Posted on 01/19/2003 6:08:57 PM PST by HAL9000
Clinton talks on the global economy at N.Y.U.
Former President Bill Clinton called on an audience of students to prepare for a future when America will no longer be "the biggest dog on the street" at the keynote address Tuesday of a New York University forum on globalization.
The current globalized world is not sustainable economically, politically or from a security vantage point, Clinton said at the second annual conference co-sponsored by New York University and the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation. Clinton spoke to an audience of about 450 students and guests.
"On Sept. 11, 2001, members of Al Quaeda used the forces of globalization - open borders, easy immigration, easy travel, easy access to information technology - to kill 3,100 people from 70 countries in three cities in the U.S.," Clinton said.
There are ways to improve our security without sacrificing civil liberties, Clinton stressed. For starters, our government needs to start using the same kinds of tracking systems employed by direct marketers and credit card companies, he said.
With such technology the government in a short period of time can track people who have multiple addresses on file, such as Sept. 11 ringleader Mohammed Atta, who had 12 addresses registered in the U.S, Clinton said. The government could also monitor people who have accrued a lot of credit card debt, he added, giving the example of the Sept. 11 terrorist who racked up $260,000 of debt on 30 credit cards.
Profiling people according to their movements or debt is much preferable than "profiling people because of their religion or ethnic heritage or whatever else," Clinton said, adding that people with such extreme habits were "either rich or up to no good."
The former president also touched on topics including the nuclear crisis in North Korea, economic initiatives in Africa, the Kyoto protocol on global warming and primary education in Mexico and Brazil. He said that the U.S. must help create a global society with "shared benefits, shared responsibility and shared values."
Clinton acknowledged that, "this is not the sexiest subject on the block." But he tried his best to add some flair with the analogy, "If none of us ever joined anything unless we got our way all the time, nobody would get married."
Students had high marks for the former chief executive.
"He throws out a lot of different tidbits of information about different countries," said Hiss an Baja, a 22-year-old first-year law student from California, adding, "The reason I came to N.Y.U. Law is because it's known as the global law school."
The day featured three panels on important topics in the globalization debate. Panelists included Robert Rubin, former secretary of the Treasury; Sandy Berger, former National Security Advisor to President Clinton; and George Soros, the investor and philanthropist. Moderators included Bernard Shaw, C.N.N.'s former anchor; and Karen DeYoung, associate editor at the Washington Post.
©The Villager 2003
"BLLLORRRRRSSSCHHHH!....."
At Freerepublic, we've been warning about globalization, often to a chorus of derision and talk of "tin foil hats". Is there any doubt now that's where the Clintons and their ilk are leading us?
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