David Petraeus: The World Order is Under ‘Unprecedented Threat’

David Petraeus is a retired four-star general and former director of the CIA. Due to that position, he is regarded as an expert on world-affairs, especially as relates to military matters. He has testified before Congress on these issues, and was even considered by President Trump for the position of secretary of state.

Petraeus has very much of a globalist perspective, having stated that, “After America comes North America,” making reference to his belief that NAFTA has combined the three nations into one, at least economically. In other words, he is referencing the United States in the past-tense, having implied that the era of North America as a unified entity has already begun.

He argued for significant participation by the US in world affairs and global organizations in his recent Congressional testimony.

Retired Gen. David Petraeus warned lawmakers on Wednesday that the world order created in part by the United States in the 20th century is under “unprecedented threat from multiple directions,” pointing to Russia, China, Islamist extremists and cyber threats.

Those threats are compounded by an America whose “resolve about its defense has become somewhat ambivalent,” he added.

“Americans should not take the current international order for granted,” Petraeus said at a House Armed Services Committee hearing. “It did not will itself into existence. We created it. Likewise, it is not naturally self-sustaining. We have sustained it. If we stop doing so, it will fray and, eventually, collapse.”

His remarks also touched on President Trump’s policies and actions regarding immigration and terrorism.

In speaking about the threat from extremists, Petraeus stressed that the majority of Muslims who reject extremism are the “most important ally” in fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and al Qaeda.

He is also a critic of Russia, and uses his beliefs to argue for the importance and continued support of institutes such as NATO and the EU as a continuing counterbalance against Russian goals.

“President Putin, for instance, understands that, while conventional aggression may occasionally enable Russia to grab a bit of land on its periphery, the real center of gravity is the political will of the major democratic powers to defend Euro-Atlantic institutions like NATO and the EU,” Petraeus said. “That is why Russia is tenaciously working to sow doubt about the legitimacy of these institutions and our entire democratic way of life.”

That there is some truth in what General Petraeus says is given. Whether his perspective is accurate and his beliefs  provide a framework for how the United States should engage the rest of the world, especially Russia, is another matter. Petraeus is a confirmed globalist. His remarks referring to the era of America being over, having already been replaced by the era of North America, support this fact. To use the term that stirs the emotions, he is an advocate of a New World Order.

Whatever his vision of that new order is, it is clear that the role of the US would be one of active participant working with other nations under the direction of trans-national bodies. That alone should give us pause.

Source: The Hill