Foreign Policy Fuck-Ups: Eight Yrs. of "Work" Down The International Crapper

If the NYT is the "Liberal Bible," is the L. A. Times therefore the "Liberal Catechism," or the "Liberal Hymnal?" We ask because of two different pieces we encountered w/in minutes in today's Incredible Shrinking Newspaper©™ (Now being run by the guy who started DirecTV for Hughes Corp. How's that going to work out? Satellite xmissions to your fucking iPod to save the trees?) while standing outside the Santa Monica Central Library getting some nicotine before entering to type for a while. The following was on page A1.

Georgia-Russia conflict a blow to Bush foreign policy The president's reliance on diplomacy based on personal relations with leaders such as Putin and his push to establish democracies from the top down has proved not so viable. By Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer August 18, 2008 WASHINGTON -- In the last week, two major pillars of President Bush's approach to foreign policy have crumbled, jeopardizing eight years of work and sending the administration scrambling for new strategies in the waning months of its term. From the earliest days of his presidency, Bush had said spreading democracy was a centerpiece of his foreign policy. At the same time, he sought to develop a more productive relationship with Russia, seeking Moscow's cooperation on issues such as terrorism, Iran's nuclear program and expansion of global energy supplies. And in pursuing both these major goals, Bush relied heavily on developing what he saw as strong personal relationships with foreign leaders. The recent setbacks to the president's approach were all the more unsettling because Georgia had appeared to be one of the few success stories in the administration's effort to nurture new democracies that could advance U.S. interests.

Sheer ego & arrogance on Bush's part. Does he really think he's so charming that actual world leaders will treat him as his daddy's business buddies did? Just a hint, George: None of that had anything to do w/ your drunken frat boy personality, it had to do w/ your family's power & money. Even were you a charming sophisticate, there are other things going on, as evidenced in this Gregory Rodriguez op-ed:

Consider what Sheik Allahshukur Pashazadeh, the chairman of the Muslim Board of the Caucuses, told me over tea and grapes: "There are never friends in politics. Individuals have friends, countries don't. Their interests are too complicated." "What does 'friend' mean?" echoed Samad Seyidov, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee in the Azerbaijani parliament. "We just want normal relations."

See? The chair of the Muslim Board of the Caucuses (Izzat a typo for Caucasus, or does he really mean more than one caucus?) wiser than Bush. We could go on about the horrors & inequities of relationship-based commerce, employment & the like. But we'll let this serve as an example.