Playing with the big boys means playing with fire

‘‘WE’RE one of those countries that tries to constructively solve problems around the world.’’

So said a former diplomat in relation to an article last week explaining why US presidents seem to like meeting up with Kiwi prime ministers.

We’re not needy, we don’t ask for cash, military intervention, subsidies or tough environmental concessions – apparently tending to stick to a ‘‘shopping list’’ of what John Key calls ‘‘issues which are bilaterally important’’.

In an election year there may be a decent poll-payoff for Key being photographed shaking hands with Barack Obama, but there’s also a behind-the-scenes battle for one of the non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council up for grabs. New Zealand is pitted against Spain and Turkey – both of whom are staging large campaigns – for a two-year prize which we last enjoyed in 1993.

If we were to win the place it would be a grand diplomatic victory for New Zealand – and Key has certainly been putting in the hard yards in New York this past week to be able to play alongside the big boys: the five permanent members China, France, Russian Federation, the UK and the US.

But Obama’s decision on Friday to send up to 300 military advisers to Iraq – a decision which edges the US back towards military involvement in the seemingly eternally chaotic country – shows how playing with the big boys comes with huge responsibilities.

No country has learnt the lessons of centuries of doomed involvement in the fractious region bordered by Syria in the West and running through Iraq, Iran to Afghanistan in the East.

And we have to be mighty careful that in trying to ‘‘solve problems around the world’’ we don’t become entangled in never-ending conflicts.