What Constitutes a US Ally?

Washington, DC - In much of the 20th century, the United States was willing to forge alliances on the basis of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Almost anybody who opposed the Soviet Union, including radical Islamic militants in Afghanistan, could be an American ally.   

Yet, US conditions for its allies have undergone changes depending on the circumstance. For a president such as Jimmy Carter, historians say upholding human rights played a significant role in the way the US chose and maintained its partners.

But as the Arab Spring protests swept much of the Middle East and North Africa in 2011, the United States found it necessary to reconsider some of its traditional alliances in countries such as Egypt and Tunisia.

In those countries, the U.S., at least temporarily, chose people's aspirations over loyalty for dictators it had long regarded as friends.

So in the 21st century, where technological interconnectedness has meant empowerment for many people, have America's traditional rules of alliance changed? What constitutes a US ally today?

Rudaw's Namo Abdulla talks to:

- David Adesnik, an international affairs fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a neoconservative think tank in Washington DC, he was part of the Republican candidate John Mccain's presidential campaign in 2008.

- Ash Jain, a former State Department official currently serving as a non-resident fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

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