Observation

. Since Mr. Bush has been elected president we have had unprecedented turbulence in world affairs.
• Russia and China feel strongly that the issues between US and N. Korea should not be dealt with in the UN. They should be resolved diplomatically.
• Germany, France, Russia, and China (among the major countries) object to our going to war against Iraq.
• War protests around the world are mushrooming.
• NATO has finally agreed to protect Turkey in case of war. France did not agree. Germany is reluctant.
• Bin Laden is still at large and is broadcasting hate messages against us.
• We supported Saddam Hussein and bin Laden on previous occasions.
• We are clearly against the Iranian regime.
• We are clearly not liked by the Arab world.
• We continue to ignore the massacre, on both sides, that is going on between Israel and Palestinians.
• We need to answer why the Arab countries hate us so much. Only then will we be able to establish friendly and sound relations with them.
• Europe, China, Russia, and the Arab countries are a fairly large part of the world. We succeeded in alienating them. Why?
• Outcome No 1: The world economy is slowing down as the ECB lowers the forecast for Europe in 2003.
• Outcome No 2.: The US economy, after a brief awakening in 2002, is falling in a Japanese type of coma.
• We were playing the war against terrorism so well. What happened to it?
• We are succeeding in isolating ourselves.

(This Observations appeared in the issue of 2/24/2003 of The Peter Dag Portfolio)