Foreign Policy

An unusual thing happened on the world stage a few weeks ago. Tokyo actually took some initiative in world affairs. Its tough new prime minister unexpectedly pressed, however politely, for a quick meeting in America prior to the previously announced Tokyo summit in April.

President Clinton vetoed Republican-backed legislation Friday that reorganized the government's foreign policy bureaucracy and demanded a diplomatic assault on relations with China. Clinton accused the lawmakers of unconstitutional meddling with his authority over foreign affairs. "This legislation contains many unacceptable provisions that would undercut U.S.

Day after day, the horrors of the Bosnian genocide become more evident. War crimes investigators on an archaeological dig through death unearth skeletons, rotted bones, grisly human remains from mass graves. Survivors and witnesses tell horrifying tales of torture and escape. While the search for clues about the scope of the massacres of Muslims continues in Bosnia, politicians in Washington are quietly busying themselves with a different kind of search.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) rejoiced at the news that President Bill Clinton named 59-year-old U.N. Ambassador Madeleine K. Albright to replace the outgoing Warren Christopher as secretary of state. Albright, said the senator, is a "tough and courageous lady," whose Senate confirmation should present no great problems.

Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger and Bill Clinton have known each other, as the president said Thursday, "since we were about half our present age," putting the newly named White House national security advisor into the forefront of the fraternity known as "friends of Bill." But it is more than a friendship--started when both men were working in the failed presidential campaign of Sen. George S.

In naming a new foreign policy team, President Clinton opted for good group chemistry but gave the nation no clear signal of the direction he hopes to take in world affairs during his second term. The two central figures charged with shaping the way the United States relates to the world around it over the next four years--Secretary of State nominee Madeleine Albright and the choice for national security advisor, Samuel R.

Two years ago, National Security Advisor Anthony Lake, now President Clinton's nominee to head the CIA, proclaimed that the chief mission of U.S. foreign policy was the "enhancement of democracy." He was promptly denounced by hard-nosed foreign policy professionals. These self-described "realists" argued that the true goal of foreign policy was the enhancement of national interest.

Why, at first, am I reluctant to whine about the president's choices for the top State and Defense jobs? For one thing, the former is a woman who is poised to become the first female Secretary of State; one fears the searing brand of "sexist." And the latter is a Republican, so readers might stereotype your happily nonpartisan, nonsexist columnist as a Democrat.

There are two long-standing principles of American foreign policy worth keeping in the back of your mind as President Clinton and his likely Republican challenger, Bob Dole, wage their fall campaigns. One is that the differences between the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates are usually far less than they seem. And the second is that the disagreements submerged within the U.S. government are often greater than the public realizes.