Perfect is the enemy of Good

As the United States scrambles to create consensus on the Ukraine-Russia war, apart from the pain points of Europe and Asia, the US is finding resistance from the biggest player in Latin America: Brazil.

So what happened? How did the US misjudge the orientation of the incoming administration so badly? And why did they clearly prefer Lula over his predecessor? This is what Barbara Tuchman would have called folly, a policy contrary to self-interest.

Yet the US didn’t seem happy with a Pro-US ally in the Lati Americ, and it seems the US’ foreign policy makers got trapped in the idealist democratic zeal from back home and hounded Bolsorano, along with the American Media and government — both of whom wield influence, even minimally, on narrative, and hence, political fortunes.

The US also projected the issues from back home, including drawing parallels with the big bad Trump and tieing up the two. The campaign of the American left which for some reason was co-opted by the government, also distorted the narrative around the democratic process somewhat. Regardless of who wins, the US democracy narrative has ended up further fueling Anti-Americanism.

This brings us to the headline: perfect is the enemy of good. DC foreign policy establishment needs to break out of democracy (must be like me, everything including latest trends on social issues) vs autocracy (everything else).

Perhaps it’s time to retire from the role of the roving missionary of democracy and assume the role of the leader of the community of the nations that are facing the task of staring down a belligerent imperialist authoritarian inhuman entity.

Perhaps it’s time to go back to realpolitik. The US invented it after all.

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