December 13, 2006
U.S. supremacy--or nations united?
This is from the BBC: "Annan chides US in final speech": "No nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over others," Mr Annan said, urging the US to respect human rights in its "war on terror."
Posted by Karen Christensen at 5:04 PM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2006
And why is the U.S. government watching?
The more the U.S. government knows about what the world thinks of us, the better, it always seemed to me. But I guess it depends on what the goal is. I tend towards the view that greater understanding might help us act more wisely, but from the article "Software Being Developed To Monitor Opinions of U.S." in Wednesday's New York Times it seems that the goal is simply to identify enemies, national or individual.
Here's the story at Islamonline.net, and an extract:
The US will spend 2.4 million dollars over the next three years to develop software to analyze and summarize opinion articles worldwide.WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is developing software to analyze and summarize opinion articles worldwide, providing a possible tool for better monitoring what is written about the United States in the global press.
"The work is really designed to get information extraction that would help the Department of Home Security (DHS) review statements for sentiments or beliefs contained in statements, and to provide intelligence analysts within DHS," said Homeland Security spokesperson Christophe Kelly, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Posted by Karen Christensen at 2:54 PM | Comments (0)
August 28, 2006
Is America a uniquely virtuous nation?
We just received a thoughtful comment from the historian Howard Zinn on our forthcoming Global Perspectives on the United States. Browsing for information about his many "People's Histories," I came across an article that readers of this website will find interesting, and full of some of the detail we want to see more of. From Professor Zinn's article, "America’s Blinders":
The deeply ingrained belief-—no, not from birth but from the educational system and from our culture in general-that the United States is an especially virtuous nation makes us especially vulnerable to government deception. It starts early, in the first grade, when we are compelled to “pledge allegiance” (before we even know what that means), forced to proclaim that we are a nation with “liberty and justice for all.”
And then come the countless ceremonies, whether at the ballpark or elsewhere, where we are expected to stand and bow our heads during the singing of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” announcing that we are “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” There is also the unofficial national anthem “God Bless America,” and you are looked on with suspicion if you ask why we would expect God to single out this one nation—-just 5 percent of the world’s population-—for his or her blessing.
If your starting point for evaluating the world around you is the firm belief that this nation is somehow endowed by Providence with unique qualities that make it morally superior to every other nation on Earth, then you are not likely to question the President when he says we are sending our troops here or there, or bombing this or that, in order to spread our values-—democracy, liberty, and let’s not forget free enterprise-—to some God-forsaken (literally) place in the world. It becomes necessary then, if we are going to protect ourselves and our fellow citizens against policies that will be disastrous not only for other people but for Americans too, that we face some facts that disturb the idea of a uniquely virtuous nation.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 1:12 AM | Comments (1)
August 10, 2006
The effect of war on global perspectives
It's sad but far from surprising that political decisions should affect individual lives and work, not only for those who suffer the direct effects of war's violence, but also in terms of long-term efforts to improve social well-being. Here's an article from the International Herald Tribune, "Anti-U.S. feeling leaves Arab reformers isolated":
"Fawaziah al-Bakr, who promotes educational change and women's rights in Saudi Arabia, helped organize women to protest the Israeli attacks. 'Nobody is talking about reform in Saudi Arabia,' she said. 'All we talk about is the war, what to do about the war. There is no question that the U.S. has lost morally because of the war. Even if you like the people and the culture of the United States, you can't defend it.'"
Posted by Karen Christensen at 4:26 PM | Comments (0)
August 1, 2006
When our friends are afraid of us rather than for us
Remember when John Brady Kiesling, a career diplimat, resigned in 2003? His letter of resignation to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell was widely circulated, and my teenage daughter made copies to hand out at school. It was this letter that galvanized her into political activism, the Howard Dean campaign that made her aware of how the mass media can manipulate news to preserve the status quo, and aftermath of Hurrican Katrina that made her question her U.S. citizenship. "Where's my British passport, Mum?" she asked.
Here's a little of what Kiesling wrote in his letter of 27 February 2003:
"The loyalty of many of our friends is impressive, a tribute to American moral capital built up over a century. But our closest allies are persuaded less that war is justified than that it would be perilous to allow the U.S. to drift into complete solipsism. Loyalty should be reciprocal. Why does our President condone the swaggering and contemptuous approach to our friends and allies this Administration is fostering, including among its most senior officials. Has "oderint dum metuant" really become our motto?
"I urge you to listen to America's friends around the world. Even here in Greece, purported hotbed of European anti-Americanism, we have more and closer friends than the American newspaper reader can possibly imagine. Even when they complain about American arrogance, Greeks know that the world is a difficult and dangerous place, and they want a strong international system, with the U.S. and EU in close partnership. When our friends are afraid of us rather than for us, it is time to worry.
"And now they are afraid. Who will tell them convincingly that the United States is as it was, a beacon of liberty, security, and justice for the planet?"
Posted by Karen Christensen at 1:34 PM | Comments (0)
June 29, 2006
The rule of law in America
A friend of ours just sent a note, "At least there is some hope for the rule of law in this country," after we saw the reports about the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling: "US Guantanamo tribunals 'illegal'". Perhaps people outside the United States don't realize just how downheartened millions of Americans have been, since 2000, about the political and judicial system that we were told, growing up, was the best in the world, a model for other countries.
I know that the current U.S. administration hasn't caught up with the fact that we aren't a model any more in areas we used to pride ourselves on. Apparently the Supreme Court also ruled that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention applies to the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Hard as it is for this American to write the words, the ruling says that we can't (legally) torture people. Who us? Torture people? There's a terrible sense of unreality about all this, to someone who grew up feeling quite idealistic about the core values of the United States.
And this is why I get so annoyed by people who rant about China's human rights record. Sure, China has done some ugly things, but the idea that we can sit in judgment, given our own behavior, strikes me as absurd. Here's something else I learned as a kid in the Midwest: people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2006
President Eisenhower about "Texas oil millionaires"
I wasn't sure this was accurate when it arrives in an e-mail, but a check at Snopes.com verifies it. People outside the United States may find it even more surprising than I did. Is it encouraging, or does it just show our decline?
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."--President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1952
Is it possible that after decades of globalization U.S. politicians are far less attuned to the things that matter to ordinary people, here and around the world, than they were in 1952? It's no wonder that this affects what the world thinks about America.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 7:17 AM | Comments (0)