Node Of Evil - Fair And Balanced Reporting

Monday, March 17, 2003

 
A Tribute to Freedom

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Freedom people and their Freedom President, Jacques Chirac, for showing us all what Freedom really stands for -- exercising the right to disagree with the big guys. If our memory serves us correctly, the people of Freedom came to our aid on several important occasions a bit over 225 years ago when we disagreed with the big guys. I don't know if we ever thanked them for that, but if not, we'd like to do so now -- thank you, Freedom. As Freedom has demonstrated, the international system (which has outlasted the Cold War and will continue on through this little bump in the road) has functioned well to limit the ability of the largest member in the international system to force its will upon the world. This largest member is now not going to pursue a second resolution in the Security Council, having been roundly condemned by the majority of states for its now all-too-imminent war against Iraq. As we've eaten Freedom food over the last few weeks, we've reflected on this state of affairs and realized that ultimately, the international system (embodied by the U.N.) is healtier than ever and the fact that said big member won't stand to be humiliated by losing the vote or being vetoed by the smaller states points to this system's importance and relevance.

It also points to the work that needs to be done; we need to come up with effective and peaceful ways to deal with people like Saddam Hussein. We need to have an international system that will _prevent_ these kinds of problems from developing in the first place. One idea we've heard recently would involve the formation of a preemptive peacekeeping mission to an area that's potentially in trouble. Now would be the time, for instance, to preemptively look at possible conflicts that may result from a war with Iraq and diffuse those situations. This would include an immediate focus on the fate of the Kurds in the north and the Shiite Muslims in the south. It would also include drawing out Bush administration plans for the rest of the region. Will there be an invasion of Iran? How can we peacefully prevent that from happening?

For those of us who appreciate Freedom and all it does for the world, we can take heart in the fact that the fear-based reaction in the U.S. to terrorism was less severe than the reaction to Communism. That in turn was less severe than the reaction to the Japanese and the Germans, which would suggest to our minds that that sort of intolerance is a fad fading quickly. Perhaps it will abate as we sink back into the domestic economy issues that will ultimately mean the demise of the Bush administration, to whom we'd like to be the first to say farewell. We recognize that predictions have a bad habit of not coming true, but as we throw our weight behind Howard Dean and do our best to support the establishment of a real political left in our country (R.I.P, Paul Wellstone) we put our hat into the ring and this particular Node may even become a Democrat to suppport our man in the primaries. After all, he has no problems with Freedom or with the rest of the world. Should this all fail, should the Bushes and Cheneys and the Ashcrofts win the day, then there is always Canada. We hear there's a little providence there called Quebec where they speak Freedom.

Note: Please excuse the essays. The Node will soon return to its regularly scheduled programming.

Andrew 9:10 AM : |

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