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 : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alighieri who wrote (160559)	2/11/2003 9:13:12 AM
From: i-node	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1575466

Alexandr Vondra, a former Czech ambassador to the U.S. who helped convince Vaclav Havel to sign a European letter of support for Bush, argues that real leadership means not bending to fickle public opinion, but making difficult and unpopular decisions. He says that history will prove that a hard line was the only way to deal with Saddam: "I am happy that the people are careful before making such a serious decision. But politicians cannot just float on public opinion. With a serious question like war, there must be leadership. Leaders have vital information that they cannot always share with their population." This is the most important statement in your article. This war is about leadership. Europe is on our side because Bush has shown leadership, and Europe's leaders are showing it as well -- save for Chirac and Schroeder who are putting their financial interests first. The idea that you run foreign policy on the basis of polls (particularly those taken in foreign nations) is a relatively new concept -- one that evidently evolved during the 90s. It is intuitively obvious that the decision to go to war cannot be made by taking a poll.