Unlike Europe, the U.S. has a profound gap between its domestic and foreign political spheres. The impact of the Arab Spring or coup in Egypt on the world barely means anything to an average U.S. citizen in Dakota or Ohio. If we consider the globalization phenomenon in a political and cultural perspective rather than an economic one, the U.S. is among the least globalized countries. The paradox of this hegemonic state, which is the most influential power leading world politics and involved in significant incidents around the world, bestows the country a luxury to act shortsightedly in its foreign politics. This situation implies a dramatic difference between the domestic politics and international hegemonic capacity of the U.S.
According to the historian Tony Judt, another problem causing unexpected scandals in U.S. foreign politics is the fact that the most influential ideology prevailing in the country is still nationalism. It is a general tendency in this country to condemn when nationalist rituals, symbols and behaviors are not displayed, which would sound odd even in Turkey today, let alone France. In parallel with these factors, the theme that marked the 20th and 21st centuries in the U.S. is a politics of fear. The marginalization of foreigners in the 19th century, McCarthyism and the Islamophobic and xenophobic trauma after the 9/11 attacks are the periods at which nationalist sensitivities were indoctrinated through foreign threats.
Remember the words of George W. Bush, who said they were going to fight against the terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan in order avoid fighting them in their own country. He uttered those words in 2003 when Iraq was invaded on the grounds of a completely made-up reason. Also note that this invasion is the main source of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) problem today. In 2003 it was not possible to find a U.S. citizen who would not accept or react against that. Tony Judt was one of those brave intellectuals, but many writers such as Thomas Freidman, who said Jacques Chirac's France should be punished since they reacted against the invasion, never acted morally or with the responsibility of an intellectual.
Today, this same shortsightedness can be observed again since President Barack Obama interprets the ISIS issue only through the U.S. warriors that would return to the U.S. and protest. Also, the number of soldiers and civilians the U.S. lost in the wars in which they engaged throughout the 20th century - and they were defeated in most of them - are much less than the number lost by Russians only in the siege of Stalingrad. Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Masoud Barzani's undertaking of the cost of the non-programed air raid that was conducted in Kobani in the northern Syrian Kurdish region also sets an example to this attitude. The U.S. sees Iraq and Syria shortsightedly just as they viewed the Palestine problem through the perspective of the U.S-USSR duality alone during the Cold War.
Currently, Ankara is suggesting to the U.S. a comprehensive peace plan that would benefit all, including Israel. Turkey now thinks that it is required to fight against ISIS, but it is also essential to keep in mind that Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iraqi former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki are the ones who created this trouble, and only fighting against ISIS will not bring peace to the region without providing political stability in Iraq and Egypt. Also, ISIS is the outcome of this short-sightedness of the U.S. But each radical mistake also brings its own punishment. With the fatal mistake it made in 2003, the U.S. risks its possibility of becoming the leading actor of the 21st century. Regarding the Middle East solely as an oil and gas depot while legitimizing Israel's actions through an invalid risk to its existence, implies more than a controllable conflict game now. Saying "our priority is ISIS positioned in oil and reservoir regions," means abandoning the democracy claims by the U.S. Maybe it has already given that up, but today it can hardly be camouflaged.
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