Friends,
This National Interest article below “hits the nail on the head!”
Keep in mind it comes from a Republican publication that has begun posting reports that question excesses of another wing of the party and the Democratic party.
In any case, the publication is “speaking truth” in an environment where truth is hard to come by, regardless of party affiliation. Please take time to think seriously about “FEARISM.” It is the backdrop element in nearly every article written about Russia and international affairs today.
Fearism is preparing us psychologically to ignore common logic, prevents us from speaking out, makes us fear being different from the status quo … hoping somehow all will turn out okay.
Fearism is driving our country toward the prospect of an all-out nuclear war if we don’t backtrack — and what military professional will consider backing down?
Speak up on these issues, write letters to the NY Times, hold discussion meetings in homes, libraries and professional venues. Make it okay and safe to share different points of view.
Join me in holding home meetings to hear CNN’s 2020 Debates next Wednesday, June 26 and Thursday, June 27th.
Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives
America’s Fear-Based Foreign Policy Needs to Go
Since 9/11, fear has become the basis for most of America’s foreign policy—and the lives of its citizens are worse because of it.
June 10, 2019
By Daniel L. Davis
In a recent interview with Axios, former National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster warned it was difficult “to overstate the threat of a nuclear North Korea,” and added that Donald Trump must “prepare for at least the option of the use of military force.” A sober and comprehensive analysis, however, shows such military-first views are common among Washington’s establishment thinking—and represent a failing school of thought: what can only accurately be called “fearism.”
Fear may be the most powerful of all human emotions. It can help us avoid serious harm—or it can be used to manipulate. Since 9/11, fear has become the basis for most of our foreign policy—and our lives are worse because of it. Fear of a given opponent, like McMaster’s claim against North Korea, is used to justify a worldview that posits the only way to keep our country safe from any enemy—real or presumed—is to use or threat to use lethal military power.
There is little to no effort placed in considering the circumstances surrounding said opponent, its history, its culture, the surrounding geopolitics, nor the balance of power between it and the United States. In many cases, if a state we don’t like possesses the ability to even attack our country, fearism argues America should consider using military force to eliminate it. Also lacking in this worldview is a consideration of the intent of the target country or their capacity to successfully take on America.