Slip of the Tongue?

Vice President Joe Biden was in Moldova recently. He was greeted by thousands of people waving Moldovan and American flags. While there he urged the country to fight corruption. He also urged Moldovans to embrace political reform. Moldova is a small, land locked nation of four and a half million people about 800 miles east of Berlin. To encourage the nation to embrace reform, Biden stated that the U.S. was willing to provide support if the country would move for closer relations with the European Union and the U.S.

Biden went a little bit further in his comments. He told Moldovans not simply to embrace reform, but to embrace pro-Western democratic reforms. It has been clear for sometime that when an American politician speaks of reform what he means is a pro-Western democracy. Many in the U.S. believe that democracy is the highest form of political development. Marx was on the right track, he just had the wrong system.

Perhaps Biden was just trying to entice Moldova by hinting that if it moves closer to the U.S. it can expect to be rewarded. No doubt Biden believes that all real political reform leads to democracy and all democracies are good neighbors. Conventional wisdom aside, democracies do go to war. Neither does economic reform lead to capitalism nor capitalism to wealth. Even if it did, capitalism is certainly no guarantor of peace. The struggle for markets and resources has led to endless intrigue and countless wars.

Biden did not simply encourage reform, he encouraged reform in a manner most suitable to the U.S. and the West. It is not difficult to see why many leaders around the globe bristle when the U.S. chides them to reform. Perhaps Biden's call for "pro-Western reform" was a slip of the tongue. Perhaps not. It might have simply reflected the belief that all real reform is pro-Western. We are rich and powerful. We must be right. On the other hand, Biden's comments might have reflected a desire for more markets and a more pliable world to pursue our interests in.