5 replies to this topic

[leo2car]

With the war in Iraq, war on terror, what looks like the beginning of Cold War II with Russia, Middle East tensions, i remembered something from the movie Miracle. The introduction with the cold war heart that the country felt. I just want to know if Tech students think that the next 5 years will be better than the last 5 years. Are we again losing that vision?

World events only, please ( No Mr. Klein)

[tycoonboy388]

I have to be honest, that I'm rather pessimistic at the moment, because I see the issues that we're facing as result of the failures of our current foreign policy. This administration has pursued what is called by academics as "Cowboy Diplomacy," where this country has decided to go alone and act unilaterally, without considering the negative outcomes of the actions we take. We have lost many strong allies, ostracized much of the world population, and failed to achieve much of what it has claimed to do.

Of course this can all change when President Bush finishes his term of office, and we get new leadership for this country. Its hard to predict beyond January 20, 2009 because of the currently wide field of Presidential candidates, all of whom have different viewpoints on how to change the foreign relations policy of this country. Should the Democrats win the election, we can guarantee that the Army will be removed from Iraq, and the Democrat President will try to open negotiations and elicit help from Iran, Syria, Turkey and Saudi Arabia to help rebuild Iraq. I don't think a Democrat would pursue the "Star Wars" nuclear weapons shield that has aggrivated Russia. If a Republican wins, I think we can see some of the same things, I really don't think anyone is supporting the President with "Star Wars" so I really think the situation with Russia will drop off once Bush is gone. Iraq is a more complex issue for the Republicans, who would probably keep US forces there, but try to get more help from allies and neighbors in the region. Past January 2009, the next five years will be really interesting, and hopefully we will begin to see a cesation of some of the many fears we face today.

[techkid]

I would have to agree with tycoonboy, I do not see the world getting any better. Granted most of the time I have a pessimistic view on the world, but this time it is a little different. In the past, when countries got too powerful, they started to crumble because other countries either got too jealous or were scared that one power was getting just too powerful. Although there were other causes that led to the demise of the Roman, Spanish (when it had all of its colonies) and English empires (same as Spainish), these three were exerting too much influence on the world and this attracted a lot of attention on the respective empires. We are slowly alienating the world and if we don't change our policies now, we are going to cross a point of no return. Changing a leader is a temporary solution, but in the long run we have to stop seeing ourselves as the "police power" of the world and start working with other countries. Thus I do not see the world as a better place in five years if there is no drastic change in world policiy on the part of the United States.

[leo2car]

We could not interfere because of:
1. Low number of military avalible
2. Congress that wants to play politics
3. If we interfere, more radical attacks on our land. \

We need to work with stable islam countries and express that they need to do something. We have lost most of our credibility with the world. And i believe that in Iraq we have passed yesturday with Attack on the Iraq Srine (NY Times) or will by September.

It does not llo any better with North Korea and Iran.

[deadringer]

I think I'm rather optimistic about the future. I mean, its so bad now that I think: can it even get any worse?

[Neo]

sumaya, on Jun 17 2007, 02:45 PM, said:

I mean, its so bad now that I think: can it even get any worse?

I said the exact same thing after Bush was elected the first time...

On a more serious note, I would say "brace yourselves." Yes, I think it's going to get a lot worse, but the interesting thing here is that it may appear to get better from time to time. CNN.com ran an article on Tutu recently. The guy's position on global terrorism is quite inline with what I've suspected for years now: that the greatest cause for violent fundamentalist uprisings isn't in matters of philosophical conflict, but simply regional poverty. This should come as no surprise of course, given America's tendency to suck the world dry. Like I said before though, every once in a while, things will seem to get better. Such events ought not to be attributed to actual resolution of the core issue--such a thing will never happen--the illusion will blanket public perception as often as psychologists develop newer, better methods of pacifying afflicted populations. These quick fixes will make foreign aggressors more docile for a while, but tension and resentment will continue to pile up from before (similar to how individuals function). Then, on occasion, we will see more vicious responses from our international neighbors. The outbursts will be of diminishing persistence, but escalating severity. Where will it end? Nuclear skirmishes, perhaps. Ultimately, the willfulness of the human spirit will persevere...for better or worse.

Edited by Neo, 19 September 2007 - 01:02 AM.