On Thursday 27th May, Intelligence Squared hosted the debate “Obama’s foreign policy is a gift to America’s enemies”. Speaking were Simon Schama, Bill Kristol, General Jack Keane, Con Coughlin, Bernard-Henri Lévy and Philip Bobbitt.
Bill Kristol argued that Obama has put democracy in retreat and strengthened dictators, to which Simon Schama replied by pointing out that winning today’s wars involves winning over the people, not slaughtering one’s enemies – and that Kristol had supported Sarah “don’t retreat, reload” Palin. General Jack Keane accused Schama of theatricals and laid out his view of the increased global threat with military seriousness, while Philip Bobbitt claimed that Obama had won back the support of America’s allies and understood his nation’s place in the new world. Con Coughlin said Obama – like Schama, his former professor – was just talk, and that anyone who had seen the situation on the ground would agree that the American president was standing by as the world became more dangerous. But Bernard Henry Levy used his speech to claim that Obama had foreign policy down to a fine art, since he appears to be following the precepts of 6thCentury B.C. philosopher Sun Tzu, author of The Art Of War.
