letter to the editor
Monday, November 7th, 2011Editor, NY Times:
In yesterday (Sunday)’s editorial page, Carol Giacomo asserts:
“The biggest issue for the United States is how to counterbalance an increasingly assertive China — and reassure its increasingly nervous neighbors — while trying to cajole and goad Beijing into being a more responsible world player.”
I agree that while it would be refreshing to see more nations acting less assertively on the world stage, expecting nations to take a lesser role in furthering their own interests is wishful thinking.
However, taking an unbiased look at the history of the United States, I can only marvel at Giacomo’s audacity in thinking this nation possesses any moral authority for cajoling and goading any other nation to act responsibly.
-FB
Whereas President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 by the Norwegian Nobel Committee; and whereas the United States was prosecuting active wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2009; and whereas the purpose of the Nobel Peace Prize is to recognize “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”; and whereas prosecuting wars is the antithesis of working for fraternity between nations; and whereas killing people makes their families and nations angry enough to seek retaliation; and whereas today, in May 2011, the United States is prosecuting active wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya; and whereas U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan are higher today than they were in 2009; and whereas President Obama is an intelligent man who cannot deny he has increased the prosecution of wars during his tenure rather than reduced them; 