01
4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 15, 2003
OP/ED
,01z £iteuxia~
420 MAYNARD STREET
ANN ARBOR, MI 48109
letters@michigandaily.com
EDITED AND MANAGED BY
STUDENTS AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
SINCE 1890
JON SCHWARTZ
Editor in Chief
JOHANNA HANINK
Editorial Page Editor
NOTABLE
QUOTABLE
" What Toronto
is doing is obscene.
They're sending a
suicide ballet down
those highways."
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's
editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not
necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
SAM BUTLER TrH. SOAPBOX
c .Ad grind kurs~aP 'v\a CA Vt.s+'OAovn Le4L& 4"1V ~ 4 - i Vh WS c~tSo.S c .a-,U4.toVl
t~e herknos --ift ot oace.Ne rp w~nd 0 b,o!Nofi-1e !
Very ,o-K o l ;,l toedou -lec~sprie o 15°Ia'
M o e rI
6~
E0co/
f
- Sarnia, Ontario Mayor Mike Bradley on
Toronto's daily trucking of trash into Michigan,
as quoted in yesterday's Detroit News. The truck
drivers' new route cuts through downtown Detroit.
One man's defense of the multilateral ideal
ZAC PESKOWITZ Ti- LOWER FREQUENCIES
M ultilateralism thing 'unilateral."' Krauthammer, meanwhile, descriptive and possesses a normative moral
is a word levied his attack against the United Nations' meaning. These phrases should also serve the
filled with Security Council. "How exactly does the Secu- dual purpose of identifying the specific ideals
gush. How could you be rity Council confer moral authority on Ameri- desired through multilateral action. Perhaps
against it? The images can action? The Security Council is a "Wilsonian collaboration" for those with
of collaboration, coop- committee of great powers, heirs to the victors utopian dreams or "Kristolian cooperation" for
eration and international in the Second World War. They manage the the neoconservative proponents of democracy.
harmony float into world in their own interest." For those with economic interests, "Prebischi-
one's mind as its seven In the concrete sense of the word, an internationalism" could indicate moral
syllables gently draw Krauthammer and Hitchens are obviously cor- action for dependencia theorists. "Friedmanite
themselves out. It rings with the tone of pros- rect. However, the object of their attack is a concurrence" would be the best phrase for
perity, tranquility and progress. If you support straw man. While arguing the merits of multi- rabid free-marketers' views in the international
a proposal, elevate it with the accolade of mul- lateralism in the narrow sense is a fruitless sector. Support for multilateralism is not an
tilateralism. If you're against a policy, tarnish process, multilateralism can hold a much ideological position and anyone with an inter-
it with the brand of unilateralism. broader meaning. The possibility of a global est in foreign relations should recognize that
Despite the power of the word and its cen- forum for the adjudication of disputes, free- no one position holds a monopoly on the moral
trality in innumerable foreign policy debates, it dom of movement for all peoples and a world force of international action.
means practically nothing. If your state pos- free from conflict are the ideal ends of multi- In the dark winter of 1940, Great Britain
sesses colonial ambitions simply find a few lateral actions. The supporters of this multilat- faced a Europe controlled by its enemies. From
other mini-states to join along in your imperial eral ideal bear much of the responsibility for the Urals to Gibraltar, the Nazis, its allies and its
conquest. Presto! Multilateralism. It's clear the word's latent contradictions. occupied territories stretched across the conti-
that the quality of multilateralism is a useless Leftists are eager to denounce the United nent. The German betrayal of the USSR and the
tool for reaching a moral judgment of a specif- States' withdrawal from the Kyoto protocol United States' entry into World War II would
ic policy. And as both domestic and foreign and the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty and the eventually give Britain allies, but in 1940
liberals have attacked the United States as a refusal to join the International Criminal Britain unilaterally stood against fascism. With-
unilateral bully, realists and interventionists Court and the international land mine treaty. in a span of six decades, much of the European
have responded, exposing multilateralism as a But when multilateral initiatives are a source continent would resemble a well-organized
vacuous bogey. of opprobrium their cooperative aspects are state. The potential for inter-state conflict and
Charles Krauthammer and Christopher neglected. The North American Free Trade nationalist angst that marked Europe's first half
Hitchens, two men who represent the current Agreement, the World Trade Organization of the 20th century has been diffused. Through
zeitgist quite well, have sunk their teeth into and the International Monetary Fund are, of the formation of trade pacts, legal bodies and a
multilateralism. As Hitchens wrote in Slate, course, multilateral institutions, but you can currency union, Europe has achieved many of
"The most dada version of the dilemma was find the self-styled supporters of multilateral- the goals of Woodrow Wilson. Perhaps the best
stated by Sen. Tom Daschle, who for weeks ism advocating unilateral withdrawal from way to achieve this multilateral ideal tomorrow
appeared to say that if only more people would these institutions. Unilateralism is not a seri- is to act unilaterally today.
endorse the president's policy, whey then, he ous reason for opposing a particular interna-
might be induced to support it himself! But in tional action. Zac Peskowitz can be reached
the meanwhile, he could only frown upon any- We need a word or phrase that is less atzpeskowi@umich.edu.
VIEWPOINT
United States should concede nothing to North Korea
BY MIKI SALTSMAN
North Korea announced Friday that it
was done with the Nuclear Non-Prolifera-
tion Treaty. "We're pulling out" is the
word from Pyongyang - now the ball is in
our court. Add this to the recent discovery
that Pyongyang has secretly rebooted its
nuclear program and the North Korean
claim that it can match the United States in
a "fire-to-fire" standoff. In all but threaten-
ing a World War III, North Korea seems to
have really given itself a stacked deck in
the game of international relations.
So where is former President Jimmy
Carter when you really need him?
Shouldn't we be working the diplomatic
back channels, trying to keep North Korea
from acting as a rouge nation? We already
sent Carter over to North Korea a few
years back, ready and willing to dole out
plenty of foreign aid if it will promise not
to develop any more nuclear weapons.
Since that agreement, it has backed out on
many of the terms, and the United States
has used even more foreign aid to try to
coax it back in to the agreement. Carter's
agreed framework turned out to be a fail-
ure. We even reduced economic sanctions
on the country in the year 2000. So, why
not just continue to "work" with them, and
send out some more aid? Because, to use
an analogy, this would be like buying a
brand new car for a teenage son who just
wrecked your previous three. We cannot
continue to give North Korea aid without
some assurance that it will comply with its
end of the bargain.
The sad part of this whole crisis is that
North Korea claims that this is the fault of
the United States. Our "aggressive posture"
is what caused it to pull out of the NPT,
and furthermore to kick out United Nations
inspection teams last month.
So what is to be done here? If the mat-
ter goes to the U.N. Security Council,
North Korea could be faced with deep eco-
nomic sanctions. But the problem with
sanctions in a country like North Korea is
that they don't hurt the bad guys - they
hurt the civilians, the citizens who are
being oppressed, while the oppressor con-
tinues to prosper. No, our real solution is
going to require a cost on President Bush's
part. He needs to go on the record, on tele-
vision, in the paper - somewhere public.
He needs to let North Korea know that this
behavior is not acceptable and that the
United States will not tolerate its actions.
Basically, Bush needs to call the North
Koreans' bluff.
I'm not so eager to see Bush commit
our country to any sort of military action in
North Korea, especially with the conflict
we currently have in Iraq. The question
here is, will there even be a need for mili-
tary action? Here is a country that had rat-
tled its saber many times in the past, and
on each occurrence we immediately come
running with concessions. North Korea is
misbehaving because it knows that this
behavior works. Conceding anything to
this government is not going to be a good
fix, because we will find ourselves in this
same situation a few years down the road.
It's time for the United States to cut the
proverbial crap and let North Korea know
we mean business when it comes to nuclear
weapons control.
Saltsman is an LSA sophomore.
VIEWPOINT
Jerusalem: A city for peace
BY SOL ADELSKY
This past winter break, I was sitting in a
conference room in the Old City of
Jerusalem with a group of people, listening
intently to a speaker. Suddenly, I heard a
boom outside. Everyone froze. Chills
began to run down my spine.
Could it be? Is it possible? My mind
began dashing from thought to thought-
could I really be so close to a terrorist
attack? Did a genocide bomber really strike
within yards of where I was?
A tense 30 seconds passed. Then the
rain began to fall, and with its increasingly
frequent tapping on the roof, a very audible
sigh of relief was heard from everyone in
the room. Smiles broke out, and the lecture
continued.
As an American Jew, I always hear
about what happens in Israel, the multitude
of endless terror attacks that are still occur-
ring throughout Israel. However, I never
thought it was possible that I could be liter-
ally right next to one.
only emotionally but also economically.
For example, one day while in Israel I
journeyed over to Ben Yehuda Street, the
most popular and well known shopping
district in Jerusalem, comparable to Fifth
Avenue of New York City. What did I
see? Emptiness and shops going out of
business. When I had been there a mere
three years earlier, the area had been
bustling with people and action. After a
bombing of a Sbarro's Pizzeria, among
other shops in the area, tourists are afraid
to go shopping there, and the shop owners
are desperate for business.
When I went into a T-shirt store, I asked
for a better price on a T-shirt. Three years
ago, before the most recent wave of terror
attacks, the shop owner would most likely
have given me a lower price. Instead, the
woman behind the counter looked back at
me with cold, pleading eyes and responded
that she simply could not give me a better
price. Every shekel means the world to
these shop owners, who are struggling to
make a living.
village with a friend to go hiking.
After she shared her experiences with
us and discussed how she was grieving,
somebody asked her how she feels about
the people who committed this heinous
crime against her. She responded simply
that she does not hate the Palestinian peo-
ple, and all she wants is peace. What is so
special is that Sherry Mandel's mentality
is commonplace in Israel. It is admirable
that a people who are so viciously and sys-
tematically attacked and murdered still
seek peace.
Sherry Mandel's statement is so vital in
the Israeli-Arab conflict. It highlights the
core difference between Israel and her
attackers: Israel wants peace, and only
peace. After endless terror attacks, the first
and fundamental step to peace is for the
Palestinian leadership to call for and actual-
ly stop all terror attacks. The Palestinian
leadership needs to stop acting in front of
the media as if it wants peace and then con-
tinues to let its known and identified terror-
ists roam the streets and continue to plan
THE BOONDOCKS AARON McGRU.DER
A NE 4W Nn/fME WARNiER POLL SAYS TWENTY
I