The Rules: Border Wars, "Terrorists", and Latin America

Amidst our primary election drama, there has been some not so friendly skirmishes between Ecuador, Columbia, and Venezuela. Fred Hiatt's Wash Post editorial took on the subject this morning with all the thoughtfulness and nuance as usually accompanies the paper's foreign policy declarations.

I don't profess to know all that much about Columbia and FARC, but Glenn Greenwald notes how trite and simplistic the foreign policy "consensus" is regarding our entanglement around the globe and close to home:

(1) Any government or group that takes money from and is allied with the U.S. is inherently good. Anything they do -- including invasions, wars and other acts of violence -- is just and "bold."

(2) Any government or group that opposes the U.S. is inherently bad and anything they do is inherently unjust (even when it's exactly the same behavior as the praiseworthy behavior in category (1)). By definition, they're "Terrorists."

(3) Any government or group that takes money from and is allied with the U.S. is "democratic," regardless of whether they gained or seek power through elections. Such governments and groups are also devoted to "human rights," no matter how much arbitrary imprisonment, murdering of political opponents, torture and other due process they engage in.

(4) Any government or group that opposes the U.S. is "anti-democratic" -- "enemies of democracy," a Dictatorship -- even when they gained or seek power through elections.

(5) The U.S. has a vital interest in dictating who governs every other country. It's always our business to intervene in every conflict and pick the side we want to win, not just with our political support but with money and arms. Since we are morally good, our decisions will always be in service of Democracy and Human Rights.

(6) If you deny or contest any of these premises, then you are an America-hater, part of the Blame America First crowd, because it means that you think that America's role in the world is sometimes destructive and unjust (which no American patriot would ever believe about their own country).