May 11, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
The Human Community

By DAVID BROOKS
The conventional view of Tony Blair is that he was a talented New Labor leader whose career was sadly overshadowed by Iraq. But this is absurd. It’s like saying that an elephant is a talented animal whose virtues are sadly overshadowed by the fact that it’s big and has a trunk.

Blair’s decision to support the invasion of Iraq grew out of the essence of who he is. Over the past decade, he has emerged as the world’s leading anti-Huntingtonian. He has become one pole in a big debate. On one side are those, represented by Samuel Huntington of Harvard, who believe humanity is riven by deep cultural divides and we should be careful about interfering in one another’s business. On the other are those like Blair, who believe the process of globalization compels us to be interdependent, and that the world will flourish only if the international community enforces shared, universal values.

Blair’s worldview began to take shape when he was 11 and his father suffered a debilitating stroke. That sent him off on an intellectual journey that led him to the theologian John Macmurray. “If you really want to understand what I’m all about, you have to take a look at a guy called John Macmurray,” Blair once said. “It’s all there.”

Blair absorbed from Macmurray a strong communitarian faith. As prime minister, he tried to remove the class and political barriers that divide the British people. Abroad, his core idea was also communitarian: “Globalization begets interdependence, and interdependence begets the necessity of a common value system to make it work.”

In April 1999, Blair delivered a speech in Chicago in which he ran down all the features of the globalized world that cross borders and unite humanity: trade, communications, disease, financial markets, human rights and immigration. “Today the impulse towards interdependence is immeasurably greater,” he argued. “We are witnessing the beginnings of a new doctrine of international community.”

This meant moving away from the Westphalian system, in which the world and its problems were divided into nation-states. “The rule book of international politics has been torn up,” he argued in a speech last year. What’s needed instead are multilateral institutions that act “in pursuit of global values: liberty, democracy, tolerance, justice.” The economics of globalization are mature, he concluded, but the politics are not.

In his 1999 speech, Blair maintained that the world sometimes has a duty to intervene in nations where global values are under threat. He argued forcefully for putting ground troops in Kosovo and highlighted the menace posed by Saddam Hussein.

He saw the terrorists of Sept. 11 as extremists who sought to divide humanity between the Dar al-Islam and the Dar al-harb — the House of Islam and the House of War. “This is not a clash between civilizations,” he said last year in the greatest speech of his premiership. “It is a clash about civilization. It is the age-old battle between progress and reaction, between those who embrace and see opportunity in the modern world and those who reject its existence.” He concluded that Britain had to combat those who would divide the human community, even without the support of the multilateral institutions that he cherished.

The crucial issue now is: Is this human community real? Is Iraq merely an intervention that was botched? Or are interventions inherently doomed because people in other cultures don’t want what we want, and will never see the world as we do?

Over the past three years, people on the left and right have moved away from Blair and toward Huntington. There has been a sharp rise in the number of people who think it’s insane to try to export our values into alien cultures. Instead of emphasizing our common community, people are more likely to emphasize the distances and conflicts between cultures. Whether the subject is immigration, trade or foreign affairs, there is a greater desire to build separation fences because differences in values seem deeply rooted and impossible to erase.

If Huntington turns out to be right, then Blair will be seen as one of the most naïve communitarians of all time. But I wouldn’t count him out just yet. It could be that over the long term, and despite the disaster in Iraq that he co-authored, his vision of a human community will be vindicated. Or it could be that Blair’s vision of that community was right — except in the Middle East, the region where he most aggressively sought to apply it.

Paul Krugman is on vacation.

Putin likens U.S. foreign policy to that of Third Reich
By Andrew E. Kramer
Wednesday, May 9, 2007

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin of Russia obliquely compared the foreign policy of the United States to the Third Reich in a speech Wednesday commemorating the 62nd anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, in an apparent escalation of anti-American rhetoric within the Russian government.

Putin did not specifically name the United States or NATO but used phrasing similar to that which he has used previously to criticize American foreign policy while making an analogy to Nazi Germany.

The comments marked the latest in a series of sharply worded Russian criticisms of the foreign policy of the Untied States - on Iraq, missile defense, NATO expansion and, broadly, the accusation that the United States has striven to single-handedly dominate world affairs.

Some political analysts see the new tone as a return to Cold War-style rhetoric by a country emboldened by petroleum wealth. But Russians say the sharper edge is a reflection of frustration that Russia's views, particularly its opposition to NATO expansion, have been ignored in the West.

Putin's analogy came as a small part of a larger speech in which he unambiguously congratulated Russian veterans of World War II, known here as the Great Patriotic War.

Speaking from a podium in front of Lenin's Mausoleum on Red Square before troops mustered for a military parade, Putin called Victory Day a holiday of "huge moral importance and unifying power" for Russia and went on to enumerate the lessons of that conflict for the world today.

"We do not have the right to forget the causes of any war, which must be sought in the mistakes and errors of peacetime," Putin said.

"Moreover, in our time, these threats are not diminishing," he said as he delved into what one expert said was clearly an allusion to U.S. foreign policy. "They are only transforming, changing their appearance. In these new threats - as during the time of the Third Reich - are the same contempt for human life and the same claims of exceptionality and diktat in the world."

The Kremlin press service declined to clarify the statement, saying Putin's spokesman was unavailable because of the holiday.

But Sergei Markov, director of the Institute of Political Studies, who works closely with the Kremlin, said in a telephone interview that Putin was referring to the United States and NATO. Markov said the comments should be interpreted in the context of a wider, philosophical discussion of the lessons of World War II. The speech also praised the role of the allies of the Soviet Union in defeating Germany.

"He intended to talk about the United States, but not only," Markov said in reference to the sentence mentioning the Third Reich. "The speech said that the Second World War teaches lessons that can be applied in today's world."

The United States, Putin has maintained, is seeking to establish a unipolar world to replace the bipolar balance of power of the Cold War era.

In a speech in Munich on Feb. 10, he characterized the United States as "one single center of power: One single center of force. One single center of decision making. This is the world of one master, one sovereign."

The victory in World War II, achieved at the cost of roughly 27 million Soviet citizens, still echoes loudly in the politics of the former Soviet Union, particularly in Russia's relations with the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

In his speech, Putin criticized Estonia - also indirectly - for recently relocating a monument to the Red Army in Tallinn, the Estonian capital, along with the remains of unknown soldiers buried there. Putin warned that desecrating war memorials was "sowing discord and new distrust between states and people." The remarks were a nod to the protests in Russia and Estonia after the relocation of the Bronze Soldier memorial from the city center to a military cemetery.

In last May's Victory Day speech, Putin brushed on similar themes of the lessons of the war. Then, he spoke of the need to stem "racial enmity, extremism and xenophobia" in a possible reference to rising ethnic tension inside Russia.

Victory Day has evolved into the principal political holiday in Russia, replacing the Soviet-era Nov. 7 celebration, Day of the Great October Socialist Revolution. That holiday was canceled under Putin and replaced with another, marking a 1612 uprising against Poland, celebrated on Nov. 4.

Veterans gathered at war memorials festooned with red carnations sang "Katyusha" and toasted departed comrades in traditions little changed over the decades. The Red Square parade opened, according to tradition, with drummers from the Moscow Military Music Academy and closed with the marching band of the Moscow garrison. The defense minister, Anatoly Serdyukov, arrived in a gray Zil convertible limousine. About 7,000 soldiers sang the Russian national anthem a cappella.

At one point, a formation of MiG jets thundered over the square. As the planes pulled up and away, a pilot broadcast a message to the veterans over his radio. "We love you and remember you."

From www.danielpipes.org | Original blog posting available at: www.danielpipes.org/blog/736

Daniel Pipes' Weblog
Jihad in Jersey
May 9, 2007

National Review Online asked a group of experts: What's the most important lesson we should take from the averted terrorist attack on Fort Dix?" For all replies, see "Symposium: Jihad in Jersey"

I draw two lessons. First, that immigrants seeking refuge in the West must be grilled for their attitudes toward our civilization, our religion, and politics. Whether it be Somali refugees in the United Kingdom, Algerian ones in France, or Balkan ones in the United States (remember the Salt Lake City shooter in February, as well as four of the current six accused terrorists), individuals given the privilege and benefits of a new life then with some regularity turn around and attack their adapted fellow citizens. This unacceptable pattern has to be scrutinized to prevent future such atrocities.

Second, mercifully, terrorists can be counted on to make dumb mistakes. I established an honorary "Stupid Terrorists Club" in 2005; its founding members gained entry with such acts as having returned to retrieve the deposit on a van they had used to blow up a building, not wearing a car seat belt while transporting terrorist gear, or ordering $3,300 (in American dollars) worth of airline-related goods with an overdrawn credit card. This new group of six joined the Club by dint of its sending a jihadi DVD to a store be copied commercially and choosing as its target Fort Dix, a hardened military installation (among other components, it includes a prison). (May 9, 2007)

From www.danielpipes.org | Original blog posting available at: www.danielpipes.org/blog/736

On Becoming a Tiger
The tiger has become the international symbol for countries with healthy (even spectacular) rates of economic growth. This is probably because the imagery was first applied to Asian countries in Asia. New tigers are springing up elsewhere, however, including some surprising spots. One such spot is the United Arab Emirates, particularly its largest city, Dubai.

Approximately 20 percent of the world's large construction cranes are at work in that city. The world's tallest building is under construction there and there are plans for the world's largest mall. Tourists and business people fly into Dubai landing at the world's largest airport. Dubai's ports are crammed with shipping containers. You can golf, ski, shop, swim, sail, and carouse. An amusement park twice the size of Disneyland and Disney World combined is also on the drawing boards. Manmade islands in fanciful shapes are rising out of the Arabian Gulf with great effort and at great cost.

Emiratis are outnumbered by foreigners, including foreign laborers whose working conditions have been a source of past embarrassment. Although the country is Muslim, those of other faiths worship openly and without fear. The country is both prosperous and peaceful. Dubai is a monument to capitalism (if not to excess) and yet, because it sits in nestled in the Middle East between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Americans fail to appreciate what the Emirs have accomplished (remember the hubbub created by Dubai Ports World and New York City). Amazing what you can do with oil money you say. Actually, the majority of the UAE's GDP comes from sources other than oil and natural gas. The secret to the Emirates' success is vigorous investment, an educated population, great connectivity with the rest of the world, and visionary leadership (indicated by the implementation of good policy) -- basically, the same strategy used by Singapore.

Singapore and Dubai are both blessed with a geographical location that makes them natural trading nations. How do you become a tiger without such a natural advantage? One might well look to Estonia for the answer ["Europe's New Boomtown," by John Tierney, New York Times, 5 September 2006].

"Tallinn [is] the capital of Estonia and the economic model for New Europe. It's a boomtown with a beautifully preserved medieval quarter along with new skyscrapers, gleaming malls and sprawling housing developments: Prague meets Houston, except that Houston’s economy is cool by comparison. Economists call Estonia the Baltic Tiger, the sequel to the Celtic Tiger as Europe’s success story, and its policies are more radical than Ireland's."

Tucked near the end of the Baltic Sea, Estonia is not exactly at the crossroads of world trade, but it has been a member of the European Union and NATO since 2004. One thing Estonia does enjoy is freedom:

"On [2006's] State of World Liberty Index, a ranking of countries by their economic and political freedom, Estonia is in first place, just ahead of Ireland and seven places ahead of the U.S. (North Korea comes in last at 159th.)"

The World Liberty Index ranking is a compilation of three other rankings for economic freedom, government and taxation freedom, and individual freedom. Estonia scores well in all of those individual rankings (coming at 8, 6, and 5 respectively). Economic success, however, appears to be most affected by the economic and gas & taxation freedom rankings. Singapore, for example, ranks high in economic freedom (2) and gas and taxation freedom (4), but plummets to 49th on the overall list because of its 95 ranking in individual freedom. The UAE also ranks relatively high in economic freedom (37) and gas & taxation freedom (7), but ranks 95th overall because of its 120th ranking in individual freedoms. Estonia has followed the pattern of vigorous investment, an educated population, great connectivity with the rest of the world, and visionary leadership (indicated by the implementation of good policy) mentioned earlier. According to Tierney:

"It transformed itself from an isolated, impoverished part of the Soviet Union thanks to a former prime minister, Mart Laar, a history teacher who took office not long after Estonia was liberated. He was 32 years old and had read just one book on economics: 'Free to Choose,' by Milton Friedman, which he liked especially because he knew Friedman was despised by the Soviets. Laar was politically naïve enough to put the theories into practice. Instead of worrying about winning trade wars, he unilaterally disarmed by abolishing almost all tariffs. He welcomed foreign investors and privatized most government functions (with the help of a privatization czar who had formerly been the manager of the Swedish pop group Abba). He drastically cut taxes on businesses and individuals, instituting a simple flat income tax of 26 percent. These reforms were barely approved by the legislature amid warnings of disaster: huge budget deficits, legions of factory workers and farmers who would lose out to foreign competition. But today the chief concerns are what to do with the budget surplus and how to deal with a labor shortage. Wages have soared thanks to jobs created by foreign companies like Elcoteq of Finland, which bought a failing electronics factory and now employs more than 3,000 people making phones for Nokia and Ericsson. Foreign investors worked with local software engineers to create Skype, the Internet telephone service, and the country has become so Web-savvy that it's known as E-stonia."

Estonia's growth rate has been around 10 percent a year and its flat tax has been reduced to 20 percent. The government supports business by trying to eliminate needless red tape. As a result, Estonia has become an unlikely trading hub and a magnet for foreign direct investment. Other countries in the region have started to take notice. I am currently visiting another emerging economy -- Kurdistan or what is called the other Iraq. I hope to write more on my trip shortly. In the meantime, see Tom Barnett's great post on Kurdistan.

The Planet News

Here is the idea. Simple yet undone in this format as far as i know.

Preface: TV news is driven by 'sensationalism'.
"If it bleeds, it leads, is a common old addage"

Consequently, we are deluged with images of thing and events that are of a lower vibration.

So the idea is to bring the many good things, the good news stories to the awareness of our global consiousness. Few people realize that there are more people being pulled from poverty, more deaths being averted, LESS WAR deaths statistically, than any other time in history. For e.g. China is seeing 500.000 of its people being pulled out of poverty each year largely as a result of globalization. Rural workers are doubling their wage and consequently eating better than there toiling under the sun. Hard to believe but its true.

Or there are wonderful works like DreamforAfrica a group which Sara was involved with a few years ago. This is a group that goes on a missionary type of 'vacation' and work with a church in helping to deal with hunger by the most basic self help you can imagine. They help and teach people how to plant and care for a garden! How cool is that that. I haven't kept up on it, but last i recall they had successfully planted 160,000 gardens with a 94% success rate ...or something like that. I recall they had a goal of 1 Million gardens.

Or what about the up and coming trend of 'micro lending'. An organization called kiva.org will administer a 'loan' for as little as $25 where YOU can pick and choose a business expand and grow in an emerging market. The story i recall was from NYT's writer Kristoff, who picked an Afgan bakery who wanted to expand his business and needed an amount of money which was less than a $1000. So you will see on the kiva.org the different people who have make up that amount or how close they are. There are hundreds upon hundreds of struggling businesses who need DFI-Direct Foreign Investment to expand....

As I recall theh repayment is over 96% successful which mean you can you can then again pay it forward to another if you choose.

These are just a few of the examples that come to mind.

SO THE NEXT QUESTION IS: HOW TO GET THESE STORIES IN FRONT OF THE AMERICAN AND WORLD PUBLICS?

Target solution: Produce TV news style segments of 2 to 5 minutes about these various 'good news' stories.

Then provide the stories for FREE (PLUS) to network news services which feed their local affilicates. This is how it works. Network news have a 'content bureau' which the local affilicates pay a monthly fee for. The payment, I think is based on the HH HouseHold count in their market. The TV news director then looks at incoming content to add to their morning, noon, evening, newscast. They are constantly looking for CONTENT that is compellling.

So i talked with a contact at Fox in NY about this. He said they are always looking for content, but the issue is they have a budget and that is always an issue. So my thinking is to provide content for FREE, add a commercial with a sponsor to each segment, and build an ongoing library of GOOD NEWS FROM PLANET NEWS.

Then the local news director will have more CONTENT to choose from of a positive nature.
Plus it will bring attention and connectivity between regular PEOPLE and good works projects around the planet. The goal is to create awareness, to create linkage, to grow up the works that resonate to people in terms of donations of time, treausures and talents.

Talent targets:

Administrator: A person who would start building a database of groups that are doing good works. create a list of websites, contact info, focus on work, etc.

Editor: Video editor. News style... mini docs.
Cameraperson:
P.A. Production assistant/ Associate Producer

The reality is that after a database is created, contact could be made and footage acquired from the group and we could put together the segment here. This might be a starting point to show conceptually what we are doing and attract the kind of sponsor that would fund a 'crew' to travel the world to do on the front lines type of journalism.

This project has been on my mind since about the first stage of my documentary work.
It just came back to my mind after a friend shared with me a guy who administers a $100M foundation fund for humanitarian needs who will be speaking on Thursday eve.

I don't see the time for me to take the implementation side of this. However i can see being the lead strategist on the venture if the idea would attract some committed players who would want to work with me to take this forward.