Stop and Frisk Internationally

Stephen Walt thinks "Stop and Frisk", the NYC Police policy which has just been ruled unconstitutional, has been adopted by us in our international affairs.

"It really is quite funny: The United States is still the world's strongest economy, and it has the world's most advanced and capable military forces, the world's most reliable nuclear deterrent, and no great powers nearby. Yet it finds itself chasing spooks and ghosts all over the world because it has somehow convinced itself that it is in fact very, very vulnerable. I'm not saying that no dangers exist, but hardly any pose a serious threat to the American way of life. Until the U.S. political system is able to calibrate these dangers in a more sensible way, the country is likely to continue chasing fantasies. And the tragic part is that many things the country is now doing may in fact be making these problems worse."