White House photo by Eric Draper President George W. Bush delivers his fourth State of the Union Address at the U.S. Capitol, Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2005.
Posted on 06/23/2005 2:09:17 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
''A READER living in Moscow," writes National Review's Jay Nordlinger, ''sent me a photo from a rally in Azerbaijan, which showed a youth holding up a poster of President Bush with the words, 'We Want Freedom.' The reader commented, 'It's good to remember whom people turn to when they're desperate -- and it ain't Kofi Annan.' "
.. It is fashionable in some circles to invoke the United Nations as the touchstone of moral authority, but realists know better. They look to the United States, not the UN, as the great moral engine in world affairs. Like the Lebanese who waved a US flag during the demonstrations in Beirut earlier this year, like the ''Goddess of Liberty" in Tiananmen Square in 1989, the young Azerbaijani with his poster is a reminder that America and its message of freedom and individual dignity have an almost limitless capacity to inspire those who are denied them.
...recent bestseller, ''The Case for Democracy," former Soviet refusenik Natan Sharansky recalled how Ronald Reagan's ''evil empire" speech electrified prisoners deep inside the Soviet gulag:
''Tapping on walls and talking through toilets, word of Reagan's 'provocation' quickly spread through the prison. The dissidents were ecstatic. Finally, the leader of the free world had spoken the truth -- a truth that burned inside the heart of each and every one of us."
A US president's words of solidarity can powerfully encourage those who battle against the lies and intimidation of despotism. When Bush invited Sharansky and his co-author, Ron Dermer, to discuss their book with him in the Oval Office last November, they urged him to leverage that power by speaking directly to the world's dissidents, making it clear that he is an ally in their struggle for freedom.
It was advice Bush took to heart, ...
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Globe? Wow!
Oh..Jacoby.
He must be lonely.
really
Stories like these brighten my day! It's so nice to have an adult with moral conviction in the Oval Office.
"Every president speaks of freedom and democracy. Bush is the first to make their promotion the cornerstone of his foreign policy. His critics are legion..."
Not just lonely, totally INCOMPREHENSIBLE to the vast majority of residents of mASSachusetts! especially those who get the BG read to them!
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