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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: skinowski who wrote (64684)	1/7/2003 4:57:19 AM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 281500

<They seem to think that an empire will evolve… inevitably, and – not because of a lust for power, but because of an internal logic of merely trying to achieve security… and survive. > Ethical empire is driven by more than security and survival. People like me, around the world, have been driving the USA Empire because we benefit from free and voluntary exchange of value. People don't benefit from USSR, Nazi and Japanese empires because they are based on the idea of conquest and confiscation of wealth. They are the eons old tribal territoriality, which is useless in the modern world of voluntary creativity. Creativity is tough to force. Irwin Jacobs is producing CDMA for fun and to do great stuff. If he was under the gun of Hitler and co, he'd simply find it too difficult to solve the equations. I really do want an Empire, but it has to be of the ethical kind where people WANT to be part of it. Maoris wanted to be part of the British Empire. They weren't conquered and forced to be British Subjects. Even now, it is they [among others] who are resisting the dropping of the Privy Council as the highest court. Hong Kong did very nicely out of being British. Many Chinese escaped from Mao's maul to be British. They risked all to escape. Many countries benefited and the British Commonwealth remains a very popular institution [though it's really just a gabfest for the good old days]. The Queen presided over the dissolution of the British Empire, but there is little antipathy to her or the days of British rule. I expect we'll see continuing USA empire building, at the request of people around the world. Not everyone will like it as they'll miss out on power if the USA is peddling influence and power. But plenty of us will like it. If empire building is mutually beneficial, it'll get turbo-charged and grow quickly. Mutual benefit and consumer surplus are the big drivers of economic development. Conquest might in some instances be a necessary prelude [East Timor - come in Condoleezza, Afghanistan, Iraq] but as with Japan and Germany after WWII, development of mutual benefit is crucial. Mqurice