DIPLOMACY, SOME have argued, is a nicer way of conducting warfare. If that is the case then the Americans are right at home, having never learned well how to use diplomacy, to influence friends and persuade enemies.
This may well be because the Americans do not have centuries of practice in the art of diplomacy why their recent attempts at sorting out foreign policy complexities, have led to the easy resort to the use of 'bully diplomacy', as the first, rather than last option in negotiating tactics.
FAILED ATTEMPTS
This suggestion follows from their failed attempts to garner wider support in pre and post-Saddam Iraq, as well as the latest divide and rule tactics in seeking CARICOM support. It may not be a blunt return to the days of 'gunboat diplomacy', when an American gunship sailed in to the port of an unfriendly territory, and the American envoy then negotiated favourable treaties (to the U.S.A.). This 21st edition is akin to the early twentieth century one, except that now the better term may be 'air-strike diplomacy'. It has forcibly demonstrated that 'might means right' and that the bully with the biggest fist might not necessarily be bright but he can hurt you a lot.
Gone are multilateral solutions to intractable problems, and if the failed talks at Cancun, Mexico, are any indication, this may well be the way for the future, as the U.S. seems to believe that everyone is ganging up on them. When it's not "old Europe", then it's some CARICOM nation (who doesn't know on 'which side their bread is buttered'), or Brazil and other Latin American 'banana' republics, who are bent on challenging the new world order (as once espoused by George Bush Snr.).
BILATERAL TREATIES
The U.S. threats to enter bilateral treaties with those who are willing, while telling the rest to take the hindmost, may look foolish in light of current Iraqi realities of the enormous strain of being the major (I almost said sole) financial and military contributor but sometimes being a big bully you act before thinking. It is an exercise that may leave old friends alienated for a long time.
The massive U.S. trade deficit, incurred primarily because trade with countries like China, Japan and South Korea, proved to be not as successful as hoped. As a result, the U.S. has more to gain in keeping Caribbean countries happy (and its healthy trade surplus with the region) rather than 'browbeating' them.
From Seattle to Doha, to Cancun, these are interesting times ahead, for those who happen to wander in the path of the 'bully'.
