The New Unilateralism

By Charles Krauthammer Friday, June 8, 2001; Page A29

While Washington wasn't looking -- distracted by ta cuts! cam"aign #inance re#orm and the e$uisite
s"ectacle o# %im %e##ords wrestling his conscience to a draw -- the Bush administration ga&e the nation a
new #oreign "olicy' (t is #ar #rom #ully de&elo"ed! but it is clear and carries enormous im"lications'
A#ter eight years during which #oreign "olicy success was largely measured by the number o# treaties the
"resident could sign and the number o# summits he could attend! we now ha&e an administration willing to
assert American #reedom o# action and the "rimacy o# American national interests' )ather than contain
American "ower within a &ast web o# constraining international agreements! the new unilateralism seeks to
strengthen American "ower and unashamedly de"loy it on behal# o# self-defined global ends'
*nds such as a de#ense against ballistic missiles' +We are -- most Americans do not know -- entirely
de#enseless against them today', (ndeed! the Bush administration's most dramatic demonstration o# the new
unilateralism was its "ledge to de&elo" missile de#enses and thus abolish the -9.2 Anti-Ballistic /issile
0reaty with the 1o&iet 2nion' And the most #lamboyant demonstration o# the new unilateralism was Bush's
out-o#-hand re3ection o# the Kyoto "rotocol on global warming! a re#reshing assertion o# unwillingness to
be a "arty to #arce! no matter how multilateral'
With AB/ and Kyoto! the new unilateralism is earning notice' (t began with a great gnashing o# teeth by
our allies4 5ations that s"ent the better "art o# the last 677 years ra"ing and "illaging &ast swaths o# the
globe now "ronounce themsel&es distressed at the arrogance o# the 2nited 1tates #or re#using! at the height
o# its "ower! to "lay the docile international citi8en'
0he 9rench ha&e charmingly dubbed us not a su"er"ower but a :hy"er"ower': 0he newly ;emocratic
1enate is already gi&ing tremulous &oice to similar misgi&ings about the new unilateralism! though without
the charm' :( ha&e great concerns about a unilateral decision <on missile de#enses=!: worried 1en' Carl
>e&in o# /ichigan! the to" ;emocrat on the 1enate Armed 1er&ices Committee! :because ( belie&e that it
could risk a second cold war -- Cold War ((! ( call it':
?n 0uesday! >e&in and other committee ;emocrats "illoried Douglas Feith! President Bush's nominee #or
undersecretary o# de#ense #or "olicy! #or daring to suggest -- as he did in a brilliant legal brie# he co-
authored two years ago -- that the -9.2 AB/ treaty e"ired when its only other signatory +the 1o&iet
2nion, e"ired' Another de#ense nominee! %ack ;yer Crouch ((! was similarly attacked #or daring to
o""ose the Com"rehensi&e 0est Ban 0reaty -- an unen#orceable agreement that the 1enate itsel# &oted down
in -999'
A more measured res"onse came #rom 0he Post! which editoriali8ed that :unilateralism <is= not an end in
itsel#': 0rue' (t only describes how one will conduct #oreign "olicy' 5onetheless! how one conducts #oreign
"olicy immeasurably a##ects what one ends u" doing'
When you start! as did the Clinton administration! with a sel#-declared #oreign "olicy o# :asserti&e
multilateralism: -- a moronic oymoron that! i# it meant anything! meant submerging American will in a
mush o# collecti&e decision-making -- you ha&e sentenced yoursel# to reacting to e&ents or "assing the buck
to multilingual committees with #ancy acronyms'
1mall countries are condemned to such constraint' 5ations like (srael and 0aiwan ha&e almost no #reedom
o# action' 0heir #oreign "olicy is dri&en by destiny! dictated by the single goal o# sustaining their own
eistence' *&en middle "owers! such as @reat Britain and @ermany! #ind #oreign "olicy largely dictated by
necessities o# "ower and geogra"hy'
An unprecedentedly dominant United tates, howe!er! is in the uni$ue "osition o# being able to #ashion
its own #oreign "olicy' A#ter a decade o# Prometheus "laying "ygmy! the #irst task o# the new
administration is "recisely to reassert American #reedom o# action' 0hat means4
A Cutting our anachronistic o##ensi&e nuclear arsenal -- a legacy o# a bi"olar world that no longer eists --
whether or not )ussia #ollows'
A (nter&ening abroad! not to :nation-build: where there is no nation to be built but to "rotect &ital interests'
A 1ha"ing our de#enses against new enemies -- like (ran and (ra$ -- rather than! absurdly! against a #ormer
enemy! namely )ussia'
A ;ismissing en&ironmental agreements so bi8arrely sel#-#lagellating that they eclude (ndia +"o"ulation -
billion,! China +"o"ulation -'B billion, and the rest o# the 0hird World #rom their "ollution restrictions'
9or a decade a#ter the Cold War! reactionary liberalism ga&e us a #oreign "olicy #ro8en in the habits and
con&entions o# the dead bi"olar era4 #oreign "olicy dominated by treaties! summits! arms control! signing
ceremonies'
0he time war" is o&er'
0he new unilateralism recogni8es the uni$ueness o# the uni"olar world we now inhabit and thus marks the
real beginning o# American "ost-Cold War #oreign "olicy'
C 277- 0he Washington Post Com"any