The freedom of others

„After enjoying a good run in the 1980s and 1990s, democracy has been playing defense lately. Dictators have grown wise to people power. China, Russia, Iran and Cuba have been more successful exporting and extolling their systems than democracies have been in promoting theirs. In his first two years, President Obama seemed only sporadically attuned to this negative shift. In Cairo, Oslo and elsewhere, he spoke powerfully about freedom, dignity and democracy. But democratic allies felt that his focus was on improving relations with authoritarian powers, while democracy activists felt there was always some priority higher than theirs: nuclear nonproliferation, counterterrorism, climate change.

Then a couple of weeks ago, in his second annual address to the U.N. General Assembly, Obama declared that »freedom, justice and peace in the lives of individual human beings« are, for the United States, »a matter of moral and pragmatic necessity«. »So we stand up for universal values because it's the right thing to do«, the president said. »But we also know from experience that those who defend these values for their people have been our closest friends and allies, while those who have denied those rights - whether terrorist groups or tyrannical governments - have chosen to be our adversaries«. Most interestingly, Obama appealed to younger democracies to incorporate their values into their foreign policy, too. »Recall your own history«, he urged them. »Because part of the price of our own freedom is standing up for the freedom of others.« (...)

Ultimately, other nations will test Obama's actions against his words. Democracy promotion must always compete with other core interests in American foreign policy, but if freedom is, as he said, a »pragmatic necessity«, then there have to be times when it takes precedence over those other interests.”