In matters of international affairs I don't ask for much. I only want the governments of all the nations of the Earth to cooperate in securing peace, prosperity and human rights for all the people of the world.
A Europe United
What a wonderful thing it is that the European countries have achieved so much political and economic union through democracy and free markets. But it took the horrors of WWII and the Cold War’s threat of nuclear annihilation to finally end centuries of strife.
Now Europe is poised for a period of great social and economic progress. These things proceed much faster when you don’t blow everything up every few years.
One supposes that those nations that haven’t caught on, like alcoholics who are still drinking, just haven’t suffered enough yet.
US
It used to be the Soviet Union that violated all the treaties, but now it is US. We are ones who intend to do this by unilaterally proceeding with missile defense systems that we promised, in treaties with the Russians, not to create. Is it US, led by an administration of bullies, with an aspiration to be the new bullies in the world?
The Republicans claim that they won the cold war. In any case, the nation’s economy and the Clinton presidency benefited. Now the Republicans seem intent on losing the peace. Are they so nostalgic for an enemy that they’re trying to revive the hostility?
If WE expect to have the support of the rest of the world in an offensive against terrorism, it is necessary for US to be cooperative with them on other matters.
Nuclear Proliferation
Why shouldn't North Korea have nuclear weapons when so many other nations have them? The answer, one supposes, is that they might be mad enough to use them or evil enough to give one to others (e.g. Al Queda) who would use it. Likewise, Iran.
Pakistan has the uranium bomb. This seems to be acceptable to the US and anyone else who could do anything about it. This is because Pakistan isn't expected to use it in a first strike. Some analysts are concerned by the possibility of the current military government being overthrown by religious fanatics. In that event, Pakistan's possession of nuclear weapons would be seen differently. But there is little that could or would be done about it. Not until they launched one or handed a bomb to a terrorist, that is.
We can't be sure that the governments of other nuclear powers are immune from being taken over by hostile forces. Quite a few nations possess these weapons and it seems certain that there will be more. The knowledge of how to build them is far more wide spread than the bombs themselves.
Nuclear proliferation can't be stopped; it can only be postponed. Hopefully, the spread can be delayed long enough for political, economic and cultural changes of a positive nature to take place prior to acquisition. It is in our interests to assist in these transformations.
The Prime Minister recently made reference to Japan as an ethnic state with the Emperor as the head of the family. In contrast, some years ago another Japanese Prime Minister referred to the United States as a mongrel nation. In the case of the US, this is both true and a great strength.
Although it has been difficult, the US has been working out how people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds can live together in peace and profit from the diversity of talents and ideas that such a mixture makes possible. It has also provided some justification for the leadership of the US in world affairs.
The US can sympathize with Japanese concerns because they are Japanese, in part. In the same way the US is also African, European, Middle Eastern and every other thing on the face of the Earth. It is there that a great experiment in ethnic harmony has been taking place and where solutions to the world’s most pressing problems may be developed. It’s a mongrel world after all.
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