Observations

Why!!! The people of our country are gentle people. One time I stopped the traffic in both directions to let a family of mallards cross the street and jump into the lake. I was surprised when all the drivers smiled and raised their hands with their thumb up as a sign of approval. We are creative and generous, ready to help, assist the needy. We are wealthy and we use this wealth wisely by creating many programs for the poor. Inside and outside our country.

Our system makes us powerful because it unleashes the best in us. There are not many restrictions, as in most countries, to achieve our dreams if we are ready to work hard. The system supports this type of endeavors because it is clearly understood that if one is successful the others will benefit as well.

But it is very difficult to manage power and understand how other nations perceive it. Even businesses, when they become too big, are attacked by competitors. If they do not succeed in keeping their size under control, competitors resort to government influence to break them down. The recent cases of Microsoft and GE fall clearly in this camp.

It is difficult to hide power and wealth when your size dwarfs the size of all competitors. The way we act. The way we deal with people. Any small body language is interpreted the wrong way. The aggressive expansion of our companies around the world causes people to worry about the dangers of globalization. There is also concern and resentment by some groups about our effort to protect financially and militarily our friends.

I have a small library behind my desk. Not more than 130 books. They are the ones that shaped my way of thinking. The top shelf has such books as The Rise and Fall of Great Powers, Modern Times, Nomenklatura, and Free to Choose. Diplomacy, by H. Kissinger, is also on the top shelf.

The latter is the book that comes to mind during these trying times. Why? One of the purposes of diplomacy is to work with foreign governments in order to understand their mood toward us. Its aim is to create an environment where a balance is reached in our relationship with other countries.

What I am suggesting is that what happened on September 11 should be perceived as a sign that we have ignored for too long how the world feels about us. This hate has strong and pervasive roots that we failed to acknowledge and do something about. They did not grow overnight. We are now acting to exterminate terrorism. We are taking the right initiatives.

However, I sincerely hope that we learned the lesson and remember to begin constructive negotiations with the world and find out how to bring this ugly hate toward us under control. Intelligence is only a small part of the equation. Experienced diplomats should be directed toward this task immediately. The solution of the Middle East conflict between Israel and the Palestinians seems the reasonable first step in order to bring peace to the rest of the world.

(This Observations appeared in the issue of 9/29/01 of The Peter Dag Portfolio).

George Dagnino, PhD
Editor, The Peter Dag Portfolio. Since 1977
2009 Market Timer of the Year by Timer Digest

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