There’s a long-standing tendency in U.S. foreign policy to cloak the pursuit of American interests in the garment of democratic ideals; both to make it more palatable at home and to put the best face on it abroad. As Biden pushes the view that U.S. foreign policy must reflect American values, he should be explicit, making it clear to Americans that we face a complex, messy world, and that pursuing American interests and security will require dealing on a regular basis with all sorts of regimes. Dividing the world into democracies and autocracies may make for rousing speeches, but it gets in the way of addressing the world the way it is.

Source: Washington Post July 15, 2021 20:18 UTC