McCain’s ”League of Democracies”

In a wide ranging speech in March, McCain talked about creating a �League of Democracies� around the world to help create international security and help advance our values and interests. The idea is from one of McCain’s advisors and that advisor expounds upon the idea in his recent book, saying we need to be conscious of the fact that there is competition amongst development models and modes of government and the West no longer has a monopoly on forms of development. He says China and Russia are perfect counter-examples: they embrace economic globalization but politically they are autocracies. The advisor says the U.S. needs to be clear about who our friends are, and we should be clearer about promoting democracy globally. He admits the idea is vague but he believes the U.S. and its democratic friends need to find a more effective alternative to the United Nations, as events in the Caucasus region highlight. McCain ruled out U.S. military intervention but has offered words of support to the tiny democracy in Georgia. McCain’s supporters point to the events in Georgia as proof of his foresight, as McCain has long been a critic of Putin’s activities recently. McCain says Russia should be excluded from the G8 group of industrialized nations because they don’t share democratic values. But McCain hasn’t talked about how a �League of Democracies� could help a country like Georgia right now. this analyst says to see the world as a list of friends or enemies gets one nowhere. He says the idea of dividing the world up misses complexities in global politics. Some experts say McCain’s rhetoric sounds a lot like the �spreading democracy rhetoric� used by neo-con hawks during the run-up to the war in Iraq, which might explain why McCain hasn’t expounded on the idea since first bringing it up in March.