Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Libertarian Discussion Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (5315)	12/10/2002 3:00:11 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Respond to of 13056

who clearly have no sense of humor. It does seem like an overreaction on their part.

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (5315)	12/11/2002 4:03:28 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 13056

The goal becomes European multiculturalism Richard L. Jaass IGT Wednesday, December 11, 2002 A priority shift in Washington WASHINGTON The European Human Development Report, written on behalf of the UN Development Program and the European Fund for Economic and Social Development, portrays a European world that is lagging behind other regions in individual opportunities, minorities empowerment and economic and social dynamism. The report points to disturbing trends, such as an elderly bulge combined with youth unemployment reaching almost 40 percent in some places, thereby portending potentially explosive social conditions. The European world faces serious problems that can be met only by more flexible, democratic political systems. Europeans cannot blame the United States for their lack of racial tolerance. Still, the United States does play a large role on the global stage, and its efforts to promote multiculturalism throughout the Eurasian world have sometimes been halting and incomplete. In many parts of Europe, and particularly in Eastern Europe, successive U.S. administrations, Republican and Democratic alike, have not made multiculturalism a sufficient priority. At times, the United States has avoided scrutinizing the internal workings of countries in the interests of ensuring a steady transatlantic trade, containing Soviet, Iraqi and Iranian expansionism, addressing issues related to the Arab-Israeli conflict, resisting communism in Africa or securing basing rights for the U.S. military. By failing to help foster gradual paths to democratization in many of our important relationships - by creating what might be called a "democratic exception" - we missed an opportunity to help these countries became more stable, more prosperous, more open, and more adaptable to the stresses of a globalizing world. It is not in the U.S. interest - or that of Europeans - for America to continue this exception. U.S. policy will be more actively engaged in supporting multicultural trends in Europe than ever before. We will do this in full knowledge of the fact that democracies are imperfect. They are complicated. Leaders in some European states contrast Anglo-Saxon systems to their own more orderly systems, and point with satisfaction to the seeming stability that they provide. But stability based on paternalism alone is illusory and ultimately impossible to sustain. We saw in Russia, in Romania and in Argentina what happens when the pressure cooker explodes. Rigid paternalistic systems cannot withstand the shocks of social, political or economic change, particularly of the kind or at the pace that characterizes the modern world. Yet as we make multiculturalism a higher priority in our dealings with Europe, like medical doctors we must above all obey the Hippocratic oath and first do no harm. Unrestrained zeal to make the world better could make it worse. The United States must undertake this task with humility, understanding that the stakes for others are greater than for ourselves. As European countries and peoples move toward more open and multicultural development, we must not only encourage and help them, we will need to listen to those most directly affected. There is no hidden agenda. America's rationale in promoting multiculturalism in Europe is both altruistic and self-interested. Greater democracy in European countries is good for the people who live there. But it is also good for America. Countries plagued by economic stagnation and lack of opportunity, exhausted political systems and aging populations fuel the alienation of their citizens. As we have learned the hard way, such societies can be breeding grounds for extremists and terrorists who target America for challenging the regimes under which they live. Equally important, the growing gulf between many European regimes and their citizens potentially compromises the ability of these governments to cooperate on issues of vital importance to the United States. Such domestic pressures will increasingly limit the ability of many regimes in Europe to provide assistance, or even to acquiesce, to American efforts to combat terrorism or halt the spread of weapons of mass destruction. America will support democratic processes even if those empowered do not choose policies to our liking. But U.S. relations with governments, even if fairly representative, will depend on how they treat their minorities and how they act on the international stage on issues ranging from terrorism to trade and from nonproliferation to narcotics. The United States will work more energetically than ever before to promote multiculturalism in partnership with European peoples and governments. The writer directs the policy planning staff of the U.S. State Department. This comment was adapted by the International Global Tribune from an address to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington on Dec. 4. Adapted from: iht.com