OCR Text |
Show THE VOICE OF BUSINESS ur ties witffo our allies . are stronger than- ever? By Kicluircl L. Lesher. I'resideiil (ilium her of Commerce of lite Unileil Suite Economic progress and individual prosperity depend upon many things incentives, competition, capital investment invest-ment and an ability by governments to conquer inflation and restrain excessive ex-cessive regulation. Another condition sometimes overlooked is the growth of international trade, which, historically has resulted from cooperative initiatives in-itiatives of Western nations, led by the United States. Jimmy Carter has spoken often of his successes in the area of international relations. For example, in his state of the Union speech in 1979, he observed: "We are building the foundation for truly tru-ly global cooperation, not only with Western and industrialized nations but with the developing countries as well. Our ties with Japan and our European allies are stronger than ever, and so are our friendly relations with the people of Latin America, Africa, and the Western Pacific and Asia." During the last two years, I have traveled more than 60,000 miles, been on all the continents except Antarctica, and visited with business people, politicians politi-cians and heads of state. Looking back, I must respectfully disagree with Mr. Carter's statement. In fact. I could not disagree more, nor have I found a single individual who agrees with it. Unfortunately, quite the opposite is true our relations with at least some of our allies have seldom been worse. If we had deliberately set out to botch up our relations with our allies, we could not have done a better job of it. Starting with the infamous human rights crusade, we attempted, a quite boorish fashion, to impose our ideas on other nations. More often than not, we heaped most of the abuse on smaller countries which had traditionally been our friends. This was followed by a naive attempt to change the rest of the world by nullifying nulli-fying the transfer of nuclear technology, even if that meant violating treaties we had already signed. Coupled Coupl-ed with the embarrasments caused by Andy Young, almost on a weekly basis, and those resulting from the ineptitude of certain unqualified ambassadors, appointed ap-pointed despite Mr. Carter's promise to select only qualified professionals, the United States has increasingly been treated with ridicule rather than respect. A strong military is the foundation for a secure West. But through such unilateral actions as cancelling the B-l bomber and the neutron weapon, delaying delay-ing the M X missile and Trident submarine sub-marine programs, and neglecting to modernize our conventional forces, Mr. Carter has sacrificed much of what our allies once considered a military machine second to none. Those perceptions have changed dramatically. Already by December, 1978, former Briti Harold MacmiC j Th'ngsareasbadfo , could possibly be, a2eV n my lifetime." A'- Jfs(i More recently, Sp... iirfa 'Da.),return5 ' and revealed: -TalkK' US' mans off the record and top s they think of the USr V war.-It's very, very lo,': P So. after three year.!, & ly reneging on our S & severely testing our $ rest of the world, its prising that many co ' follow our lead laughed at our gj ' ' l Soviet Union Jjj they could sell to the i prices. Others ignored. ""I stay away from the Mr 0 or to break economic r" S Iran after that co American Hostages. I e'. that many Americans fe; W these actions, but the es ri the United States no l0. lie So the respect it once did. " rid No, I for one reman about the strength of on:-' 0 our allies. I hopethevge I hope our economy ' defense gets stronger. t use a lot of improvement "" toat "" sons. |