Another important element of
America's refusal to sign the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and of innumerable other
foreign policy debates which lead people to despise the
USA for its
ostensibly unjustifiable behavior, is that
morality cannot be applied to the decisions of
nations.
James Chace and Henry Kissinger have both noted frequently that, though ethical considerations are an integral component of foreign policy, the parameters according to which internation relations function necessitate a certain practical detachment when determining a nation's response to global developments. A nation's place in the international scene compels it to adopt certain positions to guarantee and promote its strength. It is unfortunate, but the international politics are power politics, and any nation's leaders must think primarily of the well-being of their country.
For example, the nation-state being the largest organizing political unit of the contemporary era, fundamental disputes between nations cannot usually be resolved through appeals to "morality" or "reason," which in any case vary a great deal in different cultures and different parts of the world. Occasionally, war is required. No leader wants to send his own people to war (the reductive, paranoid theories of some academics, such as the "M.I.C." notwithstanding), but nations are not individuals, and the evaluative moral standards applied to individuals cannot be used to analyze a nation's foreign policy.
International politics, the balance of power, geopolitics, etc. all function (reasonably well) because nations pursue their own interests, compromising when possible, but always remembering that their own relative strength and survival are paramount.
Carl Sagan once described man's progression through history as a gradual broadening of empathies: from the family to the tribe to the village to the state to the nation. As nations integrate themselves into larger communities (the EU, NAFTA, etc.), it is clear that they are beginning to realize how destructive limited national interests can be in an interconnected world; with any luck, Sagan was right, and all men might eventually extend their empathy to include the entire planet (except for a few of my ex-girlfriends). Until then, nations must play power politics.