A Christmas wish list for competent leaders

As America enters the 2024 presidential campaign this time, it is not “the economy, stupid”, but foreign policy that should take precedence, since the list of international conflicts and risks of a doomsday scenario is constantly growing.  The Middle East and Ukraine are already on fire, and, as historian Niall Ferguson writes in The Times, “an ideological as well as geopolitical division between the countries of the ‘Rimland’ (the Anglosphere, Western Europe, and Japan) and those of the Eurasian ‘Heartland’ threatens to become the next crisis in a cascade of conflict that has the potential to escalate to a Third World War especially if China seizes the moment — perhaps as early as 2024 — to impose a blockade on Taiwan.” 

Add to this pack the reports about potential major Washington-Moscow conflict escalation due to the Biden administration’s intentions to seize more than $300 billion in Russian central bank assets stashed in Western nations and hand them to Ukraine.

Nowadays, we hear that the recent advances in artificial intelligence could accidentally cause a global conflict.  Eric Schmidt, the former Google CEO, told the Axios AI+ summit in Washington that there are not sufficient safeguards on A.I. and that it is “only a matter of time before humans lost control of it which could pose a risk to humanity on the scale of a pandemic or nuclear war.”

So is there a way out from these horrors, or we are doomed?  As the saying goes, it is not over until it is over, and if any elements of democracy in the U.S. still exist, then hope is with the results of November 2024 elections.  We and the world need a new team of American leaders with the geostrategic vision capable to navigate U.S. foreign policy in these turbulent times.

The current “Magnificent Seven” team — Joe Biden, Tony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, Victoria Nuland, Lloyd Austin, Chuck Schumer, Ben Cardin — obviously is the problem, not the solution.  Former Democrat congresswoman and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard speaks of “Biden’s betrayal” since during his inauguration: he promised “to bring our country together, to be a president for all Americans, no matter who they voted for, and he promised to get us closer to peace.  Instead he is tearing our country apart, pouring fuel on the fire of divisiveness, and leading us to the brink of world war and nuclear annihilation.”    

Biden, who portrayed himself as a defender of democracy around the world, has largely contributed to the degradation of American democracy .

A recent report by Law Forward, “A Democracy Crisis in the Making,” presents numerous examples of the increasing attempts to undermine U.S. democracy.  Surprisingly, one doesn’t see the names of Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin listed as responsible for these misdeeds.

The report analyzes the nationwide trend of state legislatures considering — and, in some cases, enacting — laws that would increase the risk of election subversion.  “These laws could contribute to an election outcome that doesn’t reflect the will of voters.”

The recent decision by the Colorado Supreme Court to remove Trump from the ballot is seen by many experts as unconstitutional.  According to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., “Colorado Supreme Court ruling makes America look like a Banana Republic.  Why doesn’t every American understand that if they can do this to a former U.S. President, EVERYONE is vulnerable to punishment for crimes with which they have never been convicted?”

There is a reasonable expectation that the U.S. Supreme Court will overrule this decision, but even if it does, and even if Trump wins, this doesn’t guarantee that he will be America’s and the world’s savior.  So far, we haven’t heard his clear peace agenda.  He did say that he will stop all the war, but he hasn’t explained how.   

In conclusion, here is my version of the “Magnificent Seven” team of experts, in alphabetical order, who have enough knowledge and expertise to design and implement a peace agenda: Tucker Carlson; Tulsi Gabbard; Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.; Douglas McGregor; John Mearsheimer; Rand Paul; Jeffrey Sachs.    

Anyone who wants to add names to this list is welcome to do it.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.