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

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (74385)	2/15/2003 11:32:42 PM
From: paul_philp	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Nadine, Wow. Tom's best piece in a very very long time. Excellent, supurb and wonderful. You could even say I like it. :) We are at war - Now, 9/11 has set off World War III, and it, too, is defining a new international order. It's a new kind of war - 9/11 marked the first full-scale battle between a superpower and a small band of super-empowered angry men from the World of Disorder. America is not the problem, it's the solution - "The real threat to world stability is not too much American power. It is too little American power." Too little American power will only lead to the World of Disorder expanding. Here is a point that is not fully appreciated but very true, the stakes are 'the world as we know it' - If there is just one more 9/11, or if North Korea lobs just one missile our way, it will lead to the end of the open society in America, as we know it, and also constrict globalization. Because we will tighten our borders, triple-check every ship that comes into port and restrict civil liberties as never before, and this will slow the whole global economy. just in case you missed this point, in the real world — in the world where your real threat is not American troops crossing your borders but American dollars fleeing from them And tekboy is worried that Bush is rude and JohnM is worried that I took a cheap shot at the protestors. People aren't clear on reality yet. I am glad that Tom Friedman is now, I hope he keeps it up. Paul

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (74385)	2/16/2003 2:03:02 AM
From: D. Long	Respond to of 281500

He brings up a good point: "The real threat to world stability is not too much American power. It is too little American power." Too little American power will only lead to the World of Disorder expanding. Stratfor wrote a piece on this awhile ago. With the US distracted by the fight in Afghanistan and worldwide against al qaeda, and penning in Iraq, it doesn't have the attention to manage the "little fires". So in the past two years, we have seen an explosion of disorder as the Superpower is distracted, and regional powers don't have the will to manage the situation on their own. Witness Columbia, Venezuela, Argentina, North Korea, etc. The danger is if the US tires, and the clamor to withdraw gains momentum. In the vacuum that would be left in our wake, the world order would come apart. And Russia, China, India and Europe don't have the will, or power, to hold things together. Derek