The Mac Weekly

Issue date: 9/21/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Aaron Brown An American flag placed between Yossi Beilin and Walter Mondale on the Kagin Commons stage at the Mid East Peace Summit was a telling sign of a question that has been on many minds these past few weeks.

The American flag planted between former Vice President Walter Mondale '50 and Israeli Knesset member Yossi Beilin on the Kagin Commons stage Monday afternoon was telling of a question that has not disappeared from many minds these past two weeks.

What role should the United States play-and what role can it play-on an international level?

None of the five diplomats who visited Macalester during these first weeks of classes managed to leave St. Paul without at least touching on the question. And the five speakers (two high-profile figures from the U.S. diplomatic corps and Democratic political circles, a Venezuelan ambassador, and Israeli and Palestinian legislators), with experience working in nearly every region of the world, did not stake out any markedly distinct position during their appearances at Macalester.

Richard Holbrooke, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, took his share of digs at the Bush administration, using its missteps in Iraq and failure to continue with peace dialogues in Kosovo to illustrate the fact that the United States can mess up when not under the right leadership.

Still, who else can the world turn to for a leader? The United States still has the potential to act as a positive force in international politics, and it must live up to that responsibility, Holbrooke inferred.

"When the U.S. is absent from negotiation, its chances for success are much diminished," Holbrooke said.

The rhetoric was not at all surprising coming from a man who has endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential candidacy and will be vying for the Secretary of State's job in a Democratic administration.

A week later, on the same stage, Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi also called on the United States to play "peacemaker" in the Middle East. With a few caveats-Ashrawi called on the United States to stop letting domestic political interests determine foreign policy-the lead Palestinian Authority spokesperson during the negotiations that eventually yielded the 1993 Oslo Accords envisioned the same role for the United States as Holbrooke.

Continued...

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