Stephen M. Walt, who coauthored the book 'The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy' with John Mearsheimer, says America's problem is not a rising China but the moral collapse in Washington and the lack of a positive vision by the American political establishment. On November 21, Walt wrote at
ForeignPolicy.com:
The United States possesses the basic ingredients needed to more than hold its own in a future competition with China -- a competition that is already underway -- were it not for our growing talent for podiatric marksmanship (i.e., shooting ourselves in the foot). Whether the issue is the GOP's stalwart effort to protect the super-wealthy, the bipartisan commitment to throwing good money after bad in Afghanistan, or the gradual hollowing out of the essential sinews of an advanced society (schools, roads, power grids, transport hubs, etc.), it is clear that our problem is not a rising China. On the contrary, the real problem is a befuddled and aimless political class, comprised of men and women lacking knowledge, accountability, political courage, or any genuine commitment to the common weal. What they've got in spades is personal ambition, but not much else. If "morally informed leadership" is a prerequisite for success, then we are in big trouble.
Glenn Greenwald agrees. On November 27, in an
article about WikiLeaks receiving the highest journalism prize in Australia, Greenwald said:
In sum, China revealingly imprisons the Nobel Peace Prize winner, while the secrecy-obsessed U.S. Government works to destroy the group that has uniquely displayed a “courageous and controversial commitment to the finest traditions of journalism: justice through transparency.”
