A different idea

Lee Kuan Lew, minister mentor of Singapore, created a prosperous city nation. He is recognized as a major statesman.

I read excerpts of a speech on Foreign Affairs and he made interesting points. Given his standing as a global statesman, I thought to share with you some of his ideas. Very different from what you read in today’s press.

He compares Iraq to Vietnam, but not in the usual way. He noted that conventional wisdom in the 1970s saw the war in Vietnam as an unmitigated disaster. But that has been proven wrong. These are his words.

“The war had collateral benefits, buying the time and creating the conditions that enabled non communist East Asia to follow Japan’s path and develop into the four dragons (Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan) and, later, the four tigers (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand).” [Ed. note: by stopping the spreading of communism].

The conventional wisdom now is that the war in Iraq is also an unmitigated disaster. However, he suggests, a stabilized, less repressive Iraq can be a liberating influence in the Middle East.
He concludes that this overall new order can only be achieved by bringing all of Iraq’s neighbors into the process of achieving this objective. The latest diplomatic efforts of Dr. Rice seem to follow this direction.

I would like to add another dimension. The awakening of China is engaging the world politically, economically, and diplomatically.

Its power around the world is astounding through its financial commitments, which include a plant in South Carolina and Oklahoma and a $500 million loan to Pakistan. India is feeling the pressure and is mimicking the successful Chinese model of enterprise zones.

China is moving west. The Middle East and Islam will find themselves sandwiched between a successful Europe and burgeoning Asia. History will probably say that the war in Iraq was an unmitigated disaster. But Mr. Lee Kuan Lew may be right. Time will tell.

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George Dagnino, PhD
Editor, The Peter Dag Portfolio
Since 1977