In Uruguay, the second stop of his five-nation tour of Latin America, George W. Bush ignored the anti-American protests and remarks by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, personal jabs at Bush. Instead, Bush made some interesting remarks himself.
The whole tour of Latin America is characterized by soft, generous and understanding mood by Bush, coming bearing promises of gifts. Bush said that he was conducting "quiet and effective diplomacy". He also remarked that Americans "care about the human condition and that we believe the human condition can be improved in a variety of ways, [such as] investment." "And so the question is, how can we have constructive dialogue with our neighbors as to how to spread the benefits of investment." In addition, Bush said that "I happen to believe a world that trades freely and fairly is a world that is more likely to be able to address poverty."
Sure, these remarks were in the spirit of goodwill towards a region which is experiencing a rise of leftist leaders and anti-American sentiment. Yet, these traits are present in numerous other parts of the world, and instead of goodwill and aid, Bush bombs these countries. There's poverty in a lot of parts of the world, many which the Bush Administration completely avoids. Soft diplomacy is really not Bush's number one method of engaging countries. Are there words merely because the Latin American countries are just south of the United States and are big economic partners? This might be the case, seeing as a large portion of the tour deals with economic relationship and trade. Then why the talk of "the human condition" and poverty which Americans apparently care so much about? The Bush Administration doesn't seem to care so much about the human condition in Iraq.
Which brings us to the conclusion. Let's see now...
Diplomacy is the way to go when people close to you make bad remarks about you, whilst sending in troops and bombs works better when the people who insult you are far away. The price of human condition depends on where you are, and who your leader is. In one part of the world the US will send you aid, in another they'll send you bombs. And believing in a world that trades freely? Everything Bush has said in Latin America is just words. You can't have a double standard. In one part of the world you act generous and friendly, talking of good things for the world, using so-called soft diplomacy, all the while you threaten and bomb other countries, not really caring about the human condition, the state of which you have directly contributed to.
This is a Public Relations tour. It's a simple case of say one thing, do another. There would be bombs raining on Latin America if the rest of the world cared as little about the region as they do about Iraq.
Source:
In Uruguay Bush ignores Chavez, stresses quiet diplomacy - Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070310/wl_afp/uslatambush
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