By James R. Holmes
So the Naval Diplomat did a segment with BBC Radio 4 last night.
The interview followed up on Wednesday's commentary, in which I lampooned a certain would-be Asian superpower's obtuse leisurely approach to typhoon relief. Host Philippa Thomas raised a question about soft power, in sort of a gotchaway, when I opined that the American approach to humanitarian relief beats China's hands-down. Her question: relief efforts aren't entirely altruistic, are they?
Quoth I: of course not. States do things out of mixed motives. They hope to derive political gain from everything they do. Why should it be otherwise? But here's the difference: A nation deserving of soft power acts first in times of crisis and thinks of politics later. Does anyone think President Obama, or any other U.S. president, would hesitate to order forces to disaster-stricken areas if he saw no chance of a diplomatic windfall? Me neither. And that's my point. Soft power should be effortless, and thus genuine. Think about the U.S. military's exit from the Philippines twenty-odd years ago, after Mount Pinatubo erupted. Our armed forces responded to the disaster … then they left their Philippine bases anyway.
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