U.S. foreign policy isn\u2019t popular at the moment either, especially among our allies. The Germans are angry because we pointlessly tapped Angela Merkel\u2019s telephone. The Saudis are angry because we won\u2019t join the war in Syria. President Obama\u2019s failure to become the world savior that the Norwegians on the Nobel Peace Prize committee so fervently expected him to be has caused widespread disappointment.<\/p>\n
And yet, when a disaster unfolds and resources have to be rapidly mobilized, it\u2019s as if nothing had changed. One of the largest typhoons on record hit the Philippines last week. The extent of the damage isn\u2019t yet known. But the U.S. response is already larger \u2014 by a factor of hundreds \u2014 than that of the largest economy in East Asia. The United States is sending an aircraft carrier and other ships to the worst-hit regions and has promised $20\u2009million in emergency aid. Millions more will be raised by U.S. charities. The British are sending a warship and $16\u2009million. Even the Vatican has promised $4\u2009million. And the government of China, the new land of opportunity? One hundred thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
There are politics behind China\u2019s stinginess. China recently made claims on Philippine territory, citing historical documents that date to the fifth century. The Philippine government responded with anger, a lawsuit and an invitation to the U.S. Navy to reopen some bases it closed in the 1990s. There are also politics behind American generosity, which partly reflects the renewed warmth and military cooperation between Washington and Manila.<\/p>\n
But these differing responses to the typhoon also signify a different set of attitudes toward power, and not just \u201csoft power\u201d: Americans, like Europeans, have long believed that strength and wealth entail responsibility. That\u2019s why two former U.S. presidents voluntarily coordinated the international response to the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia, even though Indonesia had no U.S. naval base. That\u2019s why massive amounts of U.S. aid went to victims of the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir, even though relations between the United States and Pakistan were deteriorating at the time.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s also why an American president who is actively uninterested in engaging with the Syrian conflict has pledged $1.16\u2009billion in humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees, accounting for nearly 30\u2009percent of all such aid; European contributions as a whole make up a good percentage of the rest. China\u2019s contribution, meanwhile, comes to $3 million, less than that of Luxembourg. China plays an enormous political role in Syria \u2014 the Chinese veto has helped keep the United Nations firmly sidelined there \u2014 but clearly does not feel obligated to help those affected by its decisions.<\/p>\n
The Chinese do give development aid, but differently: not in response to tragedies, not to counter disaster, but to facilitate the export of raw materials to China. There is merit to some of China\u2019s efforts, especially in Africa. But the Chinese state is not, for the most part, interested in generosity for its own sake. Nor do many Chinese billionaires believe that new wealth brings new obligations. Several of them refused even to meet Bill Gates a few years ago, apparently because they were afraid he might ask them to give away some of their money.<\/p>\n
All of which is not an elaborate excuse for America\u2019s messy foreign policy, or the still-weak American economy, or the indecisive American president. It\u2019s just a little reminder: U.S. strength may be waning, U.S. status may be fading and U.S. attraction for talented foreigners may soon taper off. But when America is no longer a superpower, you will be sorry it\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
American foreign policy is a mess, much of the world is mad at us, and our power seems to be declining.\u00a0 But there is one area that America does well and the rest of the world knows it and respects us for it:\u00a0 Whenever a disaster strikes anywhere in the world, the United States government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,23],"tags":[2862,2859,2644],"class_list":["post-17150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-america","category-international","tag-disaster-relief","tag-philippines-typhoon","tag-u-s-foreign-relations"],"yoast_head":"\n
American generosity & foreign relations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"American foreign policy is a mess, much of the world is mad at us, and our power seems to be declining.\u00a0 But there is one area that America does well and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/american-generosity-foreign-relations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"American generosity & foreign relations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"American foreign policy is a mess, much of the world is mad at us, and our power seems to be declining.\u00a0 But there is one area that America does well and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/american-generosity-foreign-relations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-11-15T10:45:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-11-15T03:40:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/american-generosity-foreign-relations\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/american-generosity-foreign-relations\/\",\"name\":\"American generosity & foreign relations\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-11-15T10:45:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-11-15T03:40:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"American foreign policy is a mess, much of the world is mad at us, and our power seems to be declining.\u00a0 But there is one area that America does well and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/american-generosity-foreign-relations\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/american-generosity-foreign-relations\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/american-generosity-foreign-relations\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"American generosity & foreign relations\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"American generosity & foreign relations","description":"American foreign policy is a mess, much of the world is mad at us, and our power seems to be declining.\u00a0 But there is one area that America does well and","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/american-generosity-foreign-relations\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"American generosity & foreign relations","og_description":"American foreign policy is a mess, much of the world is mad at us, and our power seems to be declining.\u00a0 But there is one area that America does well and","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/american-generosity-foreign-relations\/","og_site_name":"Cranach","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","article_published_time":"2013-11-15T10:45:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-11-15T03:40:14+00:00","author":"Gene Veith","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gene Veith","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/american-generosity-foreign-relations\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/american-generosity-foreign-relations\/","name":"American generosity & foreign relations","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-11-15T10:45:46+00:00","dateModified":"2013-11-15T03:40:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1"},"description":"American foreign policy is a mess, much of the world is mad at us, and our power seems to be declining.\u00a0 But there is one area that America does well and","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/american-generosity-foreign-relations\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/american-generosity-foreign-relations\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/11\/american-generosity-foreign-relations\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"American generosity & foreign relations"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/","name":"Cranach","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1","name":"Gene Veith","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gene Veith"},"description":"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17150\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}