[Politics] Invitation Accepted, Mr. Gottlieb.

I wrote this response to a wonderful article by a professor of mine back in March. It did not get published in the NYT (mostly because I failed miserably at the word limit). But I wanted to post it here in the hopes that you'd all enjoy it.
______________
Response to Article: "Invitation to Dialogue: America's Global Role" - by Stuart Gottlieb
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/opinion/invitation-to-a-dialogue-americas-global-role.html?_r=1
______________
The unspoken assumption of Stuart Gottlieb's "Invitation to a Dialogue: America's Global Role"
(letter, March 27) is that American military activity and America’s “presence” in the global
milieu are interchangeable. On the contrary, American military presence is the least efficient
form of activity presently at our disposal.

Mr. Gottleib is right in saying that there is a serious threat of recidivist isolationism in the wake
of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. With the growing influence of China, instability in Arab
nations, and economic turmoil in the EU, the lure of isolationism is most seductive just when
such a stance could prove most detrimental.

What will determine American security and success, however, is not an aggressive military
strategy that promotes the threat or use of force, but rather an aggressive political, diplomatic,
and above all social strategy. We must recognize that the Westphalian system of international
relations is not the only, nor even the best, way to manage the growing concerns of our new era.

The League of Nations failed because preventing another World War I was a poor strategy to
prevent World War II. Similarly, America cannot succeed in this new era of globalism if we
continue to view American military posture as the primary indicator of America’s “presence” in
the world.

The powers in this era will be determined in the classroom, the mosque, the church, the cafe.
It will be televised, tweeted, status updated, and blogged. We must learn that transnational
movements enacted by sub-state actors cannot be entirely dismantled or even efficiently
combated by the policies of international bodies enacted by military force. We must learn that
our presence need not always be marked by the tread of our soldiers’ boots.

Pedro Dalmau, IV
New York, March 28, 2012