Both Washington and its pundits on both sides of the aisle have got to come around to the fact that the number of disincentives for being friendly with the U.S. are rapidly increasing, and it's not longer just the radical fringes. In Latin America, where we can't even seem to hold confirmation hearings for our diplomatic appointees, it simply pays much, much more to accept unconditional aid from Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, or even strike up relationships based on credit and guns from Russia and China. In Eastern Europe, Poland and the Czech Republic stick their necks out in their reluctant agreement to host a missile shield, only to have it withdrawn and watch the Obama administration throw them right into a conceded "sphere of influence" of Russian revanchism.
From Southeast Asia, to the Stans of Central Asia, to Muslim areas of Africa, the United States is emphasizing relationships with abusive dictators over the fledgling democracy movements, unwittingly raising the prospects of newly hostile Islamic states. We don't even need to ask leaders such as Jose Maria Aznar or Mikheil Saakashvili the personal political costs of support the United States.
Worst of all, I am one of the people who actually believes that peaceful cooperation in the international community and the active and respectful engagement of the United States in key alliances is a cornerstone of global security - that's why it is such a pity to see these relationships dependent on a battered spouse syndrome ... one of these times, they might not come back. A slip of the tongue on just one cable news show means nothing, but if the U.S. doesn't get back on the same page as the rest of its friends, these lamentations of isolation could become self-fulfilling.
