In short, unilateralist scepticism is well grounded. Yet the advantages of full-compliance multilateralism are, even from the narrow American point of view, appealing. Legitimacy in the eyes of other nations has value in a world where soft power counts. In Libya the allies are doing the right thing and, let us hope, winning friends – while the breadth of the alliance, the authority of the UN and the US posture of “third among equals” refute the accusation that America has opened a new front against Islam. In fiscally straitened times, greater burden-sharing in global security is all to the good.
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