Okay, here goes...I'm just waiting to be flamed by all you bloodthirsty anglo-saxons!!
And not to mention, I know I will get accusations of being idealist, naive, etc...well, if Bono is "so intelligent", does that mean he was non-intelligent when he was a pacifist??? (as he implies above)
What *I* think the U.S. could do (with a little input from Professor Galtung - thank you!
):
"
*1] Willingness to recognize Palestine as a state: this has already happened and the US should be commended for that.
[2] Remove all US military presence from Arabia, recognizing that this is a sacred land for very many Muslims, with Mecca and Medina, opening the way towards democracy in that dictatorship.
[3] Lifting the sanctions on Iraq, negotiating with the regime, and apologize for Albright's "it was worth the price" remark. More difficult, this would require real statesmanship.
[4] Accepting the invitation by President Khatami for an open, public, high level dialogue on the relation between Iran/US, and West/Christianity vs Islam in general. The US fears a dialogue of this type will be used for propaganda, and some disagreeable things will probably be said about the USA-CIA supported coup against the elected prime minister, Mossadegh and in favor the non-elected shah. But after that critique, which any mature person is able to stand, comes the constructive phase where one could only hope Iran is well prepared: "OK, OK, where do go from here" is an excellent, standard American formulation.
[5] Hands off Afghanistan. This is partly because any US presence will strengthen the argument about ulterior motives and may stimulate an anti-US coalition, partly as a sign of respect. A UN presence up to trusteeship level is a viable alternative.
Economic-political:
[6] Globalization-free zones, in the regions where people die from globalization because of too little money to buy from the market for their basic needs. The Kyoto protocol already had the Third World as an exemption so there is nothing new in the idea of differential approaches. The alternative would be a Marshall plan for the poorest areas of the world in the Andes region, Black Africa and South Asia. strengthening the local, informal economy with a view to basic needs satisfaction for all.
[7] Reconciliation: learn from the German approach to the 18 countries they conquered and the 2 nations they tried to exterminate, the Jews and the Sinta/Roma. Today Germany has reasonable relations to all, and a key element went beyond apologies and compensation to including rewriting of textbooks.
All together this could turn a page in history, and it would cost very little relative to the enormous expenses incurred by their current policy. The political gains would probably also be enormous. But will yielding to their demand not stimulate terrorism?
It might stimulate some. But it would isolate most of them by no longer giving them the ocean of hatred in which they can swim and be stimulated whereas a policy of military attack will only deepen and widen that ocean. At the same time it would generate positive processes, virtuous cycles that would very soon overshadow the vicious cycles of retaliation, capture people's attention all over and, like the European Community did for Europe in the 1950s, constitute a quantum jump in world politics. This is indeed overdue.
[This message has been edited by ladywithspinninghead (edited 12-21-2001).]
[This message has been edited by ladywithspinninghead (edited 12-21-2001).]
