Reviving the ”Radical Centre”--Jim Lobe

[laststeamtrain]

POLITICS-US:
Reviving the ”Radical Centre”
Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Aug 1 (IPS) - As U.S. President George W. Bush announced the unprecedented ”recess appointment” of ultra-nationalist John Bolton as his next ambassador to the United Nations, a group of diplomatic heavyweights was preparing to launch a bipartisan coalition to promote a return to a more moderate and multilateral foreign policy.

While the group, which calls itself the Partnership for a Secure America, was not explicitly set up to act to oppose the more radical initiatives of the Bush administration, the chief organisers -- both Republicans and Democrats -- have sometimes been harshly critical of specific Bush policies, especially the decision to go to war in Iraq, and innovative policy initiatives, such as the promotion of pre-emptive war against ”rogue states.”

The group includes top officials who served in the administration of Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, such as the two presidents' most durable national security advisers -- Samuel Berger and Zbigniew Brzezinski, respectively -- as well as former Secretary of State Warren Christopher; Clinton's first national security adviser, Anthony Lake; former Defence Secretary William Perry, and former U.N. ambassador Richard Holbrooke.

<snip>

The new group will formally launch itself Wednesday at a press conference in Washington conducted by two well-known and respected former lawmakers, Lee Hamilton, a top foreign-policy Democrat during his many years in the |House of Representatives who also co-chaired the 9/11 Commission and currently serves as head of the influential Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, and Warren Rudman, a prominent Republican moderate and former senator who has served on several bipartisan commission over the past two decades.

”The Partnership for a Secure America (PSA) is dedicated to recreating the bipartisan centre in American national security and foreign policy,” according to the group's mission statement.

link: http://tinyurl.com/dn9xl

[bemildred]

1. "Radical Centre" is an oxymoron.

And Bolton is not an "ultra-nationalist", far from it, more like imperialist and hegemonist and fascist, he gives a rip about the USA and it's citizens as such, we are mere vehicles in his fantasy of World domination.

This "new group" appears to be an effort to re-habilitate interventionist foreign policy after the damage done by Bushite incompetence and stupidity.

[meow2u3]

2. "Radical center" is actually a paradox

The attitude of the RC, or "militant moderates", goes something like this (in verse):

We cannot wait forever for a happy medium
We gotta stop the wild swinging of the pendulum

In other words, RC's believe they have to fight against both extremes for balance. They condemn the philosophies of both the far left and the far right, and if they want to shove their views down Americans' throats, three can play that game.

[bemildred]

3. Bleh.

A paradox is an apparently true statement or group of statements that seems to lead to a contradiction or to a situation that defies intuition. Typically, either the statements in question do not really imply the contradiction, the puzzling result is not really a contradiction, or the premises themselves are not all really true (or, cannot all be true together). The recognition of ambiguities, equivocations, and unstated assumptions underlying known paradoxes has often led to significant advances in science, philosophy and mathematics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox

Whereas ...

An oxymoron (plural "oxymora") (noun) is a figure of speech that combines two normally contradictory terms (e.g. "deafening silence"). Oxymoron is a Greek term derived from oxy ("sharp") and moros ("dull"). Oxymora are a proper subset of the expressions called contradiction in terms. What distinguishes oxymora from other paradoxes and contradictions is that they are used intentionally, for rhetorical effect, and the contradiction is only apparent, as the combination of terms provides a novel expression of some concept.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxymoron

I rest my case.

[laststeamtrain]

4. Actually, be he hegemonist etc etc or it (RC) an oxy or a para what I

posted was a 'news' story. Interesting, to me at least, as a development in the ongoing parade of shit happening.

[bemildred]

5. True. "News", in quotes, is right too. nt

[laststeamtrain]

6. Right. And intentional, too. All best,

Oh yeah, do you know anything about Jim Lobe? He's been used as a source and spoken highly of over at Antiwar.com, the libertarian site.
He's 'tracked' neocons supposedly for a long time. Do you know his 'deal' at all?

Or anyone who reads this. Info would be appreciated.

[bemildred]

8. No, sorry, first time I really paid attention to him.

I have seen him in other contexts where I would give him credit for good reporting, so I won't dump on him because of this, but I will pay attention to the name now, until I can form some sense of what he is about.

[bemildred]

9. Ah, yes, here is the other I mentioned:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x144432

Mr. Englehardt is someone that I highly esteem, so I have to give credence to his opinion of Mr. Lobe.

[MasonJar]

7. An interesting observation. Actually a paradox is often a seem

ingly contradictory statement that could nonetheless be true. Therefore, in those cases which fit this definition it would not be immediately obvious that the statement was in fact accurate. (para=beyond, doxa=opinion in Greek) Just making an example up on the spur, I might say "Ice is hot."