By outlook and experience, George Shultz, it now appears, is a globalist. “I can’t remember when I was in the same time zone for a long while,” he likes to tell reporters, lamenting that the Middle East has tyrannized his focus. His predecessor tended to view foreign policy through the lens of East-West conflict. Shultz uses that lens, certainly, but he also widens the angle to include conflicts on other fronts.
As a result of this internationalist bent, the Secretary of State is bringing more balance to U.S. foreign policy. He is reinforcing the center by isolating extremes of Right and Left. Our commitment to Israel remains riveted, for example, but Arabs must be made to feel that they can more openly identify with the United States and its foreign policy. When Mr. Shultz concerns himself with Latin America, this centrism will bear welcome fruit since, for too long, our foreign policy has tended to support most vigorously governments under attack from leftist subversion and failed to do enough for democratic forces moving away from the extreme Right.
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