(CNN)It’s getting hard to remember when the US had foreign policy victories.
Two decades of post-9/11 warfare are ending with the United States effectively handing back Afghanistan to the same fundamentalist power, the Taliban, that was in control when it started. The war in Iraq, fought on false pretenses, not only distracted from the Afghanistan War but turned into a costly, morale-sapping disaster. A US-led bid to prevent genocide in Libya left anarchy behind. The campaign to crush ISIS in Syria saw the US ultimately deserting America’s Kurdish allies. And ex-President Donald Trump’s whole term alienated America’s friends and offered legitimacy to its autocratic foes. No one is now sure which path Washington will pursue in the world more than four years in advance.
It’s not all been terrible. The US did prevent Afghanistan being a terror haven for 20 years where al Qaeda could operate with impunity, though that is now in doubt. It seriously degraded ISIS in the Middle East. The Obama administration finally killed Osama bin Laden. And new diplomatic openings with nations like India have spanned administrations. The Western alliance has wobbled in recent years, but it survived.
But America’s tortured domestic politics are hampering any long-term coherence in its foreign policy. The US negotiated a deal to quell Iran’s nuclear program, walked out, then wanted back in. It entered the Paris climate deal, left, rejoined and a Republican president would probably quit again. Relations with Israel are so politicized — in both countries — that a US role that led to Israel-Palestinian handshakes on the White House lawn is long gone. Russia’s election meddling worked because it exploited and exacerbated America’s internal estrangement. The Afghan withdrawal was based on domestic political factors, not global strategy.
The world is a different, more volatile place than it was after the Cold War. And US military might still offer a security umbrella without which its allies in Europe and Asia cannot thrive. There’s unity on the next big challenge — confronting a rival superpower, China — if little agreement on how to do it.
But the democracy-threatening political and cultural battle tearing America from within has cost the power that guaranteed stability for 70 years, the capacity to exert coherent, consistent leadership in the world.
‘You have been accused of helping the Americans’
The Taliban have issued a death sentence for one Afghan man whose brother worked as an interpreter for US troops. In a threatening letter, the fundamentalist group wrote: “You have been accused of helping the Americans. You are also accused of providing security to your brother, who has been an interpreter.” It continues: “You chose this path for yourself and your death is eminent [sic], God willing.”
The letter underlines the risk that thousands of Afghans have undertaken to help US troops over the past two decades — and contradicts assurances that Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid made last week, as the group tries to project a more moderate image to the world. “Nobody will be harmed in Afghanistan,” Mujahid said. “Of course, there is a huge difference between us now and 20 years ago.”
‘You are not a horse. You are not a cow’
At last, some rare good news on the pandemic.
The US Food and Drug Administration on Monday granted permanent authorization to the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, which had previously been administered on an emergency basis. The certification not only confirms the scientific case that the dose is safe and effective — it also could convince holdouts skeptical of what they viewed as an “experimental” drug to get vaccinated, and could give state and local political, medical, educational, military and corporate leaders more incentive to mandate vaccines.
The next big step in ending the pandemic could come when doses are finally approved for kids. As schools restart, many parents are frantic about the Delta variant, which is proving more dangerous to youngsters than previous manifestations of the novel coronavirus.
Of course, the politics of a pandemic that has unleashed an ideological culture war on the right have not abated. More science won’t change minds made up for political reasons. But vaccine rates are rising as the Delta variant rages across the heartland, especially in conservative, Southern states where inoculation rates were low. At a rally in Alabama on Saturday night, even Trump advised fans to get the shot, which his administration helped develop. But boos from his crowd mean he’s unlikely to spend political capital to push vaccines hard.
And get this crazy twist. Following crank “cure” claims for substances like hydroxychloroquine and Trump’s infamous musings on disinfectant, some people have been tempted by ivermectin, a drug used to deworm livestock, which was featured on conservative and social media. While some Americans are loath to take an FDA-approved drug, it seems they’ll happily gobble down medicine for animals.
The FDA was forced to tweet: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”
Opinion: Brad West been one of the sharpest critics of decriminalization
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Published Apr 22, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 4 minute read
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VICTORIA — Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West fired off a letter to Premier David Eby last week about Allan Schoenborn, the child killer who changed his name in a bid for anonymity.
“It is completely beyond the pale that individuals like Schoenborn have the ability to legally change their name in an attempt to disassociate themselves from their horrific crimes and to evade the public,” wrote West.
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The Alberta government has legislated against dangerous, long-term and high risk offenders who seek to change their names to escape public scrutiny.
“I urge your government to pass similar legislation as a high priority to ensure the safety of British Columbians,” West wrote the premier.
The B.C. Review Board has granted Schoenborn overnight, unescorted leave for up to 28 days, and he spent some of that time in Port Coquitlam, according to West.
This despite the board being notified that “in the last two years there have been 15 reported incidents where Schoenborn demonstrated aggressive behaviour.”
“It is absolutely unacceptable that an individual who has committed such heinous crimes, and continues to demonstrate this type of behaviour, is able to roam the community unescorted.”
Understandably, those details alarmed PoCo residents.
But the letter is also an example of the outspoken mayor’s penchant for to-the-point pronouncements on provincewide concerns.
He’s been one of the sharpest critics of decriminalization.
His most recent blast followed the news that the New Democrats were appointing a task force to advise on ways to curb the use of illicit drugs and the spread of weapons in provincial hospitals.
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“Where the hell is the common sense here?” West told Mike Smyth on CKNW recently. “This has just gone way too far. And to have a task force to figure out what to do — it’s obvious what we need to do.
“In a hospital, there’s no weapons and you can’t smoke crack or fentanyl or any other drugs. There you go. Just saved God knows how much money and probably at least six months of dithering.”
He had a pithy comment on the government’s excessive reliance on outside consultants like MNP to process grants for clean energy and other programs.
“If ever there was a place to find savings that could be redirected to actually delivering core public services, it is government contracts to consultants like MNP,” wrote West.
He’s also broken with the Eby government on the carbon tax.
“The NDP once opposed the carbon tax because, by its very design, it is punishing to working people,” wrote West in a social media posting.
“The whole point of the tax is to make gas MORE expensive so people don’t use it. But instead of being honest about that, advocates rely on flimsy rebate BS. It is hard to find someone who thinks they are getting more dollars back in rebates than they are paying in carbon tax on gas, home heat, etc.”
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West has a history with the NDP. He was a political staffer and campaign worker with Mike Farnworth, the longtime NDP MLA for Port Coquitlam and now minister of public safety.
When West showed up at the legislature recently, Farnworth introduced him to the house as “the best mayor in Canada” and endorsed him as his successor: “I hope at some time he follows in my footsteps and takes over when I decide to retire — which is not just yet,” added Farnworth who is running this year for what would be his eighth term.
Other political players have their eye on West as a future prospect as well.
Several parties have invited him to run in the next federal election. He turned them all down.
Lately there has also been an effort to recruit him to lead a unified Opposition party against Premier David Eby in this year’s provincial election.
I gather the advocates have some opinion polling to back them up and a scenario that would see B.C. United and the Conservatives make way (!) for a party to be named later.
Such flights of fancy are commonplace in B.C. when the NDP is poised to win against a divided Opposition.
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By going after West, the advocates pay a compliment to his record as mayor (low property taxes and a fix-every-pothole work ethic) and his populist stands on public safety, carbon taxation and other provincial issues.
The outreach to a small city mayor who has never run provincially also says something about the perceived weaknesses of the alternatives to Eby.
“It is humbling,” West said Monday when I asked his reaction to the overtures.
But he is a young father with two boys, aged three and seven. The mayor was 10 when he lost his own dad and he believes that if he sought provincial political leadership now, “I would not be the type of dad I want to be.”
When West ran for re-election — unopposed — in 2022, he promised to serve out the full four years as mayor.
He is poised to keep his word, confident that if the overtures to run provincially are serious, they will still be there when his term is up.
LIVE Q&A WITH B.C. PREMIER DAVID EBY: Join us April 23 at 3:30 p.m. when we will sit down with B.C. Premier David Eby for a special edition of Conversations Live. The premier will answer our questions — and yours — about a range of topics, including housing, drug decriminalization, transportation, the economy, crime and carbon taxes. Click HERE to get a link to the livestream emailed to your inbox.
New York Times reporter and CNN senior political analyst Maggie Haberman explains the significance of David Pecker, the ex-publisher of the National Enquirer, taking the stand in the hush money case against former President Donald Trump.
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