by Marcus Papadopoulos
PRESIDENT Barack Obama is seriously considering a concept devised by an influential American think-tank which calls for Washington to take the lead in creating a new international institution which would have the stated aim of enforcing the rule of law globally, according to a Russian newspaper.
Kommersant reported last week that the Obama administration sees Nato as the “nucleus” for a “Concert of Democracies” which it believes would be a more effective institution than the United Nations. According to Kommersant, Vice President Joe Biden is an advocate of this idea.
Successive administrations in the United States have had little time for the UN – George W Bush scarcely bothered to hide his contempt – but the US has used Nato as an instrument for its policy and power since its creation in 1949.
The plan for Nato is the brainchild of the Princeton Project on National Security whose mission is to “develop a sustainable and effective national security strategy” for the US.
Its report, Forging A World Of Liberty Under Law, argues that the UN is “simultaneously in crisis and in demand” and “failing” to fulfil its “potential”. It urges the US to “make UN reform a top foreign policy priority through the end of the decade, as part of a broader effort to rebuild a liberal international order for the 21st century”.
The report notes that neither the US nor the rest of the international community can wait indefinitely for the UN to be reformed.
Instead, it proposes that Washington and its allies develop a worldwide “Concert of Democracies” which would “strengthen security co-operation among the world’s liberal democracies and provide a framework in which they can work together to effectively tackle common challenges – ideally within existing regional and global institutions, but if those international institutions fail, then independently”.
This new global institution, according to the report, would not be a “substitute” for the UN – providing it can be “successfully reformed”.
As regards membership, it would include all states categorised as “democratic”. Countries with “authoritarian regimes” such as Russia and China would be excluded.
The proposal for the establishment of such a Western-orientated world institution is sure to arouse suspicion in Moscow and Beijing that the US is exploring alternative means of maintaining its global pre-eminence.
