At the end of the last week, National Intelligence Council released its 2025 Forecast of the Global Trends.
The reports, drafted with the participation of non-American specialists, are documenting the emergence, in the next 20 years, of a multi polar system, with an increased dispersion of power. US will remain the sole superpower, but in decrease, with an emergence of a clearer influence of
One of the most charismatic
Historically, his speech was a very important expression of support of the
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17 November TIME 2003 issue is offering an extended texts and photographic coverage of his presidency.
http://www.time.com/time/2003/jfk/
Almost one year ago, US diplomats started to present their views on current foreign affairs activities on the blogs hosted by US State Department. It is not about revealing secrets, but presenting and discussing for and with the readers daily issues facing the diplomacy in the making. Recently, the 2.0. activities received on-line dimensions, after Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Colleen Graffy get in touch with his followers on Twitter, about recent meeting in
Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez found a way to use openly the enormous amount of information gathered secretly against his political opponents (practically all those who are not with him , according to very pre-modern conceptions of state and society). September 2008 Human Rights Watch released a detailed report on the permanent deterioration of the Venezuelan democracy and subsequently of the bad human rights record, ten years after Chavez seized power. The various left movements in US or Europe could see in Chavez a “hero”, mainly because his flamboyant “anti-gringos” speeches. He could consider himself the new Bolivar; he’s quite far away and is not perceived too much as a treat at the level of South America, where he even found “political friends”. The “patriotic” rhetoric has always been helpful, everywhere in the world, mainly in countries facing serious socio-economic problems and with a precarious – if any – democratic record. Ideologies and political dreams are useful for a hand of people, deeply in love with power, their power. The rest are simply victims.
Mideast is boiling again (is already a truism). The military option of an Israeli attack against
"In one of the most rapid turnabouts in our history, college youth—the chief source of social dissidence in the '60s—has moved swiftly toward reconciliation with the larger society, while the noncollege majority has taken over many of the campus-bred values." So says Social Psychologist Daniel Yankelovich, whose research firm has just completed an extensive survey of American youth for five private foundations.* Among the survey's major findings and conclusions about college youth:
> In 1971, 45% of college students felt that "this is a sick society." Now that figure has fallen to 35%.
-In 1971, 56% felt it was morally wrong to use violence even in a good cause. Now that figure has risen to 66%.
> In 1971, 57% identified with the Republican or Democratic Party. Today 73% of college students identify with one of the two major parties.
While tempering their general attack on society, college students have even more strongly swung toward an acceptance of new social values.
> In 1969, 42% felt that homosexuality was morally wrong. Now the figure is 25%.
> In 1969, 35% considered patriotism to be a very important value. Now that figure has dropped to 19%.
> In 1971, 56% believed that the
> In 1971, 38% said that big business needed fundamental reform. Now 54% feel this is an important concern.
The poll also shows that the views of noncollege youth have shifted approximately to those held by the college population five years ago.
> In 1969, 57% of noncollege youngsters believed that casual premarital sex was wrong. Now 34% hold that view.
> In 1969, 60% stressed patriotism as an important personal value. Today that figure is 40%.
> In 1969, 54% said they would welcome less emphasis on money. Now that figure has increased to 74%.
> In 1969, 79% believed that hard work always pays off. Today only 56% share that view.
The study's most predictable findings were about members of minority groups (mostly blacks) and
Among the veterans, alcohol, drug use and unemployment were found to be twice as high as among nonveterans, and only 50% of the veterans (v. 74% of the others) say that "things are going well" in their personal lives.
*The Edna McConnell Clark, Hazen and Mellon foundations, the JDR Third Fund and the Carnegie Corporation of
Via ynet
For those of us engaged in the fight against anti-Semitism, the commemoration of Kristallnacht which took place 70 years ago on November 9-10, has special meaning. Of course, Kristallnacht is important to remember because it was the moment when it became clear that Nazi hatred of Jews was beyond anything seen before. It is important to remember because there are yet those among us who lived through, witnessed it, and survived it. And it is important to remember because after Kristallnacht, the world no longer had any excuses for not acting against the barbarism of Nazi anti-Semitism.
Most of all, however, Kristallnacht teaches us the most basic lesson about how to view anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred. One could ask the question: if we observe Yom HaShoah every spring, why do we need to have a second commemoration every year on the anniversary of Kristallnacht? The answer, I believe, lies in the different focus. Yom HaShoah speaks to the horror of the murder of six million. It remembers and calls attention to the ultimate brutality that humans are capable of and that the history of anti-Semitism eventually produced. It is about remembering the millions of people whose lives were snuffed out because of hatred. And it reminds us that “Never Again” must be a guiding principle of our lives as Jews
Kristallnacht, on the other hand, is not about the end product of hate but the process. It represents the reality that a Holocaust does not just happen; it has to be prepared, cultivated, acted upon first in small steps, then bigger ones, and finally the biggest. In this sense, Kristallnacht commemoration is not only about remembering the over 90 Jews who were killed, the 30,000 male Jews who were arrested and sent to concentration camps, the over 1,000 synagogues which were torched along with their Torah scrolls and prayer books, and the 7,000 Jewish shops and business that were looted and destroyed.
It is also about how the Holocaust came to pass. It reminds us that the Holocaust couldn’t have happened had there not been 2,000 years of demonization of Jews throughout
Harsh words, no action
Hatred in its most extreme form, like the Holocaust, evolves over time. The challenge is not to wait to stand up until the final stage when it is too late. The time to stand up is during its evolution, indeed as early as possible. Kristallnacht was the moment when the world had to stand up. It didn’t.
There was no doubt from that point on that the Nazis were no longer content to simply strip Jews of their legal rights. Many newspapers and government officials around the world decried the violence and barbarity of Kristallnacht, but few governments were prepared to act.
Franklin Roosevelt condemned the outrages and recalled the
Kristallnacht proved the point. The world responded with harsh words and no action. Soon enough, the words themselves echoed empty and hollow. Silence followed. Kristallnacht was the first nail in the coffin of European Jewry.
Kristallnacht commemorations are important for many reasons, including the need to show the world that we must stop hate in its tracks before it leads to the ultimate - a final solution.
Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League and a Holocaust survivor, is the author of "The Deadliest Lies: The
They are still many places in the world where isolation and ignorance, fear and violence are the basic ingredients of the daily life. We are aware of their existence randomly, as the access of the foreign media is strictly prohibited, and the information is exclusively released by censorship and biased channels. Took for example North Korea, four weeks ago took off of a terrorist list by US. The Pyongyang authorities released these days exclusive coverage of the last activities of Kim Jong-il – who, among other things, “attended a concert where a state choir and opera groups performs numbers like “’Please Receive Our Salute’!” – being “healthy and in control”. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/world/asia/07kim.html?_r=1&ref=asia&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin )
In Cuba, Brazilian president Lula de Silva met Fidel Castro, who, we are assured is “very lucid and active”. (http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jtG6AJe5yEBOoAlpU6xrKYt3Vlhw)
Lybian leader Moammar Ghaddafi met in Belarus his counterpart Aleksandr Lukashenko (http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/02/europe/EU-Belarus-Libya.php). Mid-October, EU ministers decided to lift, for six months only, the travel ban imposed to Lukashenko and another 41 associates, following 2006 presidential elections, judged not in compliance with the international norms. Their assets are still frozen.(http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h8u0ElWuKMSPSp-iPF6o9YfURNqg)
One day after, Obama’s aides continued their work, picking up the first nominees of his Cabinet. The democratic transition, lasting from November 4 to January 20 2009, is involving various aspects, from the details of resettlement of the presidential family to Washington D.C., to the enormous time pressure to be ready to assume full responsibilities as soon as possible.
The two big important questions are who would lead the foreign policy and the defence?
The international reactions following Obama’s victory varied from warm to polite and most part of the messages stressed the need for a change in the way of addressing America’s foreign presence in the world.
Bush successive administrations put in practice various programs of public diplomacy, none of them fully successful, because being permanently counter-weighted by an often contradictory political positioning in foreign affairs. The Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Karen Hughes, started her job in 2005 with, at least in words, a very promising mandate. But, public diplomacy is only part of the overall representation of the system of values of a country. Its aim is to find the most appropriate language in order to make your messages understood by the addressed audience. Cynthia Schneider, Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, made recently a very interesting evaluation of the current image deficit of America across the world and of what have to be done by the future administration in this respect. In a lecture delivered at the Center for International and Regional Studies, Schneider stressed the need for a “re-examination” of the way in which US is representing its values in the world. Closing Guantanamo Bay – a decision considered necessary also by five former US Secretaries of State, from both Republican and Democratic administrations it's one step, quite important in the process of restoring the image of United States abroad, but which might be followed by a comprehensive approach of the mutual understanding and respect.
The US elections are over now, and Barack Hussein Obama will be the next 44 president of the United States of America. According to last estimations, his administration - to sworn in at the end of January 2009 - could count too on a secure majority of Democrats in both Senate and the House .
The lessons of the last two years of campaigning are still to be learned, with many interesting conclusions regarding the new style of politics in the era of global communications, in a world of permanent and unexpected changes (as was the case of the recent economic crisis, predictable, but impossible to estimate the very moment of bursting out). Obama created a huge mobilization of voters, putting at work the unknown power by now of social networks, as Facebook or Twitter or whatever any mean useful to reach the most isolated voter. The effects, advantages and disadvantages of the new trends of personalized politics are not fully evaluated, but, for sure, the overwhelming success of Obama it's a matter of preoccupation and analysis for many countries over the world confronted with coming elections .
In the discourses held shortly after the announcement of the first results, both Obama and McCain stressed the need to get over partisan lines and tackle together the long, long list of issues on the domestic and external agenda.
Former secretary of state in Clinton administration, Madeleine Albright, published today a letter to the new elected president stressing the emergency to the Obama administration to offer a comprehensive approach to the challenges facing nowadays America. The final paragraph of her opinion is extremely inspiring and doesn't concern exclusively the successful Democrats, but the whole spectrum of politicians in Washington D.C., with lessons to be drawn by the Republicans as well:
"To justify our confidence in you, you must show confidence in us. End the politics of fear. Treat us like adults. Help us to understand people from distant lands and cultures. Challenge us to work together. Remind us that America’s finest hours have come not from dominating others but from inspiring people everywhere to seek the best in themselves".
In today's NY Times, Thomas L. Friedman is writing a very good opinion stressing the historical moment in US contemporary history and the hard tasks ahead.
Indeed, it is a new beginning and the pressure of the huge expectations impose very much details and focus in projecting the future, not only for America, but for the fate of democracy as well.
