[Culturechat] Fw: Soldier to Soldier

[Phil and Jane King]

I've often been struck by the idea that smaller countries are more affected
by the activities of the larger ones than vice versa, and that as a
consequence they know far more about us than we know of them; I have often
felt this as a disadvantage when traveling, even in the European countries
from which the majority of our ancestors emigrated.  Please send me the full
text of the speech.

Jane King


----- Original Message -----
From: "Hal Taussig" <HT@untours.com>
To: <SDF326@aol.com>; <Culturechat@untours.com>
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2003 4:08 PM
Subject: Re: [Culturechat] Fw: Soldier to Soldier


> 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
>
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