Another Example of U.S. Foreign Policy: Nicaragua

As I have tried to make very clear each of those posts below about the Middle East, there is no correlation between the given reasons behind U.S. Foreign policy and reality. Put another way, we do not leave democratic countries alone because they are democratic. Alternatively, the U.S. is quite happy to prop up a ruthlessly brutal, tyrannical dictator if there is a financial benefit to doing so.

Today, the Financial Times gave me a freebie, with an interview with the U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua. In this interview, our ambassador threatened the people of another nation, pulling no punches:

The US ambassador to Nicaragua has issued a vigorous warning to this small Central American country's electors against supporting Daniel Ortega, the veteran leftwing Sandinista leader and the frontrunner in November's presidential election.

It gets even better making me think he has spent too much time watching any given U.S. news outlet:

It's one thing to be truly democratic. It's another thing to do what the Sandinistas really have done, which is to distort and manipulate democracy for partisan and personal benefit,

I cannot think of a better description of our current administration. The man is clearly perceptive.

In any case, this serves as yet another example of how little the U.S. is concerned with democratic institutions. If democracy is the right of people to participate in their own government by choosing their electors, it should not make any difference who they elect. Therefore, the stated policy should become, "the U.S. wants to foster democratic institutions as long as they are U.S. friendly. Any democracy unfriendly to the U.S. should be discouraged.

George Bush's speechwriters do not understand that democratic countries are not always going to be friendly to the U.S. If we want democratic nations to be friendly to the U.S. the world over, we need to cultivate institutions for people, not businesses. That is the leap we have never been willing to make.

Tags: corporations, U.S. foreign policy, Nicaragua, democracy