Posted on 04/26/2006 8:04:45 AM PDT by presidio9
When I launched this column in January of 1990 I thought the new decade held great promise. The Soviet Union was tottering, America had regained its economic and political footing under Ronald Reagan, and the European Union was making steady progress in removing barriers to trade and investment. But looking back, I see that human progress doesn't roll forward steadily; it suffers fits and starts.
My optimism back then about the land east of the Oder was justified. The Soviet "evil empire," as President Reagan described it, was falling apart and would finally collapse in late 1991, freeing 14 non-Russian republics from the control of the politburo in Moscow. The empire's captive nations in Central Europe were breaking free even as I wrote my first Global View. Only a few weeks before then, the East Germans had torn down the wall that separated them from freedom.
But today, déjà vu intrudes. Russian imperialism is again on the march, under the leadership of a KGB clique in the Kremlin who never quite lost their taste for authoritarianism.
The Israel-Arab relationship is worse than in 1990, at least in political terms. Bill Clinton and Yitzhak Rabin of Israel made a colossal mistake in 1994 of granting a lifelong terrorist, Yasser Arafat, power over Gaza and West Bank Arabs. His Oslo Treaty pledge to recognize Israel's right to exist was pure fakery, and today Palestinian terrorists are still striving to drive Israel into the sea.
Europe in 1990 was trying with mixed success to stabilize monetary exchange rates and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl was about to make a costly mistake in granting newly liberated East Germans a monetary regime that would effectively price their broken-down industries out of competition with the rest of Europe. But despite the huge bills
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Is this the same British guy who was a jazz singer in his youth, with the Humphrey Lyttleton band, I believe. Or am I way off base?
Does this mean the WSJ has hired "a younger, more talented", more liberal, international editor?
Since the WSJ is a family owned paper, I doubt it. But only time will tell.
Not that I am aware of.
I've been an on-line subscriber to WSJ for over five years and this guy doesn't register at all. If the rest of his work was anything like his last piece, no wonder he was so forgetable...
I find it hard to believe that a daily reader of the Journal could be unfamiliar with the "Global View" column. This was a weekly feature, like Dan Henninger's "Wonder Land" on Fridays.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.