G.W. Bush Has Even Succeeded In Alienating Canada ... An Impressive Feat!

That brings up a fourth issue that should deeply concern Americans, and the world: the sharp divide between public opinion and public policy, one of the reasons for the fear, which cannot casually be put aside, that, as Gar Alperowitz puts it in America Beyond Capitalism, "the American 'system' as a whole is in real trouble -- that it is heading in a direction that spells the end of its historic values [of] equality, liberty, and meaningful democracy." The "system" is coming to have some of the features of failed states, to adopt a currently fashionable notion that is conventionally applied to states regarded as potential threats to our security (like Iraq) or as needing our intervention to rescue the population from severe internal threats (like Haiti). Though the concept is recognized to be, according to the journal Foreign Affairs, "frustratingly imprecise," some of the primary characteristics of failed states can be identified. One is their inability or unwillingness to protect their citizens from violence and perhaps even destruction. Another is their tendency to regard themselves as beyond the reach of domestic or international law, and hence free to carry out aggression and violence. And if they have democratic forms, they suffer from a serious "democratic deficit" that deprives their formal democratic institutions of real substance. Among the hardest tasks that anyone can undertake, and one of the most important, is to look honestly in the mirror. If we allow ourselves to do so, we should have little difficulty in finding the characteristics of "failed states" right at home... [snip] ...The Bush administration has even succeeded in alienating Canada, an impressive feat. Canada's minister of natural resources said that within a few years one quarter of the oil that Canada now sends to the United States may go to China instead. In a further blow to Washington's energy policies, the leading oil exporter in the hemisphere, Venezuela, has forged probably the closest relations with China of any Latin American country, and is planning to sell increasing amounts of oil to China as part of its effort to reduce dependence on the openly hostile US government. Latin America as a whole is increasing trade and other relations with China, with some setbacks, but likely expansion, in particular for raw materials exporters like Brazil and Chile. Meanwhile, Cuba-Venezuela relations are becoming very close, each relying on its comparative advantage ... Venezuela is providing low-cost oil while in return Cuba organizes literacy and health programs, sending thousands of highly-skilled professionals, teachers, and doctors, who work in the poorest and most neglected areas, as they do elsewhere in the Third World... Full story: http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=59254 [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on June 13, 2006]

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