Submitted by admin on Fri, 2006-03-17 09:01. ::
The US says it aims to end tyranny around the world -- characterized as a combination of brutality, poverty, instability, corruption and suffering under despotic rulers and systems. At least seven nations are identified as currently suffering under these conditions: North Korea, Iran, Syria, Cuba, Belarus, Burma and Zimbabwe.
Despite ongoing military action in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US concedes that al-Qaeda's operational capabilities have been degraded, not destroyed, and that the fight continues against insurgents in Iraq. Both nations remain on the front line of the "war on terror."
The US sees its war on terror as a battle of arms and a battle of ideas, but not as a battle of religions. Terrorism springs from political alienation, perceived injustices, conspiracy, misinformation and an ideology that justifies murder. It offers democracy as an alternative ideology to terrorism.
To fight terror, the US will work to prevent attacks before they occur; deny weapons of mass destruction to rogue states and terrorists; deny terrorist groups sanctuary within rogue states; deny terrorists control of any nation.
The left-wing leaders of Cuba and Venezuela, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, are criticized as, respectively, an oppressive dictator and an anti-democratic demagogue.
The US backs plans for existing nuclear exporters to produce and export nuclear energy without spreading nuclear weapons. Specifically regarding Iran, described as the greatest single challenge of the time, the US aims to prevent it acquiring nuclear weapons but also, more broadly, to change the nature of the state. It stresses the need to continue six-party talks with North Korea, but also calls for greater openness within that society.
Learning from the diplomatic near-isolation of the invasion of Iraq, the document notes that some nations differ with the US over how to tackle Islamic radicalism. All diplomatic relations must be placed in a proper context, with bilateral initiatives unlikely to succeed. It stresses the desirability of democracy and economic stability in the Western hemisphere; good governance and peace in Africa; increasing democratic participation and peace in the Middle East; the continued transformation of Nato and the European Union; the respecting of human rights and freedoms Russia and China.
Public health challenges such as HIV/Aids and pandemic flu are among the new challenges the US aims to tackle. The illicit trade in drugs, sex, or people, as well as environmental destruction -- natural or man-made -- also requires close attention.
Existing international organizations have a role to play, the US says, but individual situations may be better served by "coalitions of the willing". All of these challenges, the US feels, are better faced by effective democracies than repressive or poorly governed states.
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