|
|
        
|
|
The future: An answer to Eva's comment
by Thanos Kalamidas
2008-03-14 10:03:14 |
| Print - Comment - Send to a Friend - More from this Author |
   
 |
A few weeks ago in an article I wrote about Russia, my friend Eva commented what we really expect from Russia or even the USA for the future. Apparently Eva was right, most of us judging what Putin did or we are full of opinion about what Obama should do, but most of the time we have no suggestion for what we expect of the future.
At the moment I will put aside wishful thoughts and let’s see how I would like things to turn out. Russia used to be one of the two superpowers for a long time and the truth is that they used to be one of the major powers throughout all of European history and I think this is where their future lays. Putting aside ideological differences for nearly a century, Russia is a part of Europe, it is part of European history and part of European heritage. This can be seen on many levels, from Russian art and Russian music to Russian literature, and never forget the role Moscow played during the invasion of the Ottoman Empire in Europe. Russia became the hideaway place for Christians and Jews escaping the Ottoman intrusion after the fall of the Byzantine Empire and again Russia helped the uprising countries fighting for their independence from the Ottoman Empire. Apparently this is why the strong ties between Russia and Serbia.
This power that often helped the European unity became the separator in the twentieth century, I’m not judging the communism and I think that it is naïve to judge an economic and social philosophy by the people who used this philosophy for their personal agendas. You cannot say that Stalin was the communist leader Marx dreamt of, just like you cannot say that Pinochet or Musharraf and Mugabe nowadays have anything to do with the democracy that they are supposed to represent. So leaving this part aside and thinking that this was a big time break for Russia, I strongly believe that Russia has a strong role in the future united Europe and, on many levels, from economic to cultural.
However, before getting there Russia has to become a democratic country in the European way. Our democracies in Europe might not be perfect but they work, they work in the sense that freedom of speech is protected; the rights of the individual are protected, there is a health system for everybody and education for everybody and despite the fact that the US has the reputation of equal opportunities to everybody I feel that Europe is the place that actually practises it. Of course, nothing is perfect and there is a lot to be done and a long way to go, but at least the base is here and Russia is part of this Europe and must gradually become an active part.
On the other side of the ocean, the other superpower has its own limits as well. Of course there is democracy there but then again why has it become such a big issue for a black or a woman for president? European democracies have had women prime ministers and presidents for decades, a Jew with Greek roots is the president of France this moment and how many Muslims are members of different parliaments all around Europe, yet a woman candidate for the presidency has become an issue in US - her gender, instead of her ideas and that shows that something is missing; his colour and not his ideas, that shows that thing over in Europe for decades are still an issue in the US.
There are politicians in the US who are talking about isolation, as if Europe is their enemy, yet they forget that the US is a country made from immigrants. You see that is what I’m expecting from the USA, tolerance on every level. It is so difficult for us Europeans to understand how this country survives with no welfare state, a state that will fight for every single citizen not to become homeless, where the loans, credit cards, constant consuming cannot manipulate the system, where there are no ghettos and, most of all, where a superpower doesn’t count the number of nuclear heads but the effort to help people.
But then again I feel that I haven’t answered the comment yet because my first wishful thought is the one strongest in my mind when it comes to what I want from all of them. You know a lot of science-fiction authors have a pattern when they talk about earth’s future. They talk about a global federation, that enjoys freedom, a place where there is no hunger, no poverty, actually in most of the societies they describe there isn't even money - people can have what they need to live in peace and prosper and use their creativity into something more useful like art and exploration.
I’m coming from a very small country with a limited income and I live in another with the same standards, you would say that both countries belong to the poor club of Europe, still both countries spend unbelievable amounts on defence. Imagine how different everything would have been if the same amounts were going to education and research. While all these amounts are wasted in more and more sophisticated weapons they could find a cure for cancer. Have you realized that most of the research laboratories beg, literally beg, for money every year to survive, while weapons industries receive billions of euros to create more weapons to kill us? Perhaps I’m naïve, but exploration was always something that fascinated me, since I was a kid.
Nowadays the big target is Mars, with the USA, Europe, Russia and probably China each targeting Mars individually, but what would happen if they would join forces, knowledge and effort and do it all together, united. However, we don’t need to go so far, let's stay here on Earth - amazing as it may sound - because there are parts of this Earth we don’t know yet. There are ocean depths we have to explore, just a few months ago scientists found some new animals living here on our planet. At the same time more creatures disappear from Earth, imagine if, instead of funding guns, they would fund researches to save them, research for alternative energy, researchers for HIV and cancer, imagine what would have happened if they spent a quarter of these monies on saving kids all around the world and there are 30,000 kids dying every single day.
And who else holds the major responsibility for all that than the USA and Russia. The rest of us are just satellites of one or the other, whether we like it or not, whether we admit it or not. Eva asked what was my opinion of the future of these two superpowers, I’m sorry if I was naïve in this answer but their future, in my opinion, is tied to the future of the whole globe and the United Nation of Earth.
US Society Russia |
|
| Print - Comment - Send to a Friend - More from this Author |
|
|
|
Newsletter
Subscribe
Contact
Search
