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Jens 'n' Frens |
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Kate, while you adequately put "hates China" in scare quotes, you don't quite make clear that what you hate, of course, is not China (the nation or empire), but its government. Meanwhile, "The US harshly condemns the human rights records of those countries it considers its adversaries while commonly giving soft glove treatment to its allies" — in particular our soft glove treatment of China — is exactly what Kate's trying to remedy. We do go a bit light on China because they're big, both economically and militarily, and as a practical matter that may be reason for our special treatment of them, but for long term purposes I do believe that the place for Realpolitik has receded somewhat, and while we will work with the governments of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia as allies, we also need to tell them that certain features of their regimes require termination strategies. (Not to foment antisemitism and anti-Americanism should be a basic prerequisite for alliance with the United States, and if the Saudis think stopping this will destabilize their regime, we should be willing to provide support, economic or otherwise, to help maintain stability during a transition to something that is stable — and if this means fewer perques and less complete control for the House of Saud, we should make it clear that that may be their best option.) |
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