[Culturechat] Fw: Soldier to Soldier

[Hal Taussig]

In this vein, Susan, I am injecting the first part of a speech by a man 
whose long political career has demonstrated his  profound respect for the 
US. His ambivalence amplifies your sentiments. If it generates a little 
discussion in this space, I'll share the rest of the speech (in small 
segments). The speech ends with a beautiful appeal to Americans to engage 
in a creative cross-cultural game of "imagining." At any rate, since the 
heart of the travel philosophy of Untours is about an  attempt to 
build  bridges between cultures this subject matter seems appropriate here. 
If anyone wishes to see the entire speech, let me know. I am happy to 
forward individual copies. Here then is the introductory paragraphs of the 
speech.
Hal

THE U.S. vs THE WORLD? HOW AMERICAN POWER SEEMS TO THE REST OF US



Address by Gareth Evans, President of International Crisis Group and former 
Foreign Minister of Australia, to Foreign Policy Association, New York, 19 
November 2002


____________________________________________________________________





In international relations, as in human relations, to see ourselves as 
others see us requires rather more clarity of vision than most of us can 
manage most of the time.



For no country in the world, however, as much as the United States is it 
more important that this effort be made. The responsibility comes with the 
territory: you are overwhelmingly the dominant power in the world today, 
and your actions have an extraordinary impact on everyone else. But you 
don't know nearly as much about us as we know about you.



Americans can pick up their newspapers or turn on their television for 
months on end without seeing any significant reference to Australia, for 
weeks on end without seeing any significant reference to Indonesia or India 
or Nigeria or Brazil, and even days on end without seeing any such 
reference to Britain or France or Germany or Russia.



But none of us anywhere in the world can sit through a single news 
bulletin, or read a single page of a newspaper, without being bombarded 
with words and images about what the US is doing and saying, its political 
culture, its consumer culture and its entertainment culture. You're there 
all the time, and you affect our lives in the way that we don't even begin 
to affect yours.



When it comes to foreign and security policy, as with economic and trade 
policy, just about everything you do  or choose not to do  makes an 
enormous difference to everyone else:


At 01:53 AM 4/20/03 -0400, SDF326@aol.com wrote:
>Hi,
>
>This has certainly been making the rounds...and it is an example of how 
>military communities all over the world support each other (even, 
>sometimes, when their governments disagree!).  There are so many cultures 
>that I am experiencing right now- American, American military, German, and 
>Bavarian. THe contrasts and similiarities are fun to examine.  Now I am 
>off to create an American-Italian-Slovak in the military Easter in Bavaria!
>
>Happy Holidays to All!
>
>Susan Higgins

=================================================
Untours - Independent Travel With Support!
Tel.: 888-UNTOUR-1 Web: <http://www.untours.com>

Join IdyllChat, an email discussion group on European travel!
Visit: <www.untours.com/idyllchat/>

"Most Generous Company in America, 1999" awarded by Newman's
Own & George magazine. For information on the Idyll Development
Foundation, visit: <www.untours.com/idf>