The disaster in Iraq has made a lot of Americans wish for the days of isolationism. With rumors flying about war with Iran and special CIA missions in Pakistan, and with the miserable histories of conflicts in Latin America, Afghanistan, Vietnam, and Mozambique looming as testaments to decades of wrongheaded American foreign policy, it’s tempting to say that the world would be better off if we just left it alone.

But I believe a middle course exists: internationalism, or the effort to play a positive role in helping other peoples solve their problems. Call me naive if you like. But I think we can see two ongoing positive examples of internationalism right now: Kofi Annan’s mediation in Kenya, and Arab League General Secretary Amr Moussa’s personal involvement in Lebanon’s political crisis.

Annan and Moussa may not succeed. But at least they’re trying. And at a time when opening the international section of the New York Times or visiting the BBC’s website brings little news except that of tragedy, war, and suffering, we have to find hope where we can. And we have to look toward the future. The era of heavy-handed meddling has been disastrous. To get beyond it, we’ll need global leaders with the diplomatic savvy to work through complicated problems in a manner that is fair, patient, and productive.

KENYA

In Kenya, Annan has not achieved everything he hoped for. Sitting down with Kibaki and Odinga’s teams has brought waves of frustration from all sides, as well as personal criticism of Annan himself. Yet Annan says the negotiations are progressing, and that a settlement may come as soon as next week. Expectations are running high among the Kenyan public, but participants in the talks have voiced more moderate optimism.

Regardless of the outcome, I applaud Annan’s efforts. His patient involvement, I am sure, does not come without personal sacrifice. He has truly answered the call of duty. In the end, he may take some real credit for helping to reduce the rising wave of violence in Kenya.

LEBANON

In Lebanon, an ongoing dispute about the selection of a new president has strained the country’s tenuous pluralism almost to the breaking point. Waves of assassinations have destabilized the political system, and constant interference by Lebanon’s neighbors (Syria and Israel, in particular) doesn’t help either.

Amr Moussa has attempted to help Lebanese leaders solve their problems for years, attempting to repeat the Arab League’s prior diplomatic success in brokering a Lebanon peace agreement in 1989. In the new year, he has already made two visits to Beirut. The latest meetings, in plain terms, failed. This failure comes despite the fact that the Arab League itself presented a plan for resolving the crisis, a plan with unanimous approval from Arab foreign ministers. Moussa, who extended his visit to continue talks, is clearly frustrated, but still expressing hope.

Lebanon offers less likelihood of resolution than Kenya does, it seems. But I applaud Moussa’s efforts as well. Again, it is the personal involvement on the part of world leaders that commands my attention, the willingness to roll up one’s sleeves and work on a problem, jaw-jaw. I think the world needs more of that, and with greater institutional support for the involved international diplomacy of leaders like Annan and Moussa, the results could be truly astounding.

AN EYE TOWARD THE FUTURE

A lot of Americans harbor the fear that a malevolent, omnipotent world government will one day “take away our freedoms.” But the reality is that most international organizations cannot simply impose their wills on governments, politicians, or people. Annan cannot force a solution in Kenya, just as Moussa cannot in Lebanon. Yet these men are showing the value of the human touch in international politics, demonstrating that other people’s problems are, in many very real senses, our problems too. We all lose if Kenya plunges into violence. We all lose if Lebanon continues to fall apart. We lose morally, we lose strategically, and we lose in many ways that only become obvious later down the road. In an interconnected world, we have to learn to live with each other. And we have to talk to each other. If international leaders like Annan and Moussa can help facilitate that, I’m all for it.

WHAT'S NEXT?

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