I keep learning new stuff, and have just finished Where Have All the Soldiers Gone, by James Sheehan, an analysis of events and global attitudes toward war and economic growth from about 1890 to now. There's a huge divide between American and European attitudes toward military force and the use of violence to accomplish economic aims, as we know unless we're deaf and dumb, but this lays out the reasons clearly, and analyzes the whys and wherefores of relative economic power of the European Community and their increasingly higher standards of living.
I doubt that any U.S. president can change our militaristic attitudes, though I wonder if our relatively swift economic decline as a result of Iraq might not help even our military industrial leaders see that we have to change our spots, not depend on little wars and huge military sales to fuel the economy, and that we must be more globally cooperative. Global terrorism is a reality, but a tiny threat compared to all-out war. We need only enough traditional military to keep nations like Turkey in line, and to stop Kosovos from happening. Even China is going to become an economic superpower rather than a military one.
The big threat is the destruction of the environment and the corresponding drive for new sources of oil and power, and the population/technology/growth that fuels this drive, and the greedy corporate pigs that play it. But anything, Sheehan says, is better than global war, especially now with nuclear weapons. And, in the opinion of many, despite the widening gap between rich and poor, global business has a positive interest in maintaining peace among customers, so that's a good.
But Americans are really ignorant of the world; our public schools are incredibly inept. If you asked a high school senior where Germany was, he'd have a hellluva time telling you, and could never point it out on an unmarked map. Never ask him to point out Iraq or Thailand, even Vietnam. And never ever ask about economics.
JIM LECUYER
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