[extropy-chat] [Politics] Real Politick

[The Avantguardian]

Many of the arguments I have heard for and against the
war, current U.S. foreign policy, and its dealings
with other UN nations has led me to reflect on the
current world situation.

For one thing, I see that many conservatives cling to
a very old poltical frame of mind: real politick.
That is the time honored cynical notion that
nation-states are supposed behave as selfish
sociopaths, futhering their own economic and political
gain in a playing field without rules or consideration
of other nations.

I understand that much of world history has shown this
to be a fairly accurate description of how politics
USED to work. Treaties are made and broken at the
convenience of the participants in the mad scramble
for eminence in the international theater.

While I understand that there was a time when such a
world-view made a lot of sense. But in this day and
age of economic globalism, weapons of mass
destruction, and the Internet, the world seems smaller
and more interconnected than ever. Can the nations of
the world persist in this behavior for long without
bringing about their own ruin?

For example, there is much anticipation regarding a
showdown between the US and China with respect to
Taiwan. Now, I understand that Taiwan is a fairly
prosperous little island. But I will wager that the
current economic trade between the U.S. and China is
worth more than the GNP of Tawain. The US and China
have made many mutual investments with each other.

Since these days, a stock market crash in any one
market cause a chain reaction of market crashes around
the world, I just don't see how a confrontation of
such a magnitude over such a small island is at all
beneficial to either side. What good would serve China
to regain control of Taiwan, if in the process, the
U.S. stops buying Chinese goods and employing Chinese
workers in its overseas factories. What good would it
do the U.S. to keep Taiwan under its influence, if it
means that we can no longer purchase cheap goods from
China and the Chinese liquidate its investments in the
US.

These days as people make Internet penpals all over
the world, it seems harder and harder to maintain the
nationalistic illusion of "we are good, they are bad".
I know that to many conservatives this sounds like the
"it's a small world" disney land ride, but it seems
that technology is making this so called "liberal"
viewpoint much more rational than it was 50 years ago.
In fact it seems that much of the jingoism is
manufactured by the respective leaders of countries to
consolidate their own internal power by painting the
rest of the world as a threat to national security.
But when there are nukes and linked markets involved,
can we truly afford this paranoia? Especially when
there are global issues (like pollution, asteroids,
etc.) that need to be addressed.

Any thoughts?        

The Avantguardian 
is 
Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"The surest sign of intelligent life in the universe is that they haven't attempted to contact us." 
-Bill Watterson


		
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