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"This is not the country that I once knew" - Jimmy Carter

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    "This is not the country that I once knew" - Jimmy Carter

    http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus...646666,00.html

    This is not the country that I once knew

    Former President Jimmy Carter believes that a warring America is abandoning its fundamental values

    Sunday November 20, 2005
    The Observer

    In recent years, I have become increasingly concerned by a host of radical government policies that now threaten many basic principles espoused by all previous administrations, Democratic and Republican.

    These include the rudimentary American commitment to peace, economic and social justice, civil liberties, our environment and human rights.

    Also endangered are our historic commitments to providing citizens with truthful information, treating dissenting voices and beliefs with respect, state and local autonomy and fiscal responsibility.

    At the same time, our political leaders have declared independence from the restraints of international organisations and have disavowed long-standing global agreements, including agreements on nuclear arms, control of biological weapons and the international system of justice.

    Instead of our tradition of espousing peace as a national priority unless our security is directly threatened, we have proclaimed a policy of 'pre-emptive war', an unabridged right to attack other nations unilaterally to change an unsavoury regime or for other purposes. When there are serious differences with other nations, we brand them as international pariahs and refuse to permit direct discussions to resolve disputes.

    Regardless of the costs, there are determined efforts by US leaders to exert American imperial dominance throughout the world. These revolutionary policies have been orchestrated by those who believe that our nation's tremendous power and influence should not be internationally constrained. Even with our troops involved in combat and America facing the threat of additional terrorist attacks, our declaration of 'you are either with us or against us' has replaced the forming of alliances based on a clear comprehension of mutual interests, including the threat of terrorism.

    Another disturbing realisation is that, unlike during other times of national crisis, the burden of conflict is now concentrated exclusively on the heroic men and women sent back repeatedly to fight in the quagmire of Iraq. The rest of our nation has not been asked to make any sacrifice, and every effort has been made to conceal or minimise public awareness of casualties.

    Instead of cherishing our role as the great champion of human rights, we now find civil liberties and personal privacy grossly violated under some extreme provisions of the Patriot Act.

    Of even greater concern is that the US has repudiated the Geneva accords and supported the use of torture in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo, and secretly through proxy regimes elsewhere with the so-called extraordinary rendition programme. It is embarrassing to see the President and Vice President insisting that the CIA should be free to perpetrate 'cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment' on people in US custody.

    Instead of reducing America's reliance on nuclear weapons and their further proliferation, we have insisted on our right (and that of others) to retain our arsenals, expand them and, therefore, abrogate or derogate almost all nuclear arms-control agreements negotiated during the last 50 years. We have now become a prime culprit in global nuclear proliferation. America also has abandoned the prohibition of 'first use' of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear nations and is contemplating the previously condemned deployment of weapons in space.

    Protection of the environment has fallen by the wayside because of government subservience to political pressure from the oil industry and other powerful lobbying groups. The last five years have brought continued lowering of pollution standards at home and almost universal condemnation of our nation's global environmental policies.

    Our government has abandoned fiscal responsibility by unprecedented favours to the rich, while neglecting America's working families. Members of Congress have increased their own pay by $30,000 per year since freezing the minimum wage at $5.15 per hour (the lowest among industrialised nations).

    I am extremely concerned by a fundamentalist shift in many houses of worship and in government, as church and state have become increasingly intertwined in ways previously thought unimaginable.

    As the world's only superpower, America should be seen as the unswerving champion of peace, freedom and human rights. Our country should be the focal point around which other nations can gather to combat threats to international security and to enhance the quality of our common environment. We should be in the forefront of providing human assistance to people in need.

    It is time for the deep and disturbing political divisions within our country to be substantially healed, with Americans united in a common commitment to revive and nourish the historic political and moral values that we have promoted during the last 230 years.

    · Jimmy Carter was the 39th President of the United States. His latest book, Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis, is published this month by Simon & Schuster.

    · This article first appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

    #2
    But

    Is America changing, or is it just being exposed for what it really is?
    There are no evil thoughts except one: the refusal to think

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by sunnysan
      Is America changing, or is it just being exposed for what it really is?
      Nah, Over the last fifty years or so America has always pushed its weight about, often oafishly and thoughtlessly, and got peoples' backs up in the process.

      For a Europhobe such as myself, who would far rather the UK had closer ties with the US than the EU, this is a great shame because from a UK standpoint the Yanks have managed to alienate successive generations of British politicians and voters, and in the process drive them into the arms of the EU.

      This started with Edward Heath's generation, who never forgot the humiliation of Suez in the late '40s. (An Egyption leader called Nasser seized or "nationalized" the Suez canal, whereupon Britain grabbed it back again. But then the US essentially told Britain to withdraw, as British actions were threatening the security of Middle East oil supplies. I think that was roughly the situation.)

      Then of course there was Vietnam in the '60s and '70s, and smaller UK-specific irritants since such as Grenada, and today of course the Iraq war.

      BTW, at the end of this year Britain will complete repayments of the loan which the US gave us during World War 2.
      Work in the public sector? Read the IR35 FAQ here

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by sunnysan
        Is America changing, or is it just being exposed for what it really is?
        I think its changing. In the history of this planet we have many examples when something progressive and good reaches the point when it turns into regressive and bad, good example is Chico's business organisation more known as "church": for some time they helped science a lot, but at certain point science started contradicting dogmats and this is when Church turned from progressive into regressive.

        I am very font of American values that Carter is talking about and hope USA will turn back to its roots.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by zeitghost
          And what really pissed off a lot of people was the act of congress in 1948 that forbade sharing nuclear secrets even with their allies.

          And that included us and the Canadians...
          I believe that was because we leaked like a sieve. If we had had the secrets, I've no doubt we'd think twice before sharing them with the USA for the same reason.

          Except Blair, who shared his evidence [sic] of WMD in Iraq.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by zeitghost
            We leaked like a sieve?

            Nuclear secrets were marching out of Los Alamos like there was no tomorrow... frying the Rosenbergs didn't do much to stop it either.
            I don't deny it, which is why I said we'd have done the same thing.

            Comment


              #7
              USA did not want to share because sharing would allow other countries to have R&D capability in this area, and this is something contrary to interests of USA or any other country in their position. Selling ready made Trident is also better from financial point of view as well as making sure ally won't turn weapons against USA in the first place.

              Wish Russia was as sensible as USA and not help Iran in any shape or form. IMO there should be a complete and total prohibition of nuclear stations in non-developed world, if they want power then these stations can be build in some safe areas under complete control of western countries and electicity to be supplied by wires.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by zeitghost
                And us until 1951 or 2. Presumably took us longer coz our spies were less effective
                I thought it was because we had to go all the way to Australia to let it off.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Oi, theres a lot of English up here as well, Mr Z.... try some Parisien ghetto to test yer nukes please... Im sure the French Interior Minister would be happy to oblige.....
                  Vieze Oude Man

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by datestamp
                    http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus...646666,00.html

                    This is not the country that I once knew

                    Former President Jimmy Carter believes that a warring America is abandoning its fundamental values

                    Sunday November 20, 2005
                    The Observer

                    In recent years, I have become increasingly concerned by a host of radical government policies that now threaten many basic principles espoused by all previous administrations, Democratic and Republican.

                    These include the rudimentary American commitment to peace, economic and social justice, civil liberties, our environment and human rights.

                    Also endangered are our historic commitments to providing citizens with truthful information, treating dissenting voices and beliefs with respect, state and local autonomy and fiscal responsibility.

                    At the same time, our political leaders have declared independence from the restraints of international organisations and have disavowed long-standing global agreements, including agreements on nuclear arms, control of biological weapons and the international system of justice.

                    Instead of our tradition of espousing peace as a national priority unless our security is directly threatened, we have proclaimed a policy of 'pre-emptive war', an unabridged right to attack other nations unilaterally to change an unsavoury regime or for other purposes. When there are serious differences with other nations, we brand them as international pariahs and refuse to permit direct discussions to resolve disputes.

                    Regardless of the costs, there are determined efforts by US leaders to exert American imperial dominance throughout the world. These revolutionary policies have been orchestrated by those who believe that our nation's tremendous power and influence should not be internationally constrained. Even with our troops involved in combat and America facing the threat of additional terrorist attacks, our declaration of 'you are either with us or against us' has replaced the forming of alliances based on a clear comprehension of mutual interests, including the threat of terrorism.

                    Another disturbing realisation is that, unlike during other times of national crisis, the burden of conflict is now concentrated exclusively on the heroic men and women sent back repeatedly to fight in the quagmire of Iraq. The rest of our nation has not been asked to make any sacrifice, and every effort has been made to conceal or minimise public awareness of casualties.

                    Instead of cherishing our role as the great champion of human rights, we now find civil liberties and personal privacy grossly violated under some extreme provisions of the Patriot Act.

                    Of even greater concern is that the US has repudiated the Geneva accords and supported the use of torture in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo, and secretly through proxy regimes elsewhere with the so-called extraordinary rendition programme. It is embarrassing to see the President and Vice President insisting that the CIA should be free to perpetrate 'cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment' on people in US custody.

                    Instead of reducing America's reliance on nuclear weapons and their further proliferation, we have insisted on our right (and that of others) to retain our arsenals, expand them and, therefore, abrogate or derogate almost all nuclear arms-control agreements negotiated during the last 50 years. We have now become a prime culprit in global nuclear proliferation. America also has abandoned the prohibition of 'first use' of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear nations and is contemplating the previously condemned deployment of weapons in space.

                    Protection of the environment has fallen by the wayside because of government subservience to political pressure from the oil industry and other powerful lobbying groups. The last five years have brought continued lowering of pollution standards at home and almost universal condemnation of our nation's global environmental policies.

                    Our government has abandoned fiscal responsibility by unprecedented favours to the rich, while neglecting America's working families. Members of Congress have increased their own pay by $30,000 per year since freezing the minimum wage at $5.15 per hour (the lowest among industrialised nations).

                    I am extremely concerned by a fundamentalist shift in many houses of worship and in government, as church and state have become increasingly intertwined in ways previously thought unimaginable.

                    As the world's only superpower, America should be seen as the unswerving champion of peace, freedom and human rights. Our country should be the focal point around which other nations can gather to combat threats to international security and to enhance the quality of our common environment. We should be in the forefront of providing human assistance to people in need.

                    It is time for the deep and disturbing political divisions within our country to be substantially healed, with Americans united in a common commitment to revive and nourish the historic political and moral values that we have promoted during the last 230 years.

                    · Jimmy Carter was the 39th President of the United States. His latest book, Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis, is published this month by Simon & Schuster.

                    · This article first appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
                    We ignore that at our peril. A large chunk of that could be applied to this country as well. Our ancient rights are being curtailed. Magna Carta and Habeus Corpus is being weakened (the 90 days may have been defeated but 28 days is still 4 times longer than when New Labour came to power). Our own version of the Patriot Act, otherwise known as the Civil Contingencies Bill has it's own nasty bits, including the rights for you to be shot either entering or exiting your own house depending on the nature of the emergency, which can be anywhere in the world. We were too worried about the little foxes to notice that one get passed.

                    The right to a trial by jury has equally been weakened and the powers that were fornally part of a judges responisbilities placed in the hands of government ministers. The indepence of the judiciary has also been weakened. First by offering preferential pension terms but also by moving the judges under the Department of Constitutional Affairs.

                    The indepence of a the Executive or Civil Service has also been destroyed. Once the envy of the world, it has been destroyed by the use of political placemen and advisors, the number of which has increased by magnitudes since New Labour.

                    We to see nothing wrong with surrogates torturing people and using the information ourselves, while we stand in our moral superiority that we don't do that kind of thing.


                    Last edited by zathras; 21 November 2005, 14:28.

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