Weaklings Need an Enemy

Russia is America’s number one geopolitical foe? Russia’s President Dmitri Medvedev said Mr. Romney’s remarks “smacked of Hollywood.” Romney’s antagonistic image of Russia reflects — as do Putin’s military fantasies — a longing for clearly defined contrasts. But this desire for everything to be clearly defined in black and white is, in fact, a sign of great weakness.

The outgoing Russian President obviously has a good understanding of the American movie industry in noting that it is necessary that his own country be cast in the role of the villain. Perhaps he is recalling the ugly scene in the last “Mission Impossible” film in which the bombing of his office was depicted. Regardless that the culprit in the script came from the criminal underworld, the inclusion of golden-domed buildings, bestial military officers, secret nuclear codes and ideologically motivated conspiracies are all probably essential to Hollywood’s stereotype of how real danger looks.

That’s why it was charming when Medvedev used a trifling incident during the U.S. election campaign to impart a lesson to America. President Barack Obama had earlier whispered to him that he would have more flexibility in negotiations concerning the planned European missile shield. The confidential exchange was picked up by an open microphone and resulted in Obama having to hear would-be president Mitt Romney accuse him of playing recklessly with America’s fate. “Russia is our number one geopolitical foe,” Romney told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. That was too much, even for Medvedev, who advised Romney to use his head and realize that it was 2012 and not 1970. Medvedev went on to say that Romney’s remarks “smacked of Hollywood.”

Medvedev might just as well have given a calendar to Vladimir Putin, who, while campaigning just a few weeks earlier, promised to upgrade Russia’s military to counter the American missile defense threat. Will the Cold War never end? Or is this just a manifestation of a global political nostalgia for a time when problems were less complex?

The affinity for bogeymen is, in reality, proof of a great weakness. Bad guys help divide the real world into black vs. white, allowing for very few shades of gray. Such stereotypes are very useful during political campaigns, which is precisely why Putin appealed to the patriotism and military pride of his countrymen and Romney dragged out the old Russian cliches. Perhaps he wants to generate a little gooseflesh in Salina, Kansas, where such frightening images trigger the desired reflexes about dull old Russia. In Salina, they’re more familiar with the strategy of a second-strike capability than they are with what goes on in Mesopotamia. Or maybe Romney just figures it’s less dangerous to declare Russia America’s number one enemy, whereas he would have to be more circumspect in doing likewise with China.

The worst case would be if Romney and his advisers don’t know any better and actually measure America’s strength by Russia’s weakness. But in looking at the current Republican presidential field, that wouldn’t be surprising. A sophisticated worldview hasn’t been a requirement to run for president of the United States for some time now. Knowledge of the world and having a rational method of dealing with increasingly complex foreign policy issues isn’t even considered important among average Americans, and it’s much less a part of the collective national consciousness.

Only those who are internally weak constantly seek an external enemy. America isn’t weak, but it is decidedly uncertain. The enemy called terrorism has yet to surrender, even if it has temporarily disappeared into the fog. The nation is exhausted by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and would rather just ignore it all. The wars can’t be won, and neither can they be lost; the country prefers to just forget them.

Hillary Clinton’s Quiet Diplomacy Has Little Effect

What’s missing is an enemy that can be measured by the traditional yardsticks of military strength and clarity of ideological opposition. The quiet, high-speed diplomacy of the State Department under Hillary Clinton goes unrecognized, particularly in the Middle East. It’s only when Clinton stands on the deck of a warship in the Pacific, shaking her fist in Beijing’s direction, or only when the President announces new military installations in Australia that the nation sits up and notices that China is an enemy recognizable by traditional standards.

China won’t do America the favor of publicly backing down. And Russia’s foreign policy can benefit more by turning to Western Europe with a policy of cooperation and modernization that tears down the old geopolitical structures.

Romney’s image of Russia as bogeyman and Putin’s military fantasies reflect the longing for more clearly defined conditions, for good and evil, strength and weakness. But the world has already left that all behind. It has found new bogeymen: those who destroy the environment, slaughter human beings and try to keep them in slavery. Modern nations no longer look at other countries as enemies. They nurture alliances with them instead.