What questions should be asked in the foreign policy debate? [View all]

[yurbud]

I've got a couple, that I don't have particular answers for and that aren't meant as "gotchas" for either candidate (but maybe for both).

• In the last debate, President Obama mentioned in passing a "bipartisan consensus" on foreign policy. If such a consensus exists, how can voters have a say in foreign policy? Or do they?
  
  
• We say that we support democracy and human rights, but in the last decade or so alone, we have supported the violent overthrow and attempted overthrow of democratically elected governments in Venezuela, Haiti, and Honduras to name a few. What priorities are trumping democracy in situations like that?
  
  
• What is the United States policy toward access to and hegemony over oil and natural gas and its transport in the Middle East and Caspian Sea Basin?
  
  
• If we are fighting a war on terror, when there is a conflict between the people in various oil rich countries and our oil companies, shouldn't we side with the people to reduce the animosity toward the United States?
  
  
• The United States fought two wars after 9/11, one in Afghanistan that was peripherally involved in the attacks and another in Iraq that wasn't involved in the attacks at all. Yet Saudi Arabia remained untouched despite the Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11 finding substantial evidence of Saudi government involvement, such as the declassified FBI report on a Saudi agent who picked up two of the hijackers at LAX, set them up in an apartment, and funneled money to them from the Saudi ambassador's wife until the time of the attacks. Why did that involvement in the greatest loss of civilian life on American soil not merit a military or even diplomatic response? Or were those other wars about something else altogether?
  
  
• The international banking order seems to be causing more instability and suffering and the concentration of wealth at the top. Should supporting that order continue to be a top priority of the United States, or should it be seen as a national security threat?
  

There's probably a lot more. I'd like to hear yours.