Posted on 03/18/2008 4:56:09 PM PDT by calcowgirl
Americans and Europeans share a common goal – to build an enduring peace based on freedom. Our democracies today are strong and vibrant. Together we can tackle the diverse challenges we face, whether radical religious fanatics who use terror as their weapon of choice, the disturbing turn towards autocracy in Russia or the looming threats of climate change and the degradation of our planet.
But the key word is “together”. We need to renew and revitalise our democratic solidarity. We need to strengthen our transatlantic alliance as the core of a new global compact – a League of Democracies – that can harness the great power of the more than 100 democratic nations around the world to advance our values and defend our shared interests.
At the heart of this new compact must be mutual respect and trust. We Americans recall the words of our founders in the Declaration of Independence, that we must pay “decent respect to the opinions of mankind”. Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed.
We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies. When we believe that international action is necessary, whether military, economic or diplomatic, we will try to persuade our friends that we are right. But we, in return, must also be willing to be persuaded by them.
The nations of the Nato alliance and the European Union, meanwhile, must have the ability and the will to act in defence of freedom and economic prosperity. They must spend the money necessary to build effective military and civilian capabilities that can be deployed around the world, from the Balkans to Afghanistan, from Chad to East Timor.
We welcome European leadership to make the world a better and safer place. We look forward to France’s full reintegration into Nato. And we strongly support the EU’s efforts to build an effective European Security and Defence Policy. A strong EU, a strong Nato and a true strategic partnership between them is profoundly in our interest.
We all have to live up to our own high standards of morality and international responsibility. We will fight the terrorists and at the same time defend the rights that are the foundations of our societies. We cannot torture or treat inhumanely the suspected terrorists that we have captured. We must close the detention facility at Guantánamo and come to a common international understanding on the disposition of dangerous detainees under our control.
International responsibility also means preserving our common home. The risks of global warming have no borders. Americans and Europeans need to get serious about substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years or we will hand over a much-diminished world to our grandchildren. We need to reinvigorate the US-European partnership on climate change where we have so many common interests at stake. The US and Europe must lead together to encourage the participation of the rest of the world, including most importantly, the developing economic powerhouses of China and India.
I have introduced legislation that would require a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, but that is just a start. We need a successor to Kyoto, a cap-and-trade system that delivers the necessary environmental impact in an economically responsible manner. New technologies hold great promise. We need to unleash the power and innovation of the marketplace in order to meet our environmental challenges. Right now safe, climate-friendly nuclear energy is a critical way both to improve the quality of our air and to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources.
That dependence, I am afraid, has become a vulnerability for both the US and Europe and a source of leverage for the oil and gas exporting autocracies. The US needs to wean itself off oil faster. Europe needs a comprehensive energy policy so that Russia’s oil and gas monopolies cannot behave as agents of political influence.
The bottom line is that none of us can act as if our only concerns are within our own borders. We cannot define our national interests so narrowly that we fail to see how intimately our fate is bound up with that of the rest of humanity. There is such a thing as good international citizenship. If we wish to be models for others, we must be model citizens ourselves.
Certainly the US must be that model country. Leadership today means something different than it did in the years after the second world war, when Europe and the other democracies were recovering from the devastation of war and the US was the only democratic superpower. Today, there is the powerful collective voice of the EU, India, Japan, Australia, Brazil, South Korea, South Africa, Turkey and Israel, to name just a few of the leading democracies. And there are the struggling young democracies, such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, that need and deserve help – more, in fact, than we have been giving. In Russia, democracy has been temporarily suppressed, but we all have an interest in seeing this great nation return to the democratic path soon.
This is not idealism. It is the truest form of realism. It is the democracies of the world that will provide the pillars upon which we can and must build an enduring peace.
The writer is senator for Arizona and is the Republican nominee for the 2008 US presidential elections
We aim to please and amuse. :-) .. oh and inform. ;-)
G’nite
Back at ya—g’nite.
Thank you for this information.
They all friggin' say it, but that's NO EXCUSE
The Forked Tongue Talk Pony Express
Why don’t you take your insults and your tiny little brain and go stuff them somewhere like the nearest sewer. Oh I forgot, you mouth is the nearest sewer.
Do you think they play banjos and walk around barefoot in Rush’s home state? or in St Louis? however, we do have alot of well known conservatives living here or from here; Kit Bond, Roy Blunt, Matt Blunt, Ashcroft, Danforth, Emory Melton and more
Rush and David are from Missouri..cant get much more conservative.
I stand by my post that California has abused our military recruiters, booed the boy scouts at the dem convention, home of the black panthers, were or did deny benefits to their national guard; fought homeschooling; san fran is home to gays and their mayor did not want the military planes to even fly over his city.
NOW, because I dont agree with or dispute posts...it seems to me that the mission to defeat McCain is a liberal position when I look at the other two candidates.
Fact is that California is viewed by many as a leftwing state
I join you in puking at the election of President McLame.
I agree with TCats, you would be better served working on Osama Obama’s campaign working for the new Liberal dictatorship of America rather than spending time insulting Freepers and their opinions.
Do you support global warming regulation, taxing greenhouse gases, or a cap-and-trade program?
A simple yes or no will do.
Two days and counting.
He finally answered when asked also by NormsRevenge.
Something about total surrender to the eco-communists.
Follow up comments and questions remain unanswered.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1987841/posts?page=85#85
“He finally answered....”
Thank you. I thought it got banned (again) a while back? Who the heck moved the rock?
Do you think everyone is liberal in Reagan's home state? and Rush's "adopted" home state where his radio career was launched?
California has not abused military recruiters. In fact Californian has more military bases and more men serving in uniform than any other state by a huge margin. Do you have an idea how BIG California is? Do you think the tiny town of Berkeley has any significance whatsoever? What are the politics like in downtown St. Louis in the neighborhood where a cop warned me not to walk in broad daylight or I'd get mugged?
5.5 million Californians voted for Bush in the last Presidential election, how many did your state contribute. California has sent 19 Republicans to Congress this term. How many has Missouri contributed? Just 5?
Fact is that California is viewed by many as a leftwing state
Fact is that Missouri is viewed by many as a backward-ass hillbilly state.
I stand by my post that California has abused our military recruiters, booed the boy scouts at the dem convention, home of the black panthers, were or did deny benefits to their national guard; fought homeschooling; san fran is home to gays and their mayor did not want the military planes to even fly over his city.
—
Thanks for that broad brush. Real classy.
You may have been around here awhile but it is obvious you don’t have a clue of who is doing what in California and to whom or where FRee Republic sprung into being from.. again thanks for demonstrating that you can spew with the best of them.
A good place to start: Killing jihadis with extreme prejudice an without regard for "winning hearts and minds."
Katie—California is home of Ronald Reagan and FreeRepublic. There are millions of conservatives in this state. Your painting California as only the home of the crazies in San Fran and Oakland, or the black power movement of 40 years ago shows an astounding ignorance of the politics in this state. Trying to sum up the state by citing actions at a democrat convention is also a curious statement.
California has 5.2 million registered Republicans — 4.2 million of those Republicans did NOT vote for John McCain. Many Republicans in California see McCain as another Schwarzenegger Republican—ready to unleash destructive environmental law on the nation, pandering to illegal aliens more than American citizens, and too willing to bend over for liberals on the other side of the aisle on a host of other issues. Schwarzenegger has been able to advance the liberal agenda far more rapidly than any Democrat could have dreamed of.
If you would like to accept that liberalism, there is probably little we can do about it. But pleeze—quit bashing conservatives because it doesn’t support your partisan view of the world.
I don't know about that one.
Giggle
I began reading posts on Free Republic around 2001. I know that Jim is from California and I know he runs a great site. I remember when the freepers helped prove Rather’s accusations against Bush by the “fonts’ and I was so glad they played a role in exposing Rather for his lies. I love and appreciate many of the freepers and one of my favorites is Melanie Morgan. Snapples satire was hilarious and I also found alot more out on the ms-13 gangs and the borders.
As for California..my husband was stationed in San Diego and so was my father. My husband graduated from Hollywood High. I have a sister in law living near San Clemente and a daughter in law from LA. She fled the area due to crime.
I have lived in Washington State, NJ, Alabama, Tenn, Va before I was 5 due to my father being in the military. I am not from MO...lol. I moved here several years ago and I confess to loving the Ozarks, the rivers, lakes and small town life. MO has its problems with Meth and gov blunt has done a great job dealing with it.
There is alot of spewing going on and if I get banned..it will make you and your friend, Calcowgirl happy. If I get banned..so be it. I pointed out alot of truths about her posts and she has every right to post them but also, freepers have the right to differ and question.
Words flew from both sides and of course there are some good people living in Calif...I am related to some but I still would not want to live there and I do feel they have treated our military recruiters and the Navy poorly...NOT all Californians but too many!!
As for who you support...I have no clue but I believe with McCain having a 83% rating by the ACU and Hillary having a 9% rating..there is a huge difference between the 2 candidates...the math is 74% higher rating for McCain!
Take care and I wont bother you again.
So many deluded McCainiacs and so little time.
As I said on another thread, "To see how far this great nation has fallen, all one need do is look at the three "leading" presidential candidates, a sorry collection of losers unfit to hold any federal office of importance." And yet again: "What a truly wonderful choice of candidates America has been given for its next President. A lying, scheming former First Lady who ought to be in federal prison along with her impeached accused rapist husband, a fast talking "hate America" slickster who has refused to wear an American flag pin as do other Senators, and a worn out RINO who co-authored restrictions on free speech, has done everything possible to support amnesty and favorable treatment of illegal aliens, and who won't think twice about supporting measures which will dilute American sovereignty in favor of NWO internationalism (criminal courts and Law of the Sea Treaty)."
I would suggest to katiedidit1 that she do some indepth research on John McCain (aka "Captain McQueeg"). If that doesn't sway her, then she will have pegged herself as no true conservative but, rather, a party above principle Big Tent "just win, baby" RINO.
The truly sad fact is, that the choice we have been given is really no choice at all. None of the three candidates is fit to be president--none.
Don’t flatter yourself, you were never a bother to begin with, ;-)
You just have a very narrow range of vision that keeps you so focussed on being partisan to a fault, you miss a lot and read into others posts what isn’t there but you think is..
stick around, maybe you’ll learn something eventually.
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