How the World Has Turned

North Miami Beach, FL May 29, 2002
A.H. Schectman

THINKING ALLOWED

Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published now and
then. Opinions pro or con are welcome

HOW THE WORLD HAS TURNED

How the world has changed in so few years since THE Wall has come
down and Russia embraced Wall Street. What is the old "Evil Empire" thinking
in joining Capitalist NATO? Actually, the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization was formed in opposition to that Evil Empire. I think it is
aimed at our - AND Russia's - old true enemy, Chinese Communism. That
fallacious economic idea of Engels and Marx just happens to live on in the
most populous nation in the world, China. When China joins we will have a
two front organization NA/NPTO and then what will we all be against?

The courting of Putin and Putin's courting of W (who is reputed to
have nicknamed him P'tooee or something like that) is just another sample of
how the world has turned. Capitalism is doing very well in the old
communist home in Mother Russia, thank you very much. But, you can look
elsewhere and see other examples how this old world has changed.

Libya and el-Qaddafi have switched from denial to admitting that
they were instrumental in the terrorist murdering of the occupants of the
plane knocked down over Lockerbie in Scotland. They even will pay some
billions in restitution to families of the murdered. And this is just
another ploy in the age-old game of trade-offs. 'You let me off even if I
plead guilty and I will pay some dollars to a few people and we will start
trading again.' This will probably work even though we will be working with
murderers who are still on our death row hall of fame.

The world seems to be changing once again. The sympathy for the
Palestinian cause seems to be wearing thin. The Israeli angst has never
seemed to amount for much in the cold eyes of a cynical world. But, the
world actually seems weary of the Palestinian faux leader, Arafat. Can
continued terrorist murders against civilian populations have turned the
tide?

The world keeps turning and keeps changing and keeps remaining the
same. The world is being itself and we can't change the world no matter how
much we try. Carol's Evaluation: 10 out of 10.