- if outsiders provide enough help.
#9. You respect the
arguments of those who are skeptical about intervening, but you secretly
believe that they don't really care about saving human lives.
#10. You believe that
if the United States does not try to stop a humanitarian outrage, its credibility as
an ally will collapse and its moral authority as a defender of human rights will
be tarnished, even if there are no vital strategic interests at stake.
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