John Kerry’s soft power

Mr. Kerry said this during his speech in the Virginia University on February 20, which was his first public speech since he was appointed Secretary of State.

In fact, only a few points in Mr. Kerry’s speech were directly linked with the US’s foreign policy. The speech was addressed, first of all, to representatives of the Republican Party in the Congress.

In his speech, the new State Secretary made rather transparent hints that the main obstacle for success of US diplomacy is not China’s foreign policy or instability in the Middle East, but… the activities of the US Congress. Until the Congress manages to settle the country’s financial problems, the US’s prestige in the world will only decrease, Mr. Kerry believes.

The State Secretary also believes that the "traditional” US practice of solving problems (or what is perceived as problems by US politicians) in various parts of the world with military force is practically always more expensive for the US than trying to solve these problems by diplomatic means. Thus, the US authorities should not be afraid of financing the country’s diplomatic institutions more generously – in any case, this would be cheaper than post factum attempts to correct mistakes of diplomacy by military means, Mr. Kerry is convinced.

Russian analyst Andrey Kortunov comments on this:

"I won’t say that the fact that Mr. Kerry is calling on the US authorities to solve problems in various parts in the world by diplomacy rather than by force is a cardinal change in the US foreign policy. During his first presidential campaign in 2008, Barack Obama promised that under him, the US’s foreign policy would be less aggressive than it was under George W. Bush. However, during his first presidential term, he – either because of certain objective reasons or something else – didn’t fulfill this promise to the full. Now, Mr. Obama has nothing to lose, because, in any case, this is his last presidential term – and now, he can afford a milder foreign policy.”

John Kerry is right – the former policy of "tough power” turned out to be too expensive for the US. For example, in 2012, the US authorities had to allocate as much as $ 115 bln for the war in Afghanistan, while the State Department and the Agency for International Development (a US institution which renders help to developing countries), in total, received only $ 51 bln.