What has been the effects of the “War on terror” of the U.S. Foreign Policy?

U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War was characterized by inclusiveness, the disposition the Nation showed to support any country that opposed or was threatened by communism. 

After the Cold War came the "war on terror."

The War on Terror  is the term used to reffer to an international military campaign which started as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US. 

Terrorists tried to crash planes into the World Trade Center in 1993 and bombed the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. Then came the attacks of September 11, 2001. In response, the United States attacked Afghanistan. 

During the war on terror, the US has not been as inclusive as it was in during the period of the Cold War.

But since the rush to erradicate terrorism came, the United States did not realize how deep the fault lines in Iraqi society were between Kurds and Arabs, Sunnis and Shiites, and the members of different tribes and local religious groups. (Foreign Policy).

Nowadays because of the destruction of the traditional Iraqi society and social boundaries because of the devastation the war brought, for the first time in centuries power is in the hands of the Iraqi Shiites.

The War on Terror launched by the Bush administration as a consequence to the 9/11 attacks has reshaped various features of US foreign policy and will have a huge impact on international relations and global strategic configurations, as it happened with the Shiites taking over the power in Iraq.

In an attempt of isolationism of terrorism, President Bush presented the Bush Doctrine, stating "you are either with us or against us", by this he was making preassure in other countries to support the US in the rasing conflict, as it is clear, this policy does NOT allow neutrality. 

Somehow and it is very shamely to say that after 12 years the struggle to "make the world a peaceful place", the world is not a safer place to live in. 
The US caught Sadam Houssein and Osama Bin Laden the names and faces of terrorism, and still the war has not finished, and it is then when I reflect about the real intentions of the US intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The citizens of these cities are living in precarious and non safe situation. Poverty increased, diseases and opportunnities to develop are almost nule. So where is prosperity?

As a personal thought, I can't wait to see the US remove it's troops from these territories, since the conflict is leading NOWHERE but more devastation.

SOURCES:

Foreign Affairs

People's Daily Online

How did the U.S. attempt to stop the spread of communism and influence international security during Cold War?

The Cold War, often dated from 1947 to 1991, was a sustained state of political and military tension between powers in the Western Bloc, dominated by the United States with NATO among its allies, and powers in the Eastern Bloc, dominated by the Soviet Union along with the Warsaw Pact. This began after the success of their temporary wartime alliance against Nazi Germany leaving the USSR and the US as two superpowers with profound economic and political differences. A neutral faction arose with the Non-Aligned Movement founded by Egypt, India, and Yugoslavia; this faction rejected association with either the US-led West or the Soviet-led East.

As the U.S. was the leading nation of the Western Bloc, they made strict restrictions to stop the spread of communism among the world, and those restrictions were compacted mainly by the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan which I describe ahead.

TRUMAN DOCTRINE:

The intend of President Harry S. Truman by the Truman Doctrine was that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat of comunism. As an effect the Doctrine gave a new direction to US foreign policy, from its usual scope of regional conflicts not directly involving the United States, to one of possible intervention in long distance conflicts. 

Truman said that the Cold War was a choice between freedom and oppression.   Therefore, Americans would have to abandon their decision not to get involved in European affairs; America was FORCED to get involved: 

Under the reality of a deteriorating relationship with the Soviet Union and the appearance of Soviet thoughts in Greek and Turkish affairs, the withdrawal of British assistance to Greece was the breaking point for the Truman Administration to reorient American foreign policy.

By this speech Truman reincorporated the Monroe Doctrine and led directly to the Marshall Plan.   It set a precedent for the principle of ‘collective security’ and NATO. 
It brought up the ‘Red Scare’ in the United States and in the USSR it convinced the Soviets that America was indeed threating Soviet Communism.

  

The Doctrine also embraced the policy of ‘containment’, meaning by this to keep trapped comunism within the boundaries of the USSR, and to avoid at any cost the spread within some other Nations. It was indeed a priority for the National Security of the US to stop the spread of comunist and totalitalian thoughts, since their security was depending in the clear break up with the traditional avoidance of commidtment with Western Hemisfere nations during periods of peace, the Truman Doctrine committed the US to support democratic nations to hold on political integrity obviously the US was receiving more hegemony and support back.

Marshall Plan:

After WW II, Europe was devastated. Millions of people died during this period of time, not just by war but because of poverty. There was no industry all along Europe, this meant no jobs or money to invest.   Transportation infrastructure were in ruins. This seemed to be the end of the old continet as a major poer. The only major power in the world that was not significantly damaged was the United States. 

Since 1945 and until 1947, the United States supported european economic recovery with direct financial aid.  Military assistance to Greece and Turkey was being given to prevent the spread of comunism in the region. 

Officially known as the European Recovery Program (ERP), the Marshall Plan was made to rebuild the economies of western Europe.  Marshall was convinced the key to restoration of political stability lay in the revitalization of national economies because in the long term he dimensioned political stability in Western Europe as a key to content the advances of communism in that region.  Besided they would become supporters of the ideology of the US in the Cold War.

The nations supported by the Marshall Plan were assisted greatly in their economic recovery.  From 1948 - 1952 European economies grew like never before in history.  Trade relations led to the formation of the North Atlantic alliance. Economic prosperity led by coal and steel industries helped to shape what we know now as the European Union.   

SOURCES:
http://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/TrumanDoctrine
http://www.marshallfoundation.org/TheMarshallPlan.htm

American Studies Notes by Louis Monroy

What policy measures taken during the interwar period represented a shift from interventionism to isolationism and how did they affect America’s international stance?

After the fists world wide conflict, World War I the US attempted to become less involved in world affairs, not just to protect their economy, but because the population demanded so.

The US refused to join the League of Nations (intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace.).

Although President Wilson made preassure within the congress to make the US a member, opposition in the Senate was significant since americans, after learning of the destruction and cost of WW I, opposed to involve their nation in another European conflict which could lead to another devastating war, they perceived the European States as conflict makers and likely to become involved in disputes that would drag the USA to a conflict that didn’t affect their own interests.

The US closed the doors to immigration during the 1920's. Early on the US had excluded Chinese, Japanese, and other Asians, but later the US began to exclude even Europeans, particularly eastern and southern Europeans.

Why did the US, a nation of immigrants, suddenly turn against immigration?

1) Anti-European feelings after WWI;

2) Organized labor believed cheap immigrant labor forced down wages;

3) Railroads and basic industries were well developed by 1920's and industrialists no longer felt the need for masses of unskilled workers;

4) More established Americans descended from northern Europe felt recent immigrants from eastern and southern Europe could never be truly American, and they also saw them as inferior; 

5) Radical political movement and ideologies such as socialism, communism, and anarchism were viewed as European in origin and as potential threats to political stability in the United States.

Immigration Laws:

1) Quota Act of 1921 – limited immigration from each country to 3 % of total number who had immigrated in 1910 and set a yearly limit of 350,000

2) The 1924 quota reduced the quota to 2%, the base year changed from 1910 to 1890. This discriminated against eastern and southern Europeans because many had come to the US after 1890

3) National Origins Act of 1929 – the base year was moved to 1920, but total number was set at 150,000

The War of Tariffs:

The US established very high tariffs on imports to blind their economy from foreign products. Keeping out the cheap foreign products the population was forced to buy the expensive American produced products.

So, as a result to the un-loyal practices from the US, foreign nations responded by raising their own tariffs and excluding American manufactured and farm products from foreign markets.

War Debts Unpaid:

During the WWI the European nations borrowed millions of dollars from the US to bare the war expenses, and they accumulated an enormous debt, about $10 billion dollars, so the US had to lower their interest rates to incentive the fast payment from Europe, but high tariffs in the US prevented Europeans from earning the dollars they needed to pay off the loans.

So they looked to Germany’s war reparation costs as the solution to their debt problems since the total amount of German reparations was $33 billion. Germany however was completely unable to pay the reparations. Germany even attempted to borrow money from European and US banks to pay the reparations, but since the situation was so chaotic they wouldn’t lend any money to Germany.

By 1930 Germany was totally unable to make any other reparation payments.

As we have seen all along history American relations with Latin America had been characterized by US intervention to protect American investments and lives, this under the belief of the Monroe Doctrine.

Off course, Latin American governments were oppressed and uncomfortable by US military intervention and the influence of American business on their economies and policies.

By the early 1930's however relations with Latin America had improved, the State Department declared the Monroe Doctrine would no longer be used to justify US intervention in Latin American domestic affairs, as a result Latin American nations encouraged US investment and gave greater protection to these investments.

The Pact of Paris attempted to settle peace world wide and was accepted by 62 nations.

Somehow, a few years later the US was dragged into war by the Japanese attack to Pearl Harbor and brought the nation’s military hegemony back in the international system, bringing also terrible consequences as the nuclear bomb release.

After this moment in history, the US have had an unstopped involvement in international conflicts, whether as a supporter, as a protector or as an aggressor.

SOURCE: http://www.andycrown.net/isolation.htm and American Studies Class notes by: Louis Monroy and 

How did the U.S. expand from a country affected by a civil war to a "new empire" at the turn of the XXth Century?

The American Civil War was a war fought from 1861 to 1865 between the United States (the "Union" or the "North") and several Southern slave states that had declared their secession and formed the Confederate States of America (the "Confederacy" or the "South"). The war had its origin in the fractious issue of slavery, and, after four years of bloody combat (mostly in the South), the Confederacy was defeated, slavery was abolished, and the difficult Reconstruction process of restoring unity and guaranteeing rights to the freed slaves began.

The American Civil War was one of the earliest true industrial wars. Railroads, the telegraph, steamships, and mass-produced weapons were employed extensively. The mobilization of civilian factories, mines, shipyards, banks, transportation and food supplies all foreshadowed World War I. It remains the deadliest war in American history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 750,000 soldiers and an undetermined number of civilian casualties.

 "Killing ground: photographs of the Civil War and the changing American landscape". John Huddleston (2002). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-6773-6. Viewed cover November 28, 2012.

After such a terrible chapter in the developing history in The United States, where American's fought American's the aftermath indicated

• Loss of human life
• Material destruction
• Strenghtenness of the union and the expansion to the west
• Secession initiatives stopped
• Urbanization and industrial character over the rebuilt cities
• Quick process of postwar reconstruction they gain RETRUST so the reintegration process is fast.
• The country began a class conflict process marked by polarization
  created through wealth, misery and political violence.

 From Early XIX Century to Mid-XIX Century, very little attention was put to foreign affairs as the Civil war dominated all aspects of politics in the U.S. but there seemed to be 2 interests that guided America in

its pursuit of foreign interests:

1.  Pursue favorable trade agreements and alignments to acquire territory and exert power over the Pacific and the Caribbean
2. Foster the spread of Christian and democratic ideals within the continent.(MANIFEST DESTINY)

The reconstruction and evolution of the empire tooked place from 1865-1913 within 3 specific scenarios:

• Economy (Industrial Revolution):

The "North" who now controlls Congress starts passing laws to protect northern products against cheap European goods, this helped the founding of American industrial complexes. (FACTORIES = JOB OPPORTUNITIES = FLOW OF ECONOMY = FINANCIAL EQUALITY)

• Politics (Military Strenghtness):

The American-Spanish War

Important facts:

- U.S. declares war against Spain but  they have NO wishes to annex Cuba. (1895)

- It is the first international conflict where the U.S. Army and Navy intervene.

- A quick victory for the U.S. ending in the defeat of the Spanish and the annexation of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Phillipines.

To get even with the support given to Cuba, the U.S. presented The Platt amendment which stated that

Cuba could make no treaties without U.S. agreement. Cuba could not create indebtedness beyond its
means to pay. The U.S. reserved the right to intervene in Cuba to maintain law and order.The U.S. was granted rights to a naval base at Guantanamo Bay until 1999, which they still run. (COMPLETE CONTROL OVER THE CUBAN POLITICAL LIFE, NO NEED FOR ANNEXATION)

The whithe's men thought to Christianize and educate inferior people

The “open door policy” which stated that the Chinese empire had to remain whole, united and under Chinese control.  China would be open to US trade and missionaries, opposing European colonialism and supporting the opening of foreign markets.

• Opposing colonialism and fostering open markets would domiante U.S. Foreign policy into the XXI century.

In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt helps Panamanians revolt against Colombia, seizing for the U.S. a 10 mile wide area through Panama. They began building an isthmian canal which opened in 1914., allowing access to U.S. ships both in the Atlantic and the Pacific. (CONTROL OVER THE SEAS AND CENTRAL-SOUTH AMERICA)

Over the next several decades, until Presidents Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt pursued a “good neighbor” policy, the United States continued to intervene in Latin America.

And so, how did The United States of America evolved from the old and distroyed empire the Civil War led, into the new powerful and interventionist empire that was just described?

•The nation's economic approach to foreign affairs,empowered by the risign economic powers inside the country due to the Industrial Revolution, led to an overseas sight. They were so optimistic about the reborned nation and the positive impact of the Industrial Revolution, economy was rising and they started to buy new territories (Expansionism).
• The growth of the Navy and army during the Civil war made the American military much more powerful, with batallions ready to itnervene in the continent and outside of the continent, examples: American- Spanish War (Cuba, Philipines, Puerto Rico)

• The establishment of clear ideals and principles in its approach to other nations: Open door policy with
China, support for the Panama Canal Project via doctrines such as the Monroe Doctrine (and its influence on Latin America), economic expansionism (with its investments in foreign lands –Cuba) and its continuous belief in the Manifest Destiny.

And that is how the great power we see today began. They settled values that they still carryon today, and having such congruence between their political speech and the actions taken is what keeps The United States as the ruling nation.

Never the less, the speed of the establishment of all this policies make me think about conspiracies, I mean, It took less than a decade to run all this operations and expansion their power as they did.

What is the intended scope of the second amendment to the constitution of the United States? 

The Second Amendment (Amendment II) to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights. The Supreme Court of the United States first ruled in 2008 that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess and carry firearms.

But, is it really necessary for the US citizens nowadays to carry on arms to protect their lives?

The tragedies at Waco in 1993 and in Oklahoma City in 1995, both of which involved a modern militia movement, brought the insurrectionist interpretation of the Second Amendment to the public’s attention and prompted vigorous critiques. And since then the subject has always been in vogue and in a constant disclaim with and against the N.R.A.

The United States has the highest rate of civilian gun ownership in the world, twice that of the country with the second highest rate, which is Yemen. The United States also has the highest homicide rate of any affluent democracy, nearly four times higher than France or the United Kingdom, six times higher than Germany. In the United States in 2008, guns were involved in two-thirds of all murders. Of interest to many people concerned about these matters, then, is when the debate over the Second Amendment will yield to a debate about violence.

In the context when this law was originated it is easy to understand why they wanted to be protected, the society was ending up a war and was passing through complex social changes, but today, to think that the biggest world power as a State is unable to provide with enough security to its citizens, so that they need to be own protected, is just nonsense to me.

In my opinion the State should rather invest in social adaptation programs of a higher civil education in order to make a sustainable and remarkable change in society, so that they won't be a protected society but a safe society.

http://www.newyorker.com/online//newsdesk/2012/04/the-second-amendment.html

What were the effects of American Independence on the establishment of a form of government in the USA?

Why did the war happened?

The war was the result of the political American Revolution. Colonists galvanized around the position that the Stamp Act of 1765, imposed by Parliament of Great Britain, was unconstitutional

The colonists claimed that, as they were British subjects, taxation without representation in Parliament was illegal. The American colonists formed a unifying Continental Congress and a shadow government in each colony, though at first remaining loyal to the king.

The American boycott of taxed British tea led to the Boston Tea Party in 1773, when shiploads of tea were destroyed. London responded by ending self-government in Massachusetts . In April 1775 Gage learned that weapons were being gathered in Concord, and he sent British troops to seize and destroy them. Local militia confronted the troops and exchanged fire. After repeated pleas to the British monarchy for intervention with Parliament, any chance of a compromise ended when the Congress were declared traitors by royal decree, and they responded by declaring the independence of a new sovereign nation, the United States of America, on July 4, 1776. 

·         American Loyalists rejected the Declaration, and sided with the king; they were excluded from power everywhere. American attempts to expand the rebellion into Quebec and the Floridas were unsuccessful.

France, Spain and the Dutch Republic all secretly provided supplies, ammunition and weapons to the revolutionaries starting early in 1776.

In 1783, the Treaty of Paris ended the war and recognized the sovereignty of the United States over the territory bounded roughly by what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and the Mississippi River to the west.

A wider international peace was agreed, in which several territories were exchanged.

Colin Gordon Calloway, The American Revolution in Indian Country(1995)

The first change led by the American Revolution was the belief of equality among all society. During the Revolutionary War, wealthy military men joined the American army with poor men who were also fighting for the same cause.

Even though after the war social classes started to be insignificant, white men still looked down to Native Indian Americans and black slaves.

The North continued to look down upon slavery while the South didn't change their stance at all. Slavery was a key for the economical performance of the south so they were not agreed on abolishing it. After the Revolutionary War, the North had begun to free slaves.  The south remained in the position of keeping slavery alive.

One of the political effects from the War was that now, they could have their own powerful central government. Instead of relying on the King of Britain, they would have their own leader who would turn out to be General George Washington.

The Articles of Confederation stated that The United States of America would have a central government with a one-house congress where each state had a single vote-

The Constitution provided for a federal form of government but allowing the states to have particular powers. It is stated the division of powers.

The Bill of Rights, a document that guarantees individual rights: religion, speech, press, assembly and petition.

As an economical result of the American Revolution, the Continental Congress found it extremely difficult to pay the soldiers who fought the war. They had to resort to selling bonds to other governments such as France to be able to pay their troops. The Congress began to print paper money which they called Continentals. However when the paper money became too common, the cost of it sunk and inflation began to occur.

And so as my personal conclusion, the American Revolution led to the actual political system the United States have. 

Their central focus for them as a nation is to provide with the most important guarantees, which are stated in the declaration of independence: "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness", and by understanding this we will be able to understand the whole American Policy.

In further posts I will analyze the american conception of "Protection" talking about the 2nd Amendment to the U.S.A. Constitution. 

What processes occurred in the British Colonies for the establishment of a political system in America?

What processes occurred in the British Colonies for the establishment of a political system in America?

 

To answer this question let’s go back to the beginning of the colonization of the 13 Colonies.

The Colonization of the 13 British Colonies in North America has 4 stages:

1-      Exploring America

2-      The decision to settle

3-      Exportation

4-      Own government

The first stage was not properly a British decision, but a need when the other European countries like Spain, France and Portugal started their explorations. The resolution to settle was the great assert Great Britain did, since they were the first country with the ambition to grow their domain by actually having British people living there and not only taking advantage of the natural resources to enrich more the mother countries.

Once they settled and founded the colonies they started producing raw materials and goods that were merchandized with Great Britain and other European countries, by this they were building up an economic system based on the production and exportation of those goods.

And as a natural result from a civil settlement and life, they created and adapted their own political system.

But let's start by giving two key concepts: Colonialism and Mercantilism.

Colonialism is practice of domination which involves the subjugation of one people to another and its principal characteristic is the settlement.

On the other hand, mercantilism is an economical theory which pushes nations in a struggle for supremacy by merchandizing goods.

Both, Colonialism and Mercantilism were found in the 13 Colonies and these can be identified as the core pieces of the establishment of a political system in North America since they were pushing the settlers to an unfair way of life and oppression from the mother country.

But how did the settlement process become a political system? 

It is summarized by two words: INDIVIDUAL ENTREPRISE.

Proprietary Colonies were a result of the Stuart Restoration, by this the King Charles II gave to his supporters the title of property over the 13 colonies. The Propietors received legal titles for land ownership in America and Political Authority.

In this new system, settlers were authorized to elect and organize assemblies and make laws, even in Pennsylvania (William Penn’s Colony) they had religious freedom, a representative government and land rights.

As my personal conclusion, the evolution of the Political System during the Colonization was a proof of maturity over the developing settlements. They were not only there to “occupy” a land, but to actually progress in the New World.

They had aspirations and they fought for what they believed right.

Unfortunately, the mother country wouldn’t let them develop and grow as they were doing and they were later on, pushed to an Independence revolution.