Writer and film maker Gregg Bordowitz lectures SMU students on different facets of art in Bob Smith Auditorium in the Meadows Museum of Art as part of the Visiting Artist Lecture Series. (Stuart Palley)
America has stretched itself thin around the world, involving itself in conflicts from Iraq and Afghanistan, to North Korea and Chinese relations. Lee Cullum, journalist and senior fellow in the tower center for political studies, discussed where the “Pax Americana” was working and where it wasn’t Thursday at the Faculty Club luncheon.
“We have to be heard to talk about democracy. We have to be as encouraging as we can, but we can’t always send in arms to do democracy’s bidding,” Cullum said.
She said that was the ultimate goal of U.S. foreign policy, the proliferation of democracy, but that at times you must “give democracy a rest.”
She said that this is the stance the Obama administration is going to be forced to take on situations like the one in Afghanistan. She said former officials in both the Clinton and Bush Sr. administration said that it would be impossible to win the war in Afghanistan by force. She said the only solution seemed to be to “negotiate our way out.”
She also said a serious problem brewing was just to the north of Afghanistan in Pakistan. She said the country was “terribly dangerous” because it was loaded with militants, coupled with a weak government and Taliban outcasts.
Turkey was also on her political hot list, with a senate vote most likely approaching about officially recognizing the Ottoman Empire’s Armenian slaughter during World War I as genocide. She said the vote is tricky, as it should be recognized as the “atrocity” that it was, but declaring the genocide would jeopardize Turkey’s tactical airbase, which is necessary for Iraq troop withdrawal.
The final political hotbed that she mentioned was Russia, calling it dangerous like a “wounded tiger.” With the demand for oil soon to rebound and tensions already rising high about piping oil through the Ukraine and into central Asia, she said it could be cause for concern.
Addressing the financial crisis, Cullum said the nation should forget the get rich quick mentality.
“There is no question the financial world has got to rethink itself,” she said. “We have to accommodate ourselves to a reasonable but not dramatic growth rate.”
She said she was for “reasonable” regulation to prevent this mess from happening again.
“There is nothing wrong with requiring borrowers to put money down on a home loan and requiring banks to keep sufficient capital on hand, I have no reservations with those kinds of regulation,” she said.
She concluded with her reservations over the NAFTA issue and Mexican trade dispute that erupted recently. She said it is a more serious issue than people realize, and she would love to see the Obama administration turn in a pro-free trade direction.
