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Mizzima: The Two Bs



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                               The Two Bs

Kanbawza Win, April 17, 2001
Mizzima News Group (www.mizzima.com)

            An  EP-3 American spy aircraft fitted with  sophisticated
electronic gear including sensitive monitoring equipment colliding with
the Chinese air plane over Hainan island forcing it to land in China
brought back sad memories of the 60s when an American U2 spy plane was
shot down by the Russians sending the two giants to the brink of the
Third World War. Although it is common for the American spy planes  to
intrude into other country's airspace, it came at a time when
Sino-American relations were at their lowest.

To a common Asian it seems that President's Bush's ad-hoc policy grows
increasingly hawkish and Beijing is losing patience. Bill Clinton's
policy of ?Strategic Partnership? with Beijing which had assured the
rest of the world that the Cold War was history and was a much better
place to live in is now being replaced by a gun totting Texas cowboy. As
contentious decisions ranging from military sales to Taiwan to missile
defense force their way onto President's Bush agenda, we might as well
face the fact of  a crisis relationship between the world's mightiest
and most populous nations of the world.

International Relations students have been quite bewildered to read
about foreign policy goals of the US towards China as the Bush
administration deals with the rising issue.  Sometimes one wonders
whether the State Department has a clear, well worked-out strategy for
dealing with the ever-rising  Asian power . The danger of this reactive
approach is that the administration's lack of focus could allow a raft
of hawkish, anti-China lobbies to dictate ad-hoc policy, which in turn
could prompt China to take a more aggressive stance, as the current
aircraft crisis indicates.

What should have been a minor kerfuffle has been made into a major
diplomatic controversy. The temporary detention of the EP-3's crew comes
out on the heels of the arrest of two Chinese-American scholars in
China, indicating that the bilateral relations are going downhill.

President George W Bush like the Burmese Junta, runs the serious risk of
being regarded as an odd-man-out in the eyes of the world . His
seemingly ideologically driven policies and America First actions since
coming to office are causing growing concern even for traditional
American allies in Western Europe. The Bush Administration can be
equated to the Burmese Junta in several aspects, the Junta holding on to
power as the first objective is equivalent to Bush?s determination to
antagonize China. Bush?s policies seems to be a reminiscent of the Cold
War era, a carry-over from the administration of his father, former
president George Bush Sr. In a few months the ?indispensable nation?
begins to resemble the ultimate rogue state. Mr Bush clinging to his
?national interest? credo, just like the Junta clinging to power and
legalizing the drug war lords, does not grasp the basic truth that
national interest is inextricably intertwined with the global interest.

In a short span of four months he has abruptly reversed the efforts of
Bill Clinton to persuade North Korea to moderate its previous bellicose
policies now. Washington's decision to distance itself from the
negotiating process between Israel and the Palestinians seems to send
the message to Ariel Sharon to use more forceful military means against
Yasser Arafat's PLO.

But what worries  Asians  most is his attitude of belittling them. This
was demonstrated when South Korean President Kim Dae Jung,  the current
Nobel Peace laureate, was slapped in the face when Bush bluntly informed
Kim that he considered Pyongyang a threat to the US despite Mr Kims 's
efforts to persuade the world to improve relations with North Korea. In
other words, Bush doesn't seem to like the Sunshine policy, like a true
hawk always prefers winter. But Asian scholars see the writing on the
wall: Bush was trying to justify his controversial National Missile
Defense  system from any serious threat posed by Pyongyang.

But the most appalling action of this new man in the house is his
disregard for the whole world when he announced that he had no intention
of implementing the proposed 1997 Kyoto Protocol on combating global
warming, a treaty laboriously negotiated over several years. The US, for
all its dominance is but a part of the world we share. Its consumers
depend for their unsurpassed living standards on shared global
resources. US greenhouse emissions are not confined to US air space. Nor
is the US immune from the negative impact of its national profligacy and
international climate change.

Bush? dramatic decision announced on March 13th to withdraw from the
Kyoto Protocol to combat climate change also signaled that America is
willing to go it alone and is less inclined to favour multilateral
solutions to global problems. We could not help recollecting the fate of
the League of Nations when the American congress refused to ratify in
spite of President Widrow Wilson?s lead thus paving the way for the
Second World War. Who can say Bush may be paving the way for the Third
World War or at least the destruction of this world by drastic climatic
changes. How come that the President of a great nation has a Burmese
general mentality?

It is high time that the European and Asian nations to rethink our
attitude towards the US leadership and pursued a peaceful foreign policy
quite distinct from that of Washington. Now that the US has persisted in
confrontation actions vis a vis, China, North Korea, the trade disputes,
missile defense shield and even war on the environment, for the benefit
of the corporate oligarchy, it will be much better to treat Bush and his
gang just like the Burmese Junta, a pariah. Perhaps the two Bs, Bush and
Burma are just a nuisance to the civilized world community.

(The author is a visiting Professor at the Faculty of International
Development Studies, University of Winnipeg Cum Research Fellow at the
University of Manitoba at the Institute of Humanities, Winnipeg,
Manitoba, Canada)



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<center><b><u><font color="#3333FF"><font size=+2>The Two Bs</font></font></u></b></center>

<p><font color="#FF0000"><font size=+1>Kanbawza Win, April 17, 2001</font></font>
<br><font color="#FF0000"><font size=+1>Mizzima News Group <a href="http://www.mizzima.com";>(www.mizzima.com)</a></font></font>
<p><font size=+1>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
An&nbsp; EP-3 American spy aircraft fitted with&nbsp; sophisticated electronic
gear including sensitive monitoring equipment colliding with the Chinese
air plane over Hainan island forcing it to land in China brought back sad
memories of the 60s when an American U2 spy plane was shot down by the
Russians sending the two giants to the brink of the Third World War. Although
it is common for the American spy planes&nbsp; to intrude into other country's
airspace, it came at a time when Sino-American relations were at their
lowest.</font>
<p><font size=+1>To a common Asian it seems that President's Bush's <i>ad-hoc</i>
policy grows increasingly hawkish and Beijing is losing patience. Bill
Clinton's policy of ?<b>Strategic Partnership</b>? with Beijing which had
assured the rest of the world that the Cold War was history and was a much
better place to live in is now being replaced by a gun totting Texas cowboy.
As contentious decisions ranging from military sales to Taiwan to missile
defense force their way onto President's Bush agenda, we might as well
face the fact of&nbsp; a crisis relationship between the world's mightiest&nbsp;
and most populous nations of the world.</font>
<p><font size=+1>International Relations students have been quite bewildered
to read about foreign policy goals of the US towards China as the Bush
administration deals with the rising issue.&nbsp; Sometimes one wonders&nbsp;
whether the State Department has a clear, well worked-out strategy for
dealing with the ever-rising&nbsp; Asian power . The danger of this reactive
approach is that the administration's lack of focus could allow a raft
of hawkish, anti-China lobbies to dictate <i>ad-hoc</i> policy, which in
turn could prompt China to take a more aggressive stance, as the current
aircraft crisis indicates.</font>
<p><font size=+1>What should have been a minor kerfuffle has been made
into a major diplomatic controversy. The temporary detention of the EP-3's
crew comes out on the heels of the arrest of two Chinese-American scholars
in China, indicating that the bilateral relations are going downhill.</font>
<p><font size=+1>President George W Bush like the Burmese Junta, runs the
serious risk of being regarded as an odd-man-out in the eyes of the world
 . His seemingly ideologically driven policies and <b>America First </b>actions
since coming to office are causing growing concern even for traditional
American allies in Western Europe. The Bush Administration can be equated
to the Burmese Junta in several aspects, the Junta holding on to power
as the first objective is equivalent to Bush?s determination to antagonize
China. Bush?s policies seems to be a reminiscent of the Cold War era, a
carry-over from the administration of his father, former president George
Bush Sr. In a few months the ?<b>indispensable nation</b>? begins to resemble
the ultimate rogue state. Mr Bush clinging to his ?national interest? credo,
just like the Junta clinging to power and legalizing the drug war lords,
does not grasp the basic truth that national interest is inextricably intertwined
with the global interest.</font>
<p><font size=+1>In a short span of four months he has abruptly reversed
the efforts of Bill Clinton to persuade North Korea to moderate its previous
bellicose&nbsp; policies now. Washington's decision to distance itself
from the negotiating process between Israel and the Palestinians seems
to send the message to Ariel Sharon to use more forceful military means
against Yasser Arafat's PLO.</font>
<p><font size=+1>But what worries&nbsp; Asians&nbsp; most is his attitude
of belittling them. This was demonstrated when South Korean President Kim
Dae Jung,&nbsp; the current Nobel Peace laureate, was slapped in the face
when Bush bluntly informed Kim that he considered Pyongyang a threat to
the US despite Mr Kims 's efforts to persuade the world to improve relations
with North Korea. In other words, Bush doesn't seem to like the Sunshine
policy, like a true hawk always prefers winter. But Asian scholars see
the writing on the wall: Bush was trying to justify his controversial National
Missile Defense&nbsp; system from any serious threat posed by Pyongyang.</font>
<p><font size=+1>But the most appalling action of this new man in the house
is his disregard for the whole world when he announced that he had no intention
of implementing the proposed 1997 Kyoto Protocol on combating global warming,
a treaty laboriously negotiated over several years. The US, for all its
dominance is but a part of the world we share. Its consumers depend for
their unsurpassed living standards on shared global resources. US greenhouse
emissions are not confined to US air space. Nor is the US immune from the
negative impact of its national profligacy and international climate change.</font>
<p><font size=+1>Bush? dramatic decision announced on March 13th to withdraw
from the Kyoto Protocol to combat climate change also signaled that America
is willing to go it alone and is less inclined to favour multilateral solutions
to global problems. We could not help recollecting the fate of the League
of Nations when the American congress refused to ratify in spite of President
Widrow Wilson?s lead thus paving the way for the Second World War. Who
can say Bush may be paving the way for the Third World War or at least
the destruction of this world by drastic climatic changes. How come that
the President of a great nation has a Burmese general mentality?</font>
<p><font size=+1>It is high time that the European and Asian nations to
rethink our attitude towards the US leadership and pursued a peaceful foreign
policy quite distinct from that of Washington. Now that the US has persisted
in confrontation actions vis a vis, China, North Korea, the trade disputes,
missile defense shield and even war on the environment, for the benefit
of the corporate oligarchy, it will be much better to treat Bush and his
gang just like the Burmese Junta, a pariah. Perhaps <b>the two Bs</b>,
Bush and Burma are just a nuisance to the civilized world community.</font>
<p><i><font size=+1>(The author is a visiting Professor at the Faculty
of International Development Studies, University of Winnipeg Cum Research
Fellow at the University of Manitoba at the Institute of Humanities, Winnipeg,
Manitoba, Canada)</font></i>
<p>&nbsp;</html>

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