tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417199.post8243036142950114300..comments2023-12-14T11:26:51.959-05:00Comments on Life After Jerusalem: Kristof: Make Diplomacy, Not WarDiggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03856750834804127824noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417199.post-57313139102552564612008-09-30T02:34:00.000-04:002008-09-30T02:34:00.000-04:00I've quoted you and linked to you here: http://co...I've quoted you and linked to you here: http://consul-at-arms.blogspot.com/2008/09/re-kristof-make-diplomacy-not-war.htmlConsul-At-Armshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04391037582103556978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31417199.post-3693922392216743832008-08-10T16:37:00.000-04:002008-08-10T16:37:00.000-04:00Kristoff raised good points about the need to be a...Kristoff raised good points about the need to be able to build rather than just blow up. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard men say the equivalent of, “you want to help us? Teach our girls to read.” But he needs to refine the prescription offered to our problems on this front. Not to take anything away from hard working and well-meaning diplomats, but a greater number of the same isn’t going to solve the foreign policy problems we face. You cite Dennis Ross — who is likely right about the effectiveness of a billion dollar fund for Palestinian job creation — but more foreign-service officer generalists, even those who speak Arabic, aren’t going to be the difference in achieving an Israeli-Palestinian peace.<BR/>Our foreign policy challenges are both ideological and practical. From Israel/Palestine to Iraq to Cuba, the first thing we need is an elected leadership that puts forward coherent policies that our diplomatic corps can advance. Diplomats implement policy; they don’t make it. Once we have policies that are achievable and advance our objectives, we need for Congress to allocate more funds to foreign assistance projects (as they do for weapons systems and military expenses) that yield more local job opportunities, improved infrastructure, better education systems, the empowerment of women, and more democratic freedoms in the parts of the world that attract U.S. attention. And once those funds have been allocated, then we need to hire more foreign service functional experts and managers, at the State Department and USAID, who have the skills to shape how that assistance is turned into effective projects that are administered in a way that have the best chance of meeting U.S. policy objectives. We shouldn’t shortchange the expertise it takes to make foreign assistance work.<BR/><BR/>Many U.S. diplomats work long hours and put whole-hearted efforts into their jobs representing America. But an increase of generalists in the current system and under a leadership that has a similar outlook as this administration will not develop and manage rule of law projects that rebuild judicial systems in areas of conflict, add input to educational curricula reform in places where rote-memorization is the norm, or oversee massive infrastructure projects in parts of the world that are war-torn. We should just be clear that good diplomats and (in an ideal world) skilled specialists are tools to implement foreign policy, just like the military. If the policy doesn’t make sense, however, it doesn’t really matter how many good people we have working to implement it.<BR/><BR/>Ben Orbach<BR/>Author of Live from Jordan<BR/>www.BenjaminOrbach.comBenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04022983039369536361noreply@blogger.com