20 Years Ago in FP

"The U.S. habit of acting unilaterally — over Afghanistan… or the Middle East — and then measuring its allies’ fidelity according to their willingness to follow seems unshakeable. Nevertheless, the United States has, and its allies have endowed it with, a responsibility for action in the last resort. Americans can justly protest that friends and ...

"The U.S. habit of acting unilaterally -- over Afghanistan... or the Middle East -- and then measuring its allies' fidelity according to their willingness to follow seems unshakeable. Nevertheless, the United States has, and its allies have endowed it with, a responsibility for action in the last resort. Americans can justly protest that friends and antagonists complain about U.S. unilateralism, but nevertheless expect the United States to intervene... and criticize it if it does not.”
-John W. Holmes
"The Dumbbell Won't Do”

"The U.S. habit of acting unilaterally — over Afghanistan… or the Middle East — and then measuring its allies’ fidelity according to their willingness to follow seems unshakeable. Nevertheless, the United States has, and its allies have endowed it with, a responsibility for action in the last resort. Americans can justly protest that friends and antagonists complain about U.S. unilateralism, but nevertheless expect the United States to intervene… and criticize it if it does not.”
-John W. Holmes
"The Dumbbell Won’t Do”

"At present, America acts like a blind, lurching elephant on the field of international competition. It was folly to think that the EEC [European Economic Community] would allow GATT [General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade] to take up a U.S. initiative to reduce EEC agricultural subsidies, especially on the heels of the U.S. restriction on imports of West European steel.”
-Thomas R. Graham
"Global Trade: War & Peace”

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