Without much of anyone noticing, John McCain has declared a diplomatic offensive against all the world's non-democracies, Russia and China in particular. Fareed Zakaria has a description and criticism on the Newsweek site here, as well in today's print version of the Washington Post. As Zakaria notes, the radical proposals he makes are far more worthy of attention than the relatively minor policy differences between the Democratic candidates.
The gist of the proposal is (a) to oust Russia from the G-8 (back to G-7) while adding India and Brazil (up to G-9), pointedly excluding the second largest economy in the world, China; and (b) to set up a "League of Democracies" parallel to the U.N. With regard to the G-7/8, it was created to coordinate the global economy. Excluding China would offend them and make effective coordination more difficult. Throwing Russia out would be a gratuitous insult with no practical benefit. The League of Democracies proposal is an attempt to solve a [perceived] problem by setting up a new organization, rarely a successful approach, complicated by the definitional problem of defining the requirements for admission. What constitutes "a democracy" when Mugabe and his ilk claim the mantle?
The approach [the introduction of the Leagues of Democracies] lacks any strategic framework. What would be the gain from so alienating two great powers? How would the League of Democracies fight terrorism while excluding countries like Jordan, Morocco, Egypt and Singapore? What would be the gain to the average American to lessen our influence with Saudi Arabia, the central banker of oil, in a world in which we are still crucially dependent on that energy source?
Zacaria's position is that
.... McCain has turned into a foreign-policy schizophrenic, alternating between neoconservative posturing and realist common sense. His speech reads like it was written by two very different people, each one given an allotment of a few paragraphs on every topic.
I agree. McCain's current worldview is fatally flawed and poses a danger to an unaware electorate. Twisting Molly Ivins's last column, "We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, 'Stop [him], now!'"