Rick Perry in The Atlantic

On Foreign Policy: Hasn't called for defense cuts; hasn't endorsed Bush's wars

Texas Governor Rick Perry quietly traveled to Europe last week to assert his foreign-policy credentials. The speeches Perry prepared for his trip to Europe announced Perry's entry into the 2016 presidential contest as a national-security stalwart--an alternative to the neo-isolationist approach championed by Senator Rand Paul.

Unlike many Washington-based competitors for the foreign-policy-hawk vote, Perry has not left any fingerprints on the budget plans that are cutting the Army and Marines to their smallest size since 1940. Senator Marco Rubio can credibly say that he opposed the defense cuts all along, but Ted Cruz has championed even bigger spending cuts that would inevitably impinge on defense spending.

Furthermore, Perry can assert distance from the unpopular pieces of the George W. Bush foreign-policy legacy by virtue of his own famously adversarial relationship with Bush and his Texas team.

Source: The Atlantic 2014 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Oct 20, 2014

On Foreign Policy: Tolerating vicious ideas is weakness: condemn ISIS & Putin

On a trip to London, Perry took an important step toward establishing his national-security bona fides. The governor championed an assertive American foreign policy against ISIS in the Middle East and Vladimir Putin in Eastern Europe, while calling European governments to account for their weak response to anti-Semitic attacks. "Forbearance in the face of vicious ideas and conduct is not tolerance. It is weakness," he told his audience.

"To every extremist: We will not allow you to exploit our tolerance, so that you can import your intolerance. We will not let you destroy our peace with your violent ideas. If you expect to live among us, and yet plan against us, to receive the protections and comforts of a free society, while showing none of its virtues or graces, then you can have our answer now: 'No, not on our watch!' You will live by exactly the standards that the rest of us live by. And if that comes as jarring news: Then welcome to civilization."

Source: The Atlantic 2014 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Oct 20, 2014

On Foreign Policy: Warsaw Pact failed & NATO survived: we keep our commitments

In his prepared speech for Warsaw, Perry focused on the challenge from Vladimir Putin and a revanchist Russia, adding his own personal view about the force destabilizing Eastern Europe:

"The president of Russia, Mr. Putin, may regard treaty obligations as so many words on paper, and just as easily tossed aside. But we operate a little differently in the NATO counties: We actually keep our commitments. That helps explain why, after nearly 70 years, there is still a NATO while the Iron Curtain, Eastern Bloc, and Warsaw Pact all belong to a miserable history we were all glad to put behind us. As before in history, holding to our NATO obligations can mean the difference between threats invited and threats deterred. Worse troubles are always avoided when we stick together as the inseparable allies that we are and offer more than consoling words to friends like Ukraine. Hostile actors need to know that in every circumstance we defend our interests and keep our word."

Source: The Atlantic 2014 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Oct 20, 2014

On Principles & Values: Western ideology respects others; ISIS ideology does not

Perry's London speech contrasted ISIS ideology with the defining characteristic of the values of the US and Europe, which: "are outward-looking ideas, lifting our sights beyond the tribe and the group to see the worth and goodness of everyone, to respect others, to empathize with them, and to include them in the progress of humanity." He added: "You don't find all that in every tradition. Its abundance in our Western tradition is to be cherished, tended, and protected." Source: The Atlantic 2014 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Oct 20, 2014

The above quotations are from Columns and news articles in The Atlantic. Click here for other excerpts from Columns and news articles in The Atlantic. Click here for other excerpts by Rick Perry. Click here for a profile of Rick Perry.
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