END OF REALISM:

Zoellick plies a new trade (Tom Barry , 1/14/05, Asia Times)

Both Rice and Zoellick are non-ideological foreign-policy operatives who are not idealists or true believers. Rather, they are realists who accept the neo-conservative premise of US global supremacy but want to manage that power wisely to further their notions of US national security and interests. At first glance, Zoellick could be mistaken for an ideologue, as an evangelist for free trade and a member of the neo-conservative vanguard. But when his political trajectory is more closely observed, Zoellick is better understood as a "can-do" member of the Republican foreign-policy elite - a diplomat who always keeps his eye on the prize, namely the interests of Corporate America and US global hegemony. Based on his record in the administration of president George H W Bush and the current Bush presidency, Zoellick is highly regarded as an astute deal-maker.

We've come quite a ways when the idea that unilaterally asserting American hegemony for good purposes is Realist.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 13, 2005 8:38 AM