Concerted Action on Global Problems
In a recent interview with Der Spiegel, the German weekly asked Henry Kissinger whether he thought the world would soon enter an era without major wars or conflicts. His response echoed the theme of his Harvard doctoral dissertation, in which he wrote upon the Congress of Vienna and the genesis of the 19th Century European Concert of Powers.
In his inimitable way he said: "I believe that Obama has a unique chance to conduct a peaceful American foreign policy. I do not see any conflicts between such major countries, China, Russia, India, and the U.S., which will justify a military solution. Therefore, there is an opportunity for a diplomatic effort. Moreover, the economic crisis does not permit countries to devote a historic percentage of their resources to military conflict. I am structurally more optimistic than a couple of years ago."
President Obama, sharply departing from the premises and practices of the Bush Administration, has crisscrossed the world, extended offers of collaboration, engaged both friends and adversaries, and called for concerted action to tackle the formidable economic, political, environmental and developmental challenges that our planet faces. His recurring theme: "The challenges of our time threaten the peace and prosperity of every single nation and no one nation can meet these challenges alone." In other words, they require common, concerted action - led by the major economies and political powers.
Obama's initial trips to West European capitals were designed to breathe new life into the traditional Euro-Atlantic partnership. The Ankara and Cairo speeches intended to separate the violent extremists such as Al Qaida from the rest of Islam. His Latin American policies, meanwhile, have offered a renewed partnership, north and south of the Panama Canal, based on mutual interests and common values. His recent trip to Russia aimed to prevent the two great powers from slipping back to hostilities in the manner of the Cold War.
At the G-8 in Italy, Obama reiterated his refrain: "We face a choice. We can either shape our future or let events shape it for us. We can let the stale debates and old disagreements of the past divide us or we can recognize our shared interests and shared aspirations and work together to create a safer and cleaner and more prosperous world for future generations." Obama concluded his G-8 meeting with a trip to the Vatican, and shortly thereafter flew for a visit to Ghana; these excursions, which combined the religious symbolism of the Holy See with a subsequent stopover in the developing world, aimed to remind people that, beyond mere power politics, the world's wealthy have an ethical as well as pragmatic responsibility to help close the inequality gap that has divided the privileged North from the struggling South.
Before Italy, Obama was in Moscow, where he held substantive meetings with both President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin. Reiterating the intent to "reset" Russian-American relations, Obama and his hosts engaged in a give-and-take approach, with both sides agreeing to significantly reduce the number of strategic nuclear warheads and intercontinental delivery vehicles. The US promised to "review" the controversial anti-missile shield system, scheduled to be positioned in Poland and the Czech Republic, while Russia agreed to allow American flights through Russian airspace to resupply NATO troops in Afghanistan. They also announced resumption of direct military-to-military cooperation and set up a joint presidential commission, headed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, to improve bilateral collaboration on matters such as nuclear energy, drug trafficking, health and education.
Echoing both the themes and the setting of his previous Ankara and Cairo speeches, Obama also addressed a Moscow audience which included the architect of Russia's transformation, Mikhail Gorbachev. At the New Economic School of Moscow, Obama offered: "Deep respect for Russia's timeless heritage. Russian writers have helped us understand the complexity of human experience, and recognize eternal truths. Your painters, composers, and dancers have introduced us to new forms of beauty. Your scientists have cured disease, sought new frontiers of progress, and helped to take us to space." "Let me be clear," he went on, "America wants a strong, peaceful, and prosperous Russia." With more than a nod to Russian national pride, he noted: "As President Kennedy said, ‘no nation in the history of battle ever suffered more than the Soviet Union in the Second World War.'"
Using his familiar rhetoric, Obama once again acknowledged the past, showed respect, and then moved on to challenge his listeners to work collaboratively to help shape a common future. As he put it: "Think of the issues that will define your lives - security from nuclear weapons and extremism; access to markets and opportunity; health and the environment; an international system that protects sovereignty and human rights, while promoting stability and prosperity. These challenges demand global partnership, and that partnership will be stronger if Russia occupies its rightful place as a global power."
Throughout the week, from Moscow to Accra, the call for a global concert of powers - with increased emphasis on the use of soft and smart, rather than hard, power - could not have been clearer.
Obama repeatedly focused on five key areas requiring collaboration by the major established and emerging economic and political powers: the reduction of nuclear arsenals and nuclear nonproliferation; the isolation and defeat of violent extremists; the support for strong and sustainable democratic institutions; the promotion of global economic prosperity and development rooted in free markets and trade, but balanced with appropriate regulation - the kind of regulation needed to prevent the excesses of greed and corruption that helped precipitate the current economic crises; and the encouragement of an international system that advances collaboration and cooperation while respecting national sovereignty.
In these areas, the United States, the EU, Russia, China, Japan and India have played and can play a critical role; concerted action requires leadership from the major economic and political actors, just as it did in the 19th Century Concert of Europe.
But the world has drastically changed from the days of the Congress of Vienna in 1815, of which Obama seems to be aware. Near the conclusion of his speech in Moscow he mused: "The days when Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin could shape the world in one meeting are over. The world is more complex today. Billions of people have found their voice, and seek their own measure of prosperity and self determination." Obama reiterated in Accra: "Each nation gives life to democracy in its own way, and in line with its own traditions. But history offers a clear verdict: Governments that respect the will of their own people - that govern by consent and not coercion - are more prosperous, they are more stable, and more successful than governments that do not."
As Henry Kissinger told his Spiegel interviewer: "There is no realism without an element of idealism. The idea of abstract power only exists for academics, not in real life."