A note on the Amazon ads: I've chosen to display current events titles in the Amazon box. Unfortunately, Amazon appears to promote a disproportionate number of angry-left books. I have no power over it at this time. Rest assured, I'm still a conservative.
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Wednesday, February 25, 2004
"An End to Evil": I recently finished David Frum and Richard Perle's "An End to Evil," and I agree with about 99 percent of what they write. The book is an excellent roadmap to dealing with the post-9/11 world, both at home and abroad.
My one area of disagreement with the authors is their attitude toward China. Frum and Perle make the standard conservative arguement that the method for democratizing China is through trade; free markets create democracy.
I'm unconvinced. If that were true, then Cuba would be a democracy now. For all the talk of the U.S. embargo on Cuba hurting that country, we're the only nation on the face of the Earth that has an embargo against them. I've never heard a convincing explanation for why it's good to embargo Cuba and not China.
Otherwise, from North Korea, to Syria, to Saudi Arabia, to the State Department, Frum and Perle lay out a solid, credible plan for dealing with the post-9/11 world. The main problem with instituting their plan is overcoming the political and intellectual inertia in this country -- and that's no easy task.
12:10 AM
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