THE ROLE OF RESPECT IN PEACE

This is an interesting piece in retrospect, especially in the aftermath of furor in the media caused by Chaves calling "w" "the devil". However the majority of the coverage didn't go beyond that one single phrase. They failed to report on the rest of his speech that goes on to clarify and qualify his opinion as to why "w" is "the devil"....................PEACE.......................Scott

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THE ROLE OF RESPECT IN PEACE

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Sam Smith

If you deconstruct the language of those who Bush would have us believe
form the axis of evil, one finds not so much megalomania as insecurity,
hurt feelings, and bitterness over their global inferiority.

This has become particularly apparent with the rise of Chavez and
Ahmadinejad, two national leaders who have proved unusually adept at
using contemporary media to make their case. They represent, perhaps, a
new generation of national figures who - all politics aside - make the
staid habits and behavior of the Council on Foreign Relations genre of
diplomacy seem pointless, lifeless and antiquated. In other words, while
Bush is still stuck in the politics of a Masterpiece Theatre plot,
Ahmadinejad, despite the pull of his traditional culture, is working
overtime to join the hip hop generation.

At the core, the language and behavior of a Bush or Blair is based on
notions of purportedly deserved power and how the less powerful are
supposed to behave towards their betters. The language and behavior of
Ahmadinejad and Chavez is popular, populist and evangelical and directed
at winning the very hearts and minds of which Bush speaks repeatedly but
doesn't have the faintest idea how to reach.

Thus we find the Islamic Republic News Agency reporting that Ahmadinejad
plans to come to the UN and speak the same day as Bush and a day before
Chavez. Both and Chavez will fly from Havana after meeting with the
longest plank holder of power of our era: Fidel Castro. This isn't
diplomacy; this is show business.

Castro, in his early days, also spoke at the UN. But, just as Mitt
Romney recently refused state police protection for the ex-president of
Iran, so the hotels of New York refused space for Castro. The result:
Malcolm X found him a hotel in Harlem and a key step was taken in the
alienation of a man who, with just a little respect and effort, might
not have tormented every American president since by refusing to die or
fade away.

The U.S. is in a similar stage with Chavez and Ahmadinejad. It is
slamming every door that possibly opens between our country and theirs,
gratuitously shunning and dissing them along the way - with the media
helping on the ridicule end. But, as Castro proved, it doesn't work.

What can work is respect.

A letter from Ahmadinejad to German prime minister Merkel is remarkable
not only in its words of respect expressed towards her and her country
but in the clear longing for a similar respect for himself and his own
land. This guy is smart and articulate and desperately wants the bigger
guys to admit it. You don't have to agree with a single political point
he makes to note this.

For example, even if one fully supports the creation of Israel, there is
still room for empathy for those displaced to make way for it. Those who
mediate for a living will tell you that you must hear the pain of both
sides. Not just the threats felt by Israelis, but those felt by its
neighbors.

And you might even find yourself faintly nodding your head as you read:
"You are familiar with the pains and sufferings currently afflicting our
world. Today, the pain and suffering of the people of Iraq that come
from occupation, absence of security and daily acts of terrorism are
tormenting the entire humanity. Relentless interferences of some
bullying powers in the internal affairs of other nations, antagonism
toward the inalienable rights of nations to have access to more advanced
technologies, subjecting nations to permanent threats by relying on
arsenals of chemical and nuclear weapons and weapons of mass
destruction, opposition to popular governments in Latin America,
supporting coup d'etat and dictatorial regimes, absence of due attention
to Africa and taking advantage of the power vacuum there to plunder
their wealth are among the problems facing our world today."

Respect is important because it is one of the few doors wide enough for
peace to enter. It is the antithesis of the bullying, bombastic,
holier-than-thou approach of the Bush regime. It is also futile to speak
only to one's friends or to establish impenetrable concessions one's
opponents must make before you sit down with them. Now that we have seen
how pointless such approaches have been, it is perhaps time to try
something else.

Chavez and Ahmadinejad are leaders of weak countries with a strong need
for respect. It does not hurt our oil supplies, our military strength or
our economy to grant them this. Our continued refusal will, just as it
did with Castro, only makes the times harder and the hard times longer.