I know that America at times has acted with great generosity and far-sightedness in the world. But as a former American diplomat working in developing countries, I also know that too often there has been a disconnect between the basic goodness and sense of justice of the American people and the policies enacted in our name. Given our resources, America does very little to combat global problems of hunger, ignorance, violence and disease, while every day, tens of thousands of lives are lost quietly to these scourges all over the earth, but mostly unseen and unnoted here. The gap between the world's rich and poor grows; television and the Internet make even the most squalid camps and villages aware of that disparity.
And in these camps and villages young men with nothing to lose listen to the ideologues and warlords and criminals, and we become the targets.
President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have promised a new strategy toward the developing world.
In my view, that strategy should include three things:
First -- take the lead in helping developing countries feed their people and eliminate preventable diseases like dysentery and cholera.
Second--promote global trade, aid and investment policies that help developing countries strengthen and diversify their economies and improve education. Corporations must understand that they exist to serve not only the providers of capital, but also the providers of labor and the communities in which those laborers live.
Third -- strengthen international and regional organizations and push them to take active and effective roles in dealing with regional violence and its causes. Be prepared to act unilaterally if these organizations fail. No more Rwandas.
Bloviating bullies on the right will oppose any of these efforts. And the need to focus on the economic crisis will exert enormous pressure to shove them down the priority list, certainly in Congress.
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