2010obama sets out security strategy based on diplomacy instead of war fresh challenges include rise...

8/12/2019 2010Obama Sets Out Security Strategy Based on Diplomacy Instead of War Fresh Challenges Include Rise of India

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able of contents1. Obama sets out security strategy based on diplomacy instead of war: Fresh challenges include rise of

India and China Report described as clean break from Bush years............................................................... 1

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Obama sets out security strategy based on diplomacy instead of war Fresh challenges include rise ofIndia and China Report described as clean break from Bush yearsAuthor Ewen MacAskill Washington

Publication info The Guardian [London (UK)] 28 May 2010: 29.ProQuest document link

Abstract The thrust of [Barack Obama]'s policy is to engage with China and India, and with former enemies, ofwhich the most important is Russia. "We will continue to deepen our co-operation with other 21st century

centres of influence - including China, India, and Russia," the report says. It adopts the shift long advocated by

General David Petraeus, the overall US commander, to concentrate on counter-insurgency. The report says:

"We will continue to rebalance our military capabilities to excel at counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency, stability

operations, and meeting increasingly sophisticated security threats, while ensuring our force is ready to address

the full range of military operations." While the [George Bush] administration repeatedly referred to the threat

from Islamists, this report avoids such usage. While acknowledging the continuing threat from al-Qaida, it also

focuses on the FBI's concerns about "the threat to the United States and our interests posed by individuals

radicalised at home".

Full text Barack Obama has set out a new national security strategy described as a clean break with the Bushdoctrine of unilateralism, which addresses fresh challenges that include homegrown terrorism, cybersecurity

and the rise of India and China. The report says the US has been hardened by the wars in Iraq and

Afghanistan, and that in future the emphasis will be on diplomacy, with war as a last resort. "Our long-term

security will not come from our ability to instil fear in other peoples, but through our capacity to speak to their

hopes," it says. Obama identifies nuclear proliferation, al-Qaida, economic collapse and climate change as the

main threats, and suggests a shift in military thinking away from traditional warfare to counter-insurgency. The

52-page report, entitled A Blueprint for Pursuing the World that We Seek and posted on the White House's

website, is Obama's first. White House aides contrasted it with a report by George Bush in 2002 that paved the

way for the strike against Iraq in 2003, and another report in 2006. Foreign policy analysts expressed

scepticism, saying its lofty aspirations were not reflected in the hard reality of the world, such as his failure to

close Guantanamo Bay and the use of drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They asked what Obama would do

if his policy of diplomatic engagement with Iran and North Korea failed to produce results. Others questioned

whether it marked as big a break from the Bush doctrine as the White House suggested. Although it stresses

international co-operation rather than unilateralism, Obama has not abandoned the use of pre-emptive strikes.

Anthony Cordesman, one of the leading foreign and military analysts in the US, based at the Centre for

Strategic and International Studies, said: "It gives foreign aid and partnership with other states as much

emphasis as military security. It stresses that the US is part of a multi-polar world rather than its leader,

emphasises engagement with allies, sees the UN as key in international affairs, and sees improving relations

with Russia and China as priorities. "Give or take some liberal rhetoric, it is a return to a centrist, pragmatic US

national strategy." Mark Lynch, associate professor of international relations at George Washington University,

writing on the Foreign Policy website, welcomed the strategy: "It marks a clean break with the past . . . [It] gets

the big things right and offers a clear and effective framework for American foreign policy and national security."

The thrust of Obama's policy is to engage with China and India, and with former enemies, of which the most

important is Russia. "We will continue to deepen our co-operation with other 21st century centres of influence -including China, India, and Russia," the report says. It adopts the shift long advocated by General David

Petraeus, the overall US commander, to concentrate on counter-insurgency. The report says: "We will continue

to rebalance our military capabilities to excel at counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency, stability operations, and

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meeting increasingly sophisticated security threats, while ensuring our force is ready to address the full range of

military operations." While the Bush administration repeatedly referred to the threat from Islamists, this report

avoids such usage. While acknowledging the continuing threat from al-Qaida, it also focuses on the FBI's

concerns about "the threat to the United States and our interests posed by individuals radicalised at home".

The report regards cybercrime as one of the most serious threats to national security. "The very technologies

that empower us to lead and create also empower those who would disrupt and destroy. "They enable our

military superiority, but our unclassified government networks are constantly probed by intruders. Our daily lives

and public safety depend on power and electric grids, but potential adversaries could use cyber vulnerabilities to

disrupt them on a massive scale," the report warns. The administration's counter-strategy is to invest in

specialists and technology, to work with the private sector, strengthen laws for dealing with hackers, and have

plans in place comparable to those for dealing with natural disasters. Illustration Caption: Captions: Air Force

Academy cadets celebrate graduation. But their role may change under Obama's strategy Photograph: Mark

Reis/AP

People Obama, Barack

Publication title The GuardianFirst page 29

Publication year 2010

Publication date May 28, 2010

Year 2010

Section Guardian International Pages

Publisher Guardian Newspapers Limited

Place of publication London (UK)Country of publication United Kingdom

Publication subject Literary And Political Reviews, General Interest Periodicals--Great Britain

ISSN 02613077

Source type Newspapers

Language of publication English

Document type News

ProQuest document ID 347012637Document URL http://search.proquest.com/docview/347012637?accountid=15533

Copyright (Copyright , Guardian Newspapers Limited, May 28, 2010)

Last updated 2011-11-02

Database ProQuest Central

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