Carrying out Dr. Kissinger’s criterion is now important and vital than ever.

By Adam Azim Director of Public Opinions International (Washington DC)
Disseminated Worldwide by Public Opinions International
22nd November 2016|

When I was a graduate student at American University’s School of International Service, my initial adviser told me to either stick to a regional focus or to look at a specific function of international affairs. I decided to look at Afghanistan, given that my parents are immigrants from Afghanistan and because Afghanistan was the center of international politics at the time.

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When I got involved in volunteering and internships for organizations and entities dealing with Afghan policy in Washington, all I saw was gridlock and obstruction toward change from the Afghans. I do not want to name names, but I will if I have to, and I am grateful to God that I turned my back on all of them and refused to take a single dollar from them. Afghan policy circles everywhere are under the influence of one sex scandal after another and money-based corruption. After having purified myself from the filth and the second-hand toxicity that came with Afghan politics and politicians (not all of them just to be fair), I decided to take a look at politics from a global perspective.

E.H. Carr argued that democracy is incompatible with nationalist socialism advocated by the likes of Putin. What is necessary for progress is centrist democracy, and that exists in America because the adversarial system of politics in America ultimately leads to compromise, which is itself coming to the center. The Economist is one of the few magazines in the world that advances balance and centrism. The individuals who are best qualified to inform and educate the world on politics and international affairs are people called “autodidacts”. It was Epicurus who said: “Self-education is the best education.” It was in fact self-education that enabled Malcolm X to dominate the world.

Magazines like Foreign Policy are too far to the right and are insane enough to advocate a “clash of civilizations” and others like Le Monde are too far to the left and are insane enough to sponsor Anti-Americanism. I had a professor who contributed frequently to Foreign Policy and you just never knew where he stood. And it was Le Monde that labeled President Obama an “inveterate centrist” as if being a centrist was a bad thing. It’s not bad to be a centrist. In fact, centrism is something that is also being carried out by President-elect Trump. The main reason why Hillary Clinton lost the election this year is because she was too far to the right on some, if not many, issues. I have emphasized balance and centrism before, but it is vital for balance and centrism to be applied in all life situations. And what I labeled as foreign interests and foreign influence in previous posts is the influence of the Kremlin on U.S. politics through the far left. This is something TIME magazine also discussed when it described Putin’s main tactic called “The Gerasimov Doctrine.” The influence of the Kremlin on U.S. politics is something President Obama has avoided all these years, and he should be proud of himself.

There is a “criterion”, as prescribed by Dr. Henry Kissinger, in his book titled Diplomacy:

1)Democratic governments all throughout the world

2)Diplomacy based on honor and ethics

3)Balancing competing definitions of national interests and creating a power equilibrium

4)Principled Leaders

5)Defining and then balancing against common threats, which can never be done unilaterally

6)Development of individual energies, arguments, and opinions that eventually lead to world peace

Carrying out Dr. Kissinger’s criterion is now important and vital than ever.