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Author
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Topic: Clinton continues to support world government via U.N. and world court
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Trafield
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posted
The Seattle Times, December 20, 2002, Friday, Fourth Edition, ROP
ZONE; Opinion;, Pg. B7, 1157 words, U.S. must learn to lead an
interdependent world, William J. Clinton; Tribune Media Services
International, New York
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/home/
NEW YORK -- The United States stands at a unique moment in human
history, with our political, economic and military dominance. But
within 30 years, the Chinese economy could be as big or bigger than
ours. The Indian economy could be as well if they stop fighting with
Pakistan and wasting money on armaments. Within 30 years, if the
European Union continues to become more united politically and
economically, it will in turn grow more influential politically and
economically. Then, in an interdependent world, we can lead but not
dominate.
The United States will be judged based on how we used this "magic
moment." Did we try to drive the world into the 21st century? Did we
try to force people to live by our vision? Or did we instead try by
leadership, example and persuasion to build a world in which people
will treat us in the future the way we'd like to be treated because
of how we acted at our moment of ascendancy?
My mentor, Sen. J. William Fulbright, once said the best thing
America could do was to be "an intelligent example of the world
through material helpfulness without moral presumption;" that "we
should make our own society an example of human happiness, make
ourselves the friends of social revolution and go beyond simple
reciprocity in the effort to reconcile hostile worlds." He said he
would far prefer to see us be a "sympathetic friend of humanity
rather than its stern and prideful schoolmaster."
Now, of what relevance is that in the present day? Does that mean
America should not have a strong military? No. Does that mean we
should never use it? When force is required to save massive numbers
of lives? No. But it does mean that we should be humble enough to
remember that there are rarely any final solutions in human affairs.
Therefore, quite often the way we do something is as important as
what we do.
We must recognize that our global interdependence, while a wonderful
thing for those of us well positioned to take advantage of it, is
still very much a mixed blessing. Our openness to one another in a
world full of political, religious, economic and social divisions
also increases our vulnerability and intensifies the pain and
alienation of those who feel shut out from the blessings of
interdependence. After all, on Sept. 11, al-Qaida used the same open
borders, easy travel and access to information and technology that we
take for granted to kill about 3,000 people from 70 countries,
including more than 200 Muslims.
So the question is: What is America's responsibility at this moment
of our dominance?
I believe it's to build a world that moves beyond interdependence to
an integrated global community of shared responsibilities, shared
benefits and shared values.
We must support the institutions of global community, beginning with
the United Nations. The United Nations is an organization still
becoming, still imperfect. We have not always done our part in it,
but it is all we have, and now that we live in an interdependent
world, it must have our full support in building an integrated global
community.
We must have a sound security strategy using the power of America to
prevent the actions of and punish the people who mean us harm. And we
must also remember the example of Gen. George C. Marshall and the
Marshall Plan, of Sen. Fulbright and the Fulbright Program, and build
a world that has more friends and partners and fewer terrorists. That
is the purpose of foreign aid and debt relief, of fighting AIDS and
putting all the world's children in school. We should not be too
utopian in our expectations, but always utopian in our values and
vision.
From the dawn of human society up to the present time, we have been
bedeviled by a persistent curse: the compulsion people feel to define
the meaning of their lives in positive terms with reference to those
who are like them racially, tribally, culturally, religiously,
politically, and by negative reference to those who are different.
People then feel compelled to oppress those who are different when
they are small and powerless enough not to prevent it. Increasingly
wider circles of interdependence, however, have taught people to
accept the humanity of those they once degraded.
Indeed, the whole course of human history can be seen as a constant
struggle to expand the definition of who is "us" and shrink the
definition of who is "them." From the dawn of time until the Berlin
Wall fell in 1989, it was never really possible to build a global
community of cooperation, in which we celebrate, not just tolerate,
our diversity, on the simple theory that our differences make life
interesting, but our common humanity matters more.
When the United Nations was set up, global community was not possible
because of the Cold War. Then, in the 1970s, China started moving
toward the rest of the world. In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. So we've
had just 13 years to work on finding practical expressions of the
dream of an integrated community of nations.
To further that goal, we ought to be working with other countries on
banning nuclear testing, reducing global warming, establishing an
International Criminal Court and strengthening a convention against
biological weapons. I am disappointed that the current administration
has withdrawn from, or failed to strengthen, agreements in each of
those areas. It sends the wrong signal to the world just at the time
when we need more and stronger alliances to help us target terrorists
and defend our nation.
But despite these setbacks, I remain an optimist. In the past 13
years, the European Union has grown together, the United Nations has
proved to have greater capacity to deal with problems in the Balkans
and elsewhere; Russia and China have moved closer to the West; the
Good Friday Accord was adopted in Northern Ireland; we had seven
years of progress toward peace in the Middle East before Yasser
Arafat rejected my last proposal, which he now agrees all parties
should embrace; and the world's wealthy nations began to do more,
with the global debt-relief initiative and increased funding to fight
AIDS.
We have no choice but to learn to live together, to choose
cooperation over conflict, to give expression to our common humanity
by following simple rules: Everyone deserves a chance, everyone has a
role to play, we all do better when we work together, we're not as
different as we think.
We do not yet have the institutions to run that kind of world. That
is the work of politics, and in that work there will always be
differences of opinion, conflicts of interest and values.
But, on balance, I think the world is moving in the right direction
because it has become inconceivable that we can solve the problems of
the world without solving them together. All of us should do our part
to see that it happens as soon as possible.
William J. Clinton served as the 42nd president of the United States,
from 1993 to 2001.
America, December 16, 2002, No. 20, Vol. 187; Pg. 19 ; ISSN:
0002-7049, 1547 words, Letters.
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