I don’t like it when it appears that the U.S. is letting down our allies. Two recent examples suggest that the U.S. can be less than loyal when it comes to how we treat allies. The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted this week to submit a resolution to the House recognizing the massacres of hundreds of thousands of Armenian men, women and children in the aftermath of World War I as genocide. As a result, Turkey recalled their ambassador for consultations, a diplomatic action that signals their strong objections to the vote. In taking a public stand today, our American politicians are letting the sins of the past undermine relationships of today, imperiling an important alliance. Yes, historians have already ruled that it was genocide, but it’s not like this generation of leaders in Turkey are responsible for it. Why alienate them over actions taken by their ancestors? Turkey has been an important ally in Iraq, the Caucasus, and Afghanistan. Although their recent policies towards Israel and Iran suggest that their interests and ours do not always coincide, such differences remind us that our current relationship has enough challenges without dredging up the past.
Second, the U.S. recently said that we would remain neutral in the latest squabble between Argentina and Great Britain over the Falkland Islands. As you will recall, the two countries fought a war over the islands in 1982 and Great Britain won. The U.S. provided intelligence assistance at the time as an expression of support for our longtime ally. We could therefore forgive our British friends for thinking that we had already chosen sides. I’ve always been something of an Anglophile and lived for a time in London, so perhaps I’m biased. Still, I don’t think it’s biased to point out that neutrality among friends can sometimes be taken as a slap in the face.
In both these examples, there is hope that eventually the U.S. will ultimately do the right thing by our allies. The Obama Administration is said to be lobbying Congress to make sure the Armenian genocide resolution does not get to the floor for a full vote. And with the Falklands, Secretary Clinton’s talk of facilitating dialogue over a dispute that has already been decisively settled could be attributed to a desire not to offend her hosts while visiting Argentina. I’d like to think it’s nothing more than that.
