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 <title>WANGO 2007 Conference in Toronto</title>
 <link>http://www.pwpa.org/pwpa/index.php?itemid=30</link>
<description><![CDATA[Rapporteur Report by Gordon L. Anderson<br />
<b>Opening Dinner Event</b><br />
<br />
On Thursday, November 8, 2007, representatives of NGOs from around the world gathered in Toronto, Canada for the annual meeting of the World Association of NGOs (WANGO) on the theme “Ethics and Global Peace: NGO Perspectives.” There were many Canadians in attendance. As we learned later, NGOs account for 7.3% of the GDP of Canada, the highest recorded for any country, making it an excellent place to hold a WANGO conference.<br />
<br />
Our opening MC was Dr. Kathy Winings and our host Secretary General Taj Hamad.<br />
<br />
We were welcomed by the Rt. Hon. Edward Schreyer, former Governor General of Canada, and now active in efforts to protect natural resources. As a spokesman for his country, told us that Canada “has much to be modest about,” and he emphasized the diversity of the population in Canada, and especially the city of Toronto. Then he set the tone for the meeting with his own understanding of the challenges of the present world and the role of NGOs. Particularly, he explained that neither governments nor corporations, the two groups asserting the most influence on the world’s present course, can be relied upon to protect our natural resources and the other challenges we face. Citizen groups—NGOs—are needed to bring reason and conscience to social policy decisions related to protecting our environment or shaping peace. <br />
<br />
The former governor spoke of the enthusiasm for creating a better world that followed World War II, including the creation of the United Nations, but he argued that somewhere along the way, perhaps the 1980s, the vision was lost. He blamed the media for sound bites that contain little substance and a malaise and cynicism that seemed to set in on the public as the captains of industry and commerce took control of the ships of state and expanded the extraction and burning of fossil fuels at a mindless pace. Our generation is doing little to prepare a long-term and sustainable strategy. We are not doing well as stewards of the world, to hold it in trust for our children and future generations. This is one area where NGOs must step in actively. We will need NGOs as long as there is civilization.<br />
<br />
Hon. Schreyer apologized for his country not providing visas to a number of long-time WANGO members from Africa, reflecting irrational security measures enacted after 9/11—another challenge for NGOs. Despite this problem, the cool rainy weather in Toronto, and a fire alarm which delayed our opening meal, the fellowship was warm, and conversations active as the delegates greeted old friends and made new ones, accomplishing WANGO’s purpose of strengthening NGOs by building a collaborative network. The first evening was topped off with a musical performance.<br />
<br />
<b>Opening Plenary Session</b><br />
The Opening Plenary Session on Friday morning developed the wider landscape of our theme of ethics and peace and shed light on some incredible work being done in so many areas of human need. Our first speaker was Jean Augustine, the Commissioner of the Canadian Office of Fairness. Her job is to monitor justice in hiring practices and professional certification in Canada, to ensure there is no discrimination against any cultural minority group and that all have equal opportunity for employment. She reinforced the theme that governments can be slow and indifferent to issues of social justice and that NGOs are key players in bringing about social change.<br />
<br />
The Commissioner pointed out some contradictions in NGO life which pose ethical challenges to them:<br />
<ol><li>How do you do advocacy work when you are established as a charitable organization?<br />
<li>How to remain independent and objective when receiving funds from donors with specific partisan agendas?<br />
<li>How can you think globally when you are fully engaged locally?</ol><br />
Her final advice: Foster alliances to promote justice and peace, take risks, be ethical, and stand in solidarity.<br />
<br />
Our next speaker, Stephen Bubb, from the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Associations in the U.K., was able to share a lot of lessons learned from experience in another NGO consortium. He started with a quote from Anita Roderick, founder of The Body Shop, “If you think you are too small to make a difference, you have not shared a bed with a mosquito.”<br />
<br />
Quoting Aristotle, John S. Mill, and others he argued that the goal of human life is happiness and the wealth of a state is measured by the well-being of individuals. We are moving from “the century of political parties,” to “the century of the third sector” (which includes NGOs). He bolstered the statement with facts about the increased percentage of GDP related to NGOs in many countries. Here is a list of features of NGOs which he gave, things that are not naturally performed well by the state:<br />
<ol><li><b>Service.</b> NGOs deliver personal service that makes a difference. States deliver impersonal services which sometimes compound problems (like prisons).<br />
<li><b>Community.</b> NGOs foster community, whereas states depend on its existence.<br />
<li><b>Injustice.</b> Injustices are sensed by people, not bureaucracies.<br />
<li><b>Terrorism.</b> State security measures erect walls and exacerbate terrorism, whereas NGOs fight terrorism by building bridges and solving problems of injustice that sometimes cause people to resort to terrorism.<br />
<li><b>Environment.</b> As Schreyer had mentioned, commerce controls state policy on extracting resources unless NGOs jump in and do something.<br />
<li><b>Peace.</b> NGOs might be more effective moving from confrontational street demonstrations to operations in the corridors of power.</ol><br />
Debbie Gray of “Free the Children” and Kailesh Satyarthi of “Global March Against Child Labor” drove home the importance of another WANGO theme, care for children, their rights, and their dignity.<br />
<br />
Debbie spoke about the apathy of youth in North America and the absence of a consciousness of much of the world’s problems. She spoke about the important of character education, service to others, greater involvement needed by public schools.<br />
<br />
Kailesh listed the three sectors of society as the state, commerce, and knowledge, but that commerce is controlling both the state and knowledge. He explained how the control of society by commerce gets manifested in the degradation of children. For example, children being abducted as child soldiers or being sold in slavery or the sex trade for $25 or $30—less than 1/10th the market price of a water buffalo. NGOs are the force that must educate and liberate knowledge and modern consciousness to save the children and give them a future.<br />
<br />
The Chairman’s Address sent by Dr. Chung Hwan Kwak was read by Secretary General Tajeldin Hamad. See <a href="http://www.wango.org">WANGO</a> website.<br />
<b><br />
Discussion Groups and Workshops</b><br />
Following the opening session, the conference broke down into smaller group sessions on the various themes, most of which were touched upon by the plenary speakers. These included Human Rights, Women, Children, Family, Service, Fundraising, shared Values, Member recruiting, Character education, the Environment, the Media, and Healing. This was an opportunity to meet others working on similar interests and networking to advance the “state of the art” knowledge of different areas. There is a full conference summary on the <a href="http://www.wango.org">WANGO</a> website.<br />
<br />
One theme that emerged was how NGOs are not immune to the saying “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” We heard a number of examples of how NGOs responding to immediate crises out of compassion engaged in short-term fixes that caused other long-term problems. Or, how the attempt to resettle people in dangerous areas they had fled was taken as an assault on their dignity. It is important for NGOs to better anticipate the consequences of their actions and to learn from the experience of others. It is important for NGOs to dialogue with victims so that their aid is not seen as patronizing, but can be used to help people solve their problems or recover from disasters most effectively.<br />
<br />
We sometimes learned data that contradicted widely held beliefs and assumptions, including those held by people working with NGOs. The rhetoric used for fundraising or the prominence given by the news media in sound bites is often misleading and no substitute for solid empirical research. For example, Zoe Nielsen, Deputy Director of the Human Security Report Project, projected a slide which showed the number of official combatant causalities has been declining, despite the increased reports of violence in the news. She also mentioned that while mature democracies go to war less than dictatorial regimes, the transition phase to democracies frequently has broken down into what she called “anocracy”—perhaps Iraq is an example. The civilian and indirect casualties in such societies are difficult to measure. And, while terrorism kills fewer people than war, it is a severe problem in the Middle East. People blame war on a lot of factors, and indeed there are many causes, but the most consistent item correlated with war is poverty.<br />
<br />
There were discussions of the United Nations and its role in world peace, and its relationship to NGOs. NGOs have presented a lot of evidence to the United Nations over the years, but it has basically been an organization of major powers designed to prevent wars between states. A lot of suffering has taken place within states, which the UN Charter gives near absolute sovereignty. For years NGOs have been irritants like mosquitoes, which UN leaders would often prefer to swat. However, the collapse of the bipolar world and the international order has led to intrastate conflicts spilling over borders in terms of rebel hideouts, mass refugee flights, starvation and other problems unbearable to the human conscience. <br />
<br />
Dr. David Benjamin of the University of Bridgeport explained how state leaders have hidden behind Articles 24 and 27 of the Charter, but that it has become more common to argue that when a state loses the ability to protect its people, it loses its claim to sovereignty. Chief Oren Lyons said the Former Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali told him that permanent inroads made into the UN by NGOs was the most important development during his tenure. Benjamin suggested the NGOs should be offered more protection by the UN and the international community.<br />
<br />
Dr. Eric Werker suggested that NGOs are all about human values. They often arise to fill a void, but they often succumb to problems that make it hard for them to make good on promises. The number of NGOs has mushroomed ten-fold in the last 30 years. Is this a response to other social failures? Is it a bandwagon effect? Is it an alternative industry when industrial jobs aren’t available? There has been a revenue shift from a high reliance on private donations, to more NGO generated revenue through sales of products and in-kind contributions which are distributed to the needy. This revenue shift means that NGOs are competing more with traditional for-profit businesses.<br />
<br />
Some shared values of NGOs suggested repeatedly were:<br />
<ol><br />
<li>Accountability<br />
<li>Effectiveness<br />
<li>Solidarity<br />
<li>Transparency<br />
<li>Integrity<br />
<li>Respect for Community<br />
<li>Willingness to accept and learn from failures<br />
<li>Open discussion<br />
<li>Honesty</ol><br />
<br />
However, sometimes values conflict. For example, transparency may lead a donor to see that his contribution was not used for his intended purpose (accountability).<br />
<br />
As our conference proceeded a “Toronto Declaration of Core Values” was prepared and reflects many of these values. See <a href="http://www.wango.org">WANGO</a> website.<br />
<br />
Global warming and environmental degradation were recurrent themes. In addition to discussion of wildlife protection, stewardship over natural resources, and reduction of CO2,  there was an interesting discussion related to possible positive effects of global warming and the melting of  the ice cap around the North Pole—at least possibly positive for Canada. This has led to the attempt by Canada to increase the territory of its sovereignty. One effect is a greater possibility of exploiting the seabed of this formerly frozen and inaccessible area for more oil. Another is the possibility of ship navigation of the Northwest Passage to the north of Canada which would save 11 days of travel and fuel for ships from Northern Europe to East Asia. This discussion contained a number of controversial and conflicting views. <br />
<br />
Another interesting observation was that “democratic” countries with populations preoccupied with day to day affairs often have a more difficult time controlling the unconscionable industrial exploitation of resources than authoritarian regimes. Social malaise allows collusion by government and industry that is often not publicized.<br />
<br />
<b>WANGO Awards</b><br />
As always, the centerpiece and highlight of the conference was the WANGO Award Ceremony on Friday evening and the Panel of Excellence composed of award winners the next morning. The awards were given for exemplary service in five areas: Environment, Family & Peace, Human Rights, Peace and Security, and Education, Media and the Arts. The crowning award is the Universal Peace Award. While much of the discussion in panels related to problems NGOs must work on, the WANGO awards highlight the successes and victories of NGO champions. They are uplifting and give hope to those working tirelessly in frustrating circumstances.<br />
<br />
The <i>Environment Award</i> went to Ecotrópica for ecological preservation of the Pantanal in Brazil. It was received by Adalberto Eberhard, the Founder. Eberhard showed breathtaking views of wildlife in the Pantanal and explained how their organization is buying private land to put into nature reserves. However, there are still many factors beyond their control, because the Pantanal is a drainage basin that is fed by water runoff from highlands that is becoming increasingly polluted and potentially damaging to many of the species of wildlife that are unique to that part of the world. Our ecosystems are important for the human population which also requires a specific environment to survive.<br />
<br />
The <i>Peace and Security Award</i> went to Dr. Noah Salameh, Founder of the Center for Conflict Resolution & Reconciliation in Palestine. The world is increasingly learning, through reconciliation programs as implemented in South Africa after apartheid, that such programs are essential for ending the spiral of violence of hatred and revenge so common as a baser human instinct. Salameh spent 15 years in Israeli prisons, accused of terrorism which he never committed. A victim of circumstances he wishes on no other human being, he pursued a degree in peace and conflict studies at the University of Notre Dame, and later a Ph.D. from George Mason University.<br />
<br />
Salameh said that when security concerns are put ahead of peace, peace can not be achieved. Security is based on fear and divides people. It erects fences and builds walls. It is used to discriminate. However, peace is based on being reconciled in your environment and it begins with holding peaceful values within yourselves.  His center works to give peace education in schools. He has fostered a dialogue in Turkey between 40 Palestinians and 40 Israelis. He developed a program for teaching journalists reporting attitudes that can help foster peace. And, he has developed programs for interreligious dialogue.<br />
<br />
The <i>Education, Media & Arts Award</i> was given to the World Association of Early Childhood Educators, founded by Juan Sánchez Muliterno. This organization focuses on a wide range of issues related to early childhood educators, but is founded on the idea that values of cooperation, respect, and peace need to be introduced in very early formative years. He expressed how important an organization like WANGO can be for informing his own NGO. His organization is self-funded from membership fees, and he credits this to the care they take of their members. They aim for high standards.<br />
<br />
The <i>Human Rights Award </i>was presented to Dr. David Jenkins, founder of Surf-Aid. His work has been effective in delivering education and methods to reduce infant mortality. He said that enactment of three simple practices in some of the Pacific islands can reduce childhood mortality by up to 25% and the a 50% reduction should be attainable with effort. Breastfeeding children, sleeping under mosquito nets, and other changes based on education of health practices help far more people than expensive medical care after they fall ill.<br />
<br />
Jenkins offered some advice to NGOs present. First he argued that NGOs need to address real needs. Many NGOs are coming under scrutiny for not providing effective services. He was critical of donor-driven, religious-driven, and celebrity-driven programs which do not provide the services people need the most and often waste time and money.<br />
<br />
The <i>Universal Peace Award</i> went to Chief Oren Lyons, a long-time activist for native American and indigenous peoples. He recounted a decades’ long struggle since the founding of the United Nations to refer to indigenous peoples with equal language to other groups. He discussed the vested financial interests and discrimination going back to a papal bull in 1493 which declared indigenous people less than human and the reluctance of countries with indigenous populations to recognize them completely.<br />
<br />
Chief Lyons conveyed beautifully the respect of the Native Americans for nature. He explained that all activities are begun with a conscious recognition of the winds, the sun, the moon, the stars, the rain, the earth, the animals, the ancestors, and the Creator. Such a worldview could certainly be a corrective the disrespect that modern industry and acquisitive humans show for the environment. He explained that water is not just a human right; it is the right of deer, of trees, and plants. In nature there is no discrimination against red, white, yellow, or black-skinned human beings. All are part of one human family. Living in true peace with the principles of nature is dynamic and takes great effort. He said that it is good for NGOs to gather once a year to gather strength.<br />
<br />
<b>Postscript</b><br />
Much other great wisdom was present at this conference. Sir James Mancham, first President of a post-colonial Seychelles, argued that there is a difference between a “politician” and a “statesman.” Politicians negotiate interests and navigate the political terrain of the moment, while a statesman provides true leadership, and gets a nation from point A to point B, bringing all people along. The post-World War II era has created a lot of politicians but few statesmen. Statesmen are characterized by vision, by values, and by negotiating skills that seek the best solutions for all people. Politicians act primarily for themselves in the short term.<br />
<br />
One delegate pointedly asked Dr. David Benjamin whether NGO leaders should leave their NGOs and take positions in government. Benjamin replied that hopefully NGOs can create people that can bring integrity to the state. If they can transform public offices with this integrity, it will be a good thing.<br />
<br />
Let us hope he is correct. The WANGO Toronto Declaration of NGO Core Values is an excellent place to start. A government is only as good as its people. The people are shaped by civil society, which is increasingly shaped by NGOs. About 1800 years ago, Christians began taking offices in the Roman Empire because they could be trusted when the average Roman politician could not. Perhaps there is a parallel to make with today, where honesty, integrity, respect, and service of others, can be cultivated in individuals who can bring virtue back into the political realm, and then humanity back to social policy.<br />
<br />
]]></description>
 <category>Articles</category>
<comments>http://www.pwpa.org/pwpa/index.php?itemid=30</comments>
 <pubDate>Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:59:56 -0500</pubDate>
</item><item>
 <title>Why Plans for a Two-State Solution in the Middle East Have Failed</title>
 <link>http://www.pwpa.org/pwpa/index.php?itemid=29</link>
<description><![CDATA[<p>Morton A. Kaplan<br />
<p>From the early United Nations plans for a two-state solution in the Middle East to the present, plans for a two-state solution have come up against immovable obstacles. The original UN plan for Israel would have led to a state that was indefensible in a hostile environment. The plan for a Palestinian state failed to comprehend that the Palestinians, unlike the Jews, had not created an apparatus for self-government. The architects of the plan also failed to allow for the Arab nationalism and anti-colonialism that would impel the Arab states to war and long-term hostility. <br />
<p>	In addition to the fact that plans for two-state solutions and peace were not adapted to the actual conditions of the case, concerns for solutions were often subordinated to other considerations such as those of the Cold War. Now that the Cold War is over, one might hope that attention to the actual contours of the case might improve the otherwise very slim chances for peaceful solutions. These, however, are further hindered by academic theses that misrepresent events.<br />
<p>Messrs. John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, who are at the center of the most recent controversy, are acting in a manner that makes more difficult these efforts. They claim that America’s Middle Eastern policy is in conflict with America’s national interests because the Jewish lobby, with help from Christian evangelicals, has shaped it to Israel’s interests. For this reason, they say, the United States has failed to push Israel to a peaceful settlement with the Palestinians. 	<p>Every anti-American web site around the world can now cite two American professors at two great American universities to the effect that Israel, through the powerful Jewish lobby, is directing American policy against the interests of Middle Eastern countries. Leaders in Arab and Muslim countries will come under additional pressure to prove that they are not carrying out the policies of Israel. Thus, their willingness and ability to cooperate with the United States in policies that serve all our interests, including those of peace, will be diminished. Whatever differences most of us may have in deciding what the national interest is, that surely is not in the national interest.<br />
<p>Based upon my first-hand experience, I find no merit in the claim by M&K that the Jewish lobby has prevented the United States from moving toward acceptance of a Palestinian state. They have vastly exaggerated the ability of the Jewish lobby to influence American policy. They, like some neo-conservatives, also have exaggerated the ability of the United States to control events in the area. They have collected facts and pseudo-facts to fit a thesis that bears only the most peripheral relationship to events in the real world.<br />
<p><b>Early Impediments</b><br />
<p>Beginning in 1974 I was heavily invested in attempting to produce a Palestinian state in negotiations with the PLO. For a very long time, I believed that the impediment to this result lay in the subordination by Henry Kissinger of such an effort to his determination to drive the Soviets out of the Middle East. Although this belief had a factual foundation, the reader will see by the end of this article why I now am ready to concede that my policy preference faced impediments inherent to the situation that might have defeated it even apart from Kissinger’s national security policy.<br />
<p>	The vision of some early Zionist leaders for a bi-national state necessarily foundered on two features of the post-World War II world. The Holocaust created a need for a Jewish state that could protect the interests of the Jewish people. There was no place for it, or for the Jews who had been persecuted in both Christian and Muslim countries, except in the ancestral homeland of Palestine, which still contained a large population of Jews. Israel would be a necessary redoubt for persecuted Jews. <br />
<p>Antisemitism in Arab nations also foreclosed for Israelis the possibility of a binational state. Although most educated and cultured Arabs and Muslims are not antisemitic, antisemitism is rife among the broad masses and motivates some leaders. If this were not so, school books would not call for killing Jews and a Muslim religious leader would not have been allowed to call for killing Jews on official West Bank radio. Consider the angry utterance of Prime Minister al-Maliki of Iraq who, referring to Sunni suicide bombers, defamed them in the strongest terms a Muslim can use as “Sons of pigs, sons of Jews.” Adolf Eichmann, in his trial, admitted that Haj Amin El Husseini, the leader of the Palestinian Arabs, who had been Hitler’s honored guest during World War II, praised Hitler for killing so many Jews. <br />
<p>My own relations with Arabs and Muslims were blessedly free of prejudice. While I was a graduate student at Columbia University under the GI bill, I did not detect any antisemitism in the Egyptian students with whom I had very friendly relations even though we strongly disagreed about the 1948 war. <br />
<p>In 1949 Abdullah El Erian, one of those students, who later was to serve as a judge on the World Court, told me that he had been urgently called back to Cairo by the Foreign Minister. He had been making the decisions for the Yemeni delegation to the United Nations. Because they knew nothing about the world, he needed someone to keep them out of trouble. I was the only one he knew who was sufficiently knowledgeable and trustworthy. So he asked me as a friend to do this for him. I accepted this task even though I was offered no remuneration.<br />
<p>The next day I went to the Yemeni headquarters to introduce myself to Seif al-Islam Abdulrahman Abdul Samad Abu Taleb, the head of the legation. I told him I would do nothing that would undermine the security of Israel. He said, “It does not matter. You are a friend.” <br />
<p>Among other things I did for them, I discharged their incompetent law firm and got them a brand new one that then was named Skadden Arps Slate and Lyon. R. Davies of the Independent Oil Company wanted an oil concession. Because I did not trust Davies and did not know enough about oil to monitor him, I drafted a letter, supposedly from the Imam, turning him down. If they had oil, the search for it could wait for better conditions.<br />
<p>When the foreign minister ordered the delegation to bring the bombing from Aden to the Security Council, I read carefully the exchanges between the Governor General of Aden and the subbranch of the Yemeni foreign office in Cairo. I discovered that the Egyptians were handling these matters so well that they very likely would conclude successfully. However, an attempt to condemn Britain would endanger these negotiations. So I stalled things for months until an agreement was reached that so pleased the Foreign Minister that Yemen, which then had no foreign embassies, opened legations in London and Washington.<br />
<p><b>My Efforts for a Two-State Solution</b><br />
In March 1974 I gave a lecture in Jerusalem in which I proposed negotiations with the PLO leading to a Palestinian state on the West Bank. Prime Minister Golda Meir was the discussant. Her objection, incorrect under international law, was that my proposal could not work because the only legal boundary was the indefensible UN boundary. I interrupted her discussion to correct her and was supported by the audience. (In 1980 Crown Prince Hassan of Jordan, who had written a book on international law, told me that he agreed with me.) <br />
<p>I later met with Arik Sharon at his farm for a five-hour one-on-one discussion. It was not easy to arrange an extended discussion. Sharon knew that I favored negotiations with the PLO that would lead to a Palestinian state on the West Bank. He also knew that I was critical of some Israeli policies that impacted on Israeli Arabs. He needed to know that I was not a soft-headed academic. Therefore, I was interviewed by a colonel who was a close associate.<br />
<p>Even the positive report from his envoy did not entirely convince Sharon. Our first hour was spent in verbal conflict. <br />
<p>Finally, after a response to a question he put to me, a big grin appeared on Sharon’s face and he threw his hands up in the universal sign of agreement. From that point on, I had a candid conversation with the real Arik Sharon.<br />
<p>Sharon was furious with Kissinger who had ordered (that is the term Sharon used) him not to complain publicly about Egyptian violations of the first-stage disengagement. (Where was the all-powerful Jewish lobby?). He told me he did not think the Arab states would ever make peace.<br />
<p>Sharon told me that his goal was the security of Israel, not a greater Israel. Israel could afford to give up the Sinai and the Golan heights. The Palestinians already had a state in Jordan (which had been an integral part of the League mandate until Britain divided it as a gift to their tribal allies who had been defeated by the Saudis). However, he was open to an offer of the West Bank as part of an overall peace settlement if it would be consistent with Israel’s ability to produce a blocking force on the Jordan River.<br />
<p>Sharon said that he knew that some day the Arab states might defeat Israel in a war. That would be the end of Israel. Until that day, as long as he was in a position to do so, he would help to maintain the security of Israel as a Jewish state that could rescue Jews from anywhere in the world if they were persecuted. <br />
<p>By the time of my interview with Sharon I had actually coopted a significant portion of the Israeli establishment to my position on attempting to negotiate a PLO-run West Bank state. I allied myself with Cherif Bassiouni, an American professor with close connections to Sadat. We put together a plan for peace, which my Center published. I actually had an emissary from Prime Minister Rabin on my doorstep at 7 A. M. who asked me not to put it out. I, of course, did publish it. (My relations with Rabin were, and remained, good; but I was not able to convince him that peace with the PLO was negotiable.)<br />
<p>But by then things had gone bad. Why? In this period I had made a trip to Moscow. In order to convey a message, Evgeny Primakov, the leading Soviet expert on the Middle East, came to a lecture on international theory that I was giving. He told me privately that his government found my Middle East plan acceptable but only if the United States did not attempt to freeze the Soviets out of the Middle East.<br />
<p>But this is exactly what Kissinger was trying to do for reasons that he thought were compelling. As best as I can guess at Kissinger’s game plan, it was to produce peace between Israel and Egypt without pressing Sadat so hard that it would threaten Kissinger’s effort to push the Soviets out. It was a goal he likely thought he knew the steps to. Pressing for comprehensive peace would introduce large uncertainties and would put additional pressures on Sadat that the Soviets could exploit before disengagement could be completed. I preferred to place my bets on the other course. But then Kissinger, not I or the Jewish lobby, was in charge of American policy.<br />
<p>Because the effort to separate Egypt from the Soviets forced Israel to give up most of its bargaining cards before any movement to peace with the Palestinians could take place, most of the establishment figures I had won over were no longer in alignment with me. They thought they had so little left to give up that the Arab states would never pressure the Palestinians to make peace. One can agree with Kissinger’s gambit, or disagree as I did, but Kissinger was not coerced by the Jewish lobby to place Israeli over American interests.<br />
<p><b>Complexities of American and Israeli Policy</b><br />
<p>The two most important Israeli goals are survival and peace. Except for the 1948 war, Washington in the end has supported Israeli survival. However, even Truman’s support for UN membership for Israel was more than matched by the Soviet support for arms sales from Czechoslovakia. These sales permitted building an Israeli force capable of winning the war. At that point an American ability to coopt Israel became attractive.<br />
<p> During considerable portions of the cold war Israel was a great strategic asset for the United States. That and an interest in dampening Arab plans for another adventure explain the support for Israeli military superiority in the military and political leaderships of the United States. Add to this the popularity of Israel and one will understand why some activities of the Jewish lobby were “slam dunks.” When the Jewish lobby prevails, it almost invariably does so because the relevant elites, unlike M&W, see this as in the national interest of the United States.<br />
<p>However, other American interests have always undercut Israel’s search for peace. The so-called powerful Jewish lobby has never had the power to change this.<br />
<p>During the 1948 war, the Israelis were undermined by oil interests in Washington. If it had been up to Washington, Israel never would have been able to buy enough arms supplies to survive. After victory, Israel was forced to give up most of the gains of war without achieving conditions of peace. <br />
<p>Israel, France, and Britain attacked Egypt in 1956. France and Britain lacked adequate grounds for the attack. But Israel knew, as I later learned during a visit to Egypt in 1959, that Nasser intended to destroy Israel. This looked like an opportunity to salvage with aid from Britain and France what had been lost in 1948. Whether or not one agrees with what Eisenhower did, he destroyed this opportunity.<br />
<p>1967 is even more revealing. By shutting the Strait of Tiran and mobilizing on the Israeli border, Nasser was creating a clear threat. Because Jordan was not a threat—indeed Israel helped to protect Jordan against Iraq—Israel informed Jordan that it would not move against Jordan if Jordan did not join the war. <br />
<p>Jordan chose a dominant win-win strategy. If Jordan did not join the war and Israel lost, it would be isolated. If Jordan joined the war and Israel won, Israel still would defend it against Iraq. In addition, Jordan could get rid of the West Bank albatross, which threatened its internal security. (Jordan had already expelled the PLO apparatus from Jordan.)<br />
<p>At the start of the Yom Kippur War the Israeli forces were in deep trouble. The issue was whether American supplies would be sent rapidly to Israel. State opposed resupply. The Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs lobbied for resupply, as a general on the JCS told me in a very long phone conversation as the arguments were being carried to the White House. The Chiefs won and the Jewish lobby played no role in this fight between two major departments of the American government. <br />
<p>If M&W had discovered the prior phone call, it most likely would have been listed as evidence of the influence of the Jewish lobby. If the JCS position had not yet been taken, I would have argued for it for the reasons that motivated the JCS. But I played no role at all in the taking of the position. <br />
<p>This policy of forcing an Israeli retreat was repeated again in 1973. Indeed, Israeli general Yariv who had arranged an armistice with the encircled Egyptian army in the Sinai was ordered to retract it by Kissinger who told Yariv that only Kissinger could make that deal, which he then proceeded to do. Kissinger in one respect did improve on previous American postures. He was able to start a process leading to peace between Israel and Egypt. His heavy hand with Yariv probably played a part in this.<br />
<p><b>Israel, the West Bank, and a Palestinian State</b><br />
<p>Israel did not take the West Bank because it, or the Jewish lobby, wanted it but because Jordan left and did not wish to return. Israel, which preferred Jordanian rule over the West Bank, had no choice, even apart from the desire of religious groups for territorial expansion, because the Jordanian legion would no longer be present to control violent Palestinian elements.<br />
<p>However, the Israeli taking of the West Bank did not of itself create the current conflict. Nor was American pressure necessary to create a Palestinian state. If the PLO had made private overtures for a two-state solution to a Labor government in 1967, or in 1973, it is likely, although not certain, that this result could have been negotiated. Arafat, for whatever reason, good or bad, was either not willing or not able to entertain such an initiative, even in secret and through intermediaries. <br />
<p>In 1980 and 1981 I tried to get peace negotiations going. I twice visited PLO headquarters in West Beirut. I do not want to dramatize the dangers of this mission because reporters in Iraq today face much greater danger. However, I was almost 60 years old and had no escort. Twice the Druse driver who took me to West Beirut warned me against going to PLO headquarters. He could take me only within a quarter mile of my destination because the cab would be shot up if he went any farther. I would have to pass Black September headquarters. My purpose was known and they might decide to kill me, he said.<br />
<p>I did get on well with Mahmoud Labady, the official in charge of the Beirut PLO unit, but my purpose was to attempt to set  up private meetings, not to discuss terms. Toward the end of my second trip, he told me that there was a reason he did not arrange a meeting with Arafat. “You will not like anything he will say to you.”<br />
When I tried to convince Shimon Peres to meet with Issam Sartawi, a heart surgeon who was head of the PLO office in Paris, he resisted the effort at first because he did not believe that anything useful would emerge from it. Finally, after two years they did arrange a meeting in Spain at a socialist conference. The next day Sartawi was assassinated by the Abu Nidal group. The word on the street was that Arafat had withdrawn protection from him. Although I do not know with certainty that was the case, apparently no reprisals were taken, thus indirectly confirming the word on the street.<br />
<p>I do not criticize Arafat for failing to accept the Oslo terms. In his place, I would have asked for modifications, even within the framework of a two-state solution. Whether Israeli security needs, which the Oslo terms did address, could be reconciled with an effective, as opposed to a dismembered Palestinian state, a subject addressed below, is open to question.<br />
<p>If, on the other hand, a two-state solution was unacceptable to Arafat, rejection, and the intifada, made sense from his perspective. There is, thus, reason to doubt that Arafat ever was willing to accept a two-state solution. If that is correct, as I now think it may have been, I was wrong in 1974. The negotiations I was trying to set up would not have succeeded even had Kissinger adopted my policy line. Nonetheless I believe that my initiative might have worked in a period in which Hamas was irrelevant had Arafat been able or willing to test it. <br />
<p><b>Why American Pressure Would Have Failed</b><br />
<p>M&W are joined by Jimmy Carter in demonizing the Jewish lobby. Unlike my co-author, Cherif Bassiouni, I have never claimed that our plan deserved any credit for the Camp David agreements. Indeed I opposed them. Confronted by a determined Begin, Carter collapsed. Although possessing billions that Begin and Shamir needed, Carter let them bargain for terms that led to a legitimization of extensive settlement activities despite knowing that this would make more difficult the search for peace.<br />
<p>Jimmy Carter is a good human being. But he also is a weak human being. The very tough Arik Sharon knew that he could not use the Jewish lobby against Kissinger. Begin did not rely on the Jewish lobby. He got the measure of Carter as soon as he began negotiating with him.<br />
<p>Kissinger most likely could have prevented Begin from legitimizing his later West Bank moves had he been in charge at the time, even had the full weight of the Jewish lobby been directed against him. However, not even Kissinger could have moved Begin toward an acceptance of a West Bank state. Begin and Shamir believed on the basis of intelligence information that the PLO would never accept the existence of Israel and they were determined to increase the defensive space of Israel. Furthermore, many of their supporters were expansionists on religious grounds and they themselves were committed to a greater Israel.<br />
<p>An attempt to force Begin to peace negotiations with the Palestinians would have been entirely counterproductive, even apart from the unlikelihood that a two-state solution could have been forced upon Arafat. Even if the Jewish lobby kept out of the debate, the Congressional elements that forced Carter to retreat from his Korean troop drawdown proposal would have stymied him for reasons related to the Cold War. And Begin would have rejected such pressure even if the Congress had supported Carter.<br />
<p>The situation was much more complex than the simplistic M&W analysis allows. Despite its extensive footnoting, their understanding of the factors relevant to these matters is as naïve as that of the intellectuals in the Bush administration who supported the drive to war with Iraq. <br />
<p>For instance, during my discussion with the Crown Prince of Jordan I noticed his shoulders stiffening when I discussed meetings I wanted to set up for peace discussions. When I told him that I would not invite Jordan unless the PLO had agreed to participate, he immediately relaxed. He did not want Jordan to be involved in any responsibility for decisions with respect to the West Bank.<br />
 <p>I did make a tour of the West Bank. One episode is particularly relevant to this account. I visited a Palestinian mayor who had a reputation as a firebrand. He and his cohorts dutifully spilled out their anti-Israel venom. But when I got his wife alone, she pleaded with me to leave him out of my plans for peace because he would be assassinated.<br />
<p><b>The Obstacles That Confront Current Efforts for Two-State Solutions</b><br />
<p>Israel cannot, and will not, allow a unified West Bank state that cannot, and will not, control violence against Israel from within it. To date the PLO, although under more honest leadership than in the past, shows neither the capability nor skill level to control violence against Israel. <br />
<p>In principle, I can support Secretary Rice’s call for a conference to work out peace terms. In principle she is right to call for a discussion of concrete terms, for there can be no agreement in the absence of concrete terms. In practice, Israel may be right to resist a discussion of concrete terms, even apart from the difficulty of attaining sufficient consensus within the government.<br />
<p>The Northern Ireland case which some use as an analogy is a bad one. British force, with the support of the Irish Republic, is dominant in Northern Ireland. Britain can keep the radicals under control. The PLO almost surely will not be willing to agree to terms that do not include the withdrawal of Israeli forces from “occupied territory.”  The Western powers will almost surely support this.<br />
<p>Until and unless means can be found for controlling the radicals within Palestinian territory, the asymmetrical requirements of Israel and a Palestinian state cannot be reconciled. <br />
<p>There is no good way to deal with this problem, only bad ways. The least bad way, I would suggest, is that prior to the conference the leaders of Israel and of the Palestinian Authority make an announcement of the following kind. They are going into negotiations that cannot succeed if the following terms are not met. The Palestinians must be able to rule a coherent area in which they control their economic and political destiny. In such an entity only the government can control the means of violence. Israel must have trustworthy reasons to believe that Palestinian territory will not be used by external organizations or states hostile to Israel or by armed groups acting against Israel.<br />
<p>There is one proposal which I advance hesitantly that might square the circle. Any agreement that is reached will be opposed violently in both Israel and the West Bank. Israel is capable of controlling its extremists, although they will succeed in some terroristic acts. The Palestinian state will not have a similarly capable infrastructure. The proposal which I offer hesitantly is a strong joint Israeli and Palestinian police force that would act jointly against violent radicals in both countries and that would remove arms concentrations that are held by non-governmental groups. Arrests should lead to incarcerations that can be reduced only by joint agreement. There are many good arguments against such a proposal but it may be the best of a bad lot.<br />
<p>If such an agreement is reached, it must be supported in a vote by a significant majority before it can go into effect. Otherwise, it will not have sufficient legitimacy to work. If it is approved, Hamas should be offered an opportunity to subscribe providing that a vote in the Gaza Strip gives it substantial approval.<br />
<p>External security, apart from an Iranian nuclear bomb, is susceptible to solution. Obviously the territory of the Palestinian state must be demilitarized lest Israel become indefensible. However, this could be done within the framework of an alliance with Jordan and Israel in which they take responsibility for defense.<br />
<p>That Israel faces enemies against which it must defend itself should not be doubted. When the president of Iran visited the United Nations in September 2007, he accepted an invitation from a religious group. When one participant asked him if he would agree not to attack Israel if the United States and Israel agreed not to attack Iran, he refused to answer the question. That seems very much like an answer from a state that probably intends to go nuclear. As the so-called Iranian moderate, former president Rafsanjani—who along with the Supreme Leader is reputed to have ordered the murderous attacks on Jewish organizations in Argentina in 1994--once said, even one nuclear bomb would eliminate Israel.<br />
<p>Internal Israeli security is a very difficult matter. The 10-year armistice which  Hamas proposes, if experience is any guide, would be used with support from Syria and a very willing Iran to build forces to create chaos within Israel. When M. Barghouti of the PLO and a moderate Hamas leader released a letter from jail calling for a two-state solution and the end of actions “outside of occupied territory,” they were forced by the Palestinian reaction to withdraw it, even though they had called for the return of the refugees, a condition that Israel obviously cannot afford to accept.<br />
<p>Refugees are products of wars, particularly losing wars. India and Pakistan are home to tens of millions of refugees. Germany lost its Eastern districts and had to absorb between 10 and 15 million refugees. Five Arab states and the Palestinians lost the 1948 war that they started in an effort to destroy Israel. More than a million Jews fled from Arab countries to a nation that did integrate them.<br />
<p> No decent person would fail to agonize over the desperate plight of the 1948 refugees and the miserable conditions in Gaza and the West Bank. However, for the most part, they are the product of the long-term refusal of the Arab states to consider peace with Israel, of their refusal to integrate the refugees, and of the Palestinians’ determination to engage in terroristic attacks. Had this not been the case there would long ago have been a Palestinian state in control of its destiny.<br />
<p>The simple truth is that, unlike M&W, I know that there is no simple way to know what the national interest is. We come to discussions of it with different values, different knowledge of the state of the world, different judgments with respect to the highly indeterminate consequences of alternative policies<br />
In my opinion, M&W are fundamentally wrong in their conception of the American national interest. If  M&W think that it is in the American interest to desert its loyal and democratic ally, I suggest that the moral loss would far outweigh any potential gain. <br />
<p>Moreover, such a desertion would not produce a Palestinian state. Israel has struggled too hard to provide a homeland for Jews to make the mistake Czechoslovakia made under British and French pressure in 1938 when it surrendered the defensible Sudetenland because the inhabitants were German. If Israel goes down, it will go down fighting. It will not give in to American pressure that does not take these needs into account. And it should not do so. Only an agreement that is consistent with its security requirements will be acceptable.<br />
<p>Although one would hope that it do so wisely, the America that I love sees a mission in defending the best values in American history. Furthermore, I think our enemies in Muslim countries would see a retreat as a sign of weakness that would encourage further attacks. The policy line that M&W advocate likely would result also in the abandonment of the best forces within Arab and Muslim culture to the extremists who represent the worst forces.<br />
<p>Finally, a brief personal note. Much of my activity is driven by my own understanding of what it means to be a Jew. In my mind, a Jew believes in justice for all people. Because I am also an American, my knowledge of the evil of slavery and discrimination led me in 1980 and 1981 to secure the cooperation of important leaders of the ruling South African party in meetings I set up that were designed to get rid of the abomination of apartheid. I tried to provide a similar forum for Israelis and Palestinians. The PLO rejected this overture.<br />
<p>Because I am a Jew, I wanted a Jewish state to be concerned with justice to all those over whom it held dominion. I was concerned with the West Bank for two reasons. One was based upon the needs of the Palestinians. The other was concerned with the corrupting effects of occupation upon Israel.<br />
<p>In principle I support the idea of a secular state. But historical circumstances created a need for a Jewish state. Although this impacts unfavorably on Arab and Moslem elements within Israel, the very idea of an Arab League shows the impact of Arab nationalism upon Arab nations. Jews, Christians, and non-Arabs are not equal within them. One hopes that this will not last to the end of time and that eventually the very idea of an Arab, a Jewish, or a Muslim nation will vanish from international perspectives.<br />
<p>But that time has not come. Until such a time, peace requires mutual respect. It requires the control of elements that would use force and pressure, as would the Iranian ayatollahs or Hamas or Hezbollah, to destroy the Jewish state. This is what contemporary, although not ultimate, justice requires.<br />
<p>At times the American Jewish community has been too supportive of the policies of particular Israeli governments. Wiser elements within the Jewish community understand this. The Arab and Muslim communities within the United States should be wary of divisive ideologies, such as the M&W thesis, which mimic, even if unwittingly, the Czarist forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This can only inflame relationships between the two communities and diminish whatever slight chances for a favorable outcome still exist.<br />
<p>Enlightened members of both communities should work together, and with reasonable elements in the Middle East, to attempt to avoid what I despairingly foresee as a huge tragedy.<br />
</p><br />
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 <title>Further Back to the Future? A Reply to Foreign Minister Lavrov</title>
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<description><![CDATA[Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov created quite a stir when he withdrew his article “Containing Russia: Back to the Future?” from publication in <i>Foreign Affairs</i> and submitted its uncensored version to <i>Russia in Global Affairs. </i>In that article he lamented what looks to be a return of a Cold War mentality in some U.S. foreign policy circles. He argues that we should bring back a pre-World War I system of states based on the Westphalian model. <br />
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In his essay in <a href="http://www.ijwp.org"><i>International Journal on World Peace,</i> </a>(September, 2007) Morton A. Kaplan argues that this discussion of the international system is an important one. He too laments any belligerent Cold War attitudes but argues that the solution will not be in going further back in history to go forward. Kaplan argues that the world has changed much and a Westphalian system is no longer possible or desirable. The United Nations, which presupposes such a system of sovereign states, must also be reformed to adjust to numerous levels of global interaction that place limits on state sovereignty.]]></description>
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 <title>Encyclopedia Project Writers Sought</title>
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<description><![CDATA[Scholarly writers wanted. Help improve the world. Become a part of this thrilling academic and literary enterprise. <br />
<a href=http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org><a href="http://www.pwpa.org/pwpa/media/1/20071018-col_right_callout.jpg">New World Encyclopedia</a></a>All fields of expertise are welcome. Also we are making a special call for philosophy and religion scholars. If you can work a computer online, you can do this. <br />
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The <a href="http://www.pwpa.org/pwpa/index.php?itemid=25">Benjamin Franklin article </a>is an example article taken from the New World Encyclopedia. A general overview of the project can be found at: <a href="http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org">www.newworldencyclopedia.org</a><br />
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 <pubDate>Wed, 18 Jan 2006 12:08:23 -0500</pubDate>
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 <title>Happy 300th Birthday Benjamin Franklin</title>
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<description><![CDATA[<div class="leftbox"><a href="http://www.pwpa.org/pwpa/media/1/20060116-Franklin-Benjamin.jpg">Benjamin Franklin</a></div>Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706–April 17, 1790) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to a tallow-maker. He became a newspaper editor, printer, merchant, and philanthropist in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was one of the most prominent of Founders and early political figures and statesmen of the United States. As a “self-made man” noted for his curiosity, ingenuity, generosity, and diversity of interests, he became an inspiration and model for many early Americans. As a broad-minded thinker and political leader able to embrace all Americans, he was a source of unification of colonial society and the United States. As a philosopher and scientist, who had discovered electricity, he was at one point the most famous man in Europe. As a statesman in London before the Revolution, and Minister to France during the Revolution, he defined the new nation in the minds of Europe. His success in securing French military and financial aid, and recruiting military leaders in Europe was decisive for the American victory over Britain. <br />
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He published the famous Poor Richard’s Almanack and Pennsylvania Gazette. He organized the first public lending library and fire department in America, the Junto, a political discussion club, the American Philosophical Society, and public schools. His support for religion and morality was broad; he donated to all denominational churches (liberal and conservative) and the synagogue in Philadelphia. <br />
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He became a national hero in America when he convinced Parliament to repeal the hated Stamp Act. A diplomatic genius, Franklin was almost universally admired among the French as American minister to Paris, and was a major figure in the development of positive Franco-American relations. From 1775 to 1776, Franklin was Postmaster General under the Continental Congress and from 1785 to his death in 1790 was President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania.<br />
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Franklin was interested in science and technology, carrying out his famous electricity experiments and invented the Franklin stove, medical catheter, lightning rod, swimfins, glass harmonica, and bifocals. He also played a major role in establishing the higher education institutions that would become the Ivy League’s University of Pennsylvania and the Franklin and Marshall College. In addition, Franklin was a noted linguist, fluent in five languages, including Greek and Latin. Towards the end of his life, he became one of the most prominent early American abolitionists. Today Franklin is pictured on the U.S. $100 bill. <br />
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<b>Early life</b><br />
Benjamin Franklin was born on Milk Street in Boston, Massachusetts on January 17, 1706. His father, Josiah Franklin, was a tallow chandler, a maker of candles and soap, who married twice. Josiah’s marriages produced 17 children; Benjamin was the tenth and youngest son. He attended Boston Latin School but did not graduate. His schooling ended at ten and at 12 he became an apprentice to his brother James, a printer who published the New England Courant, the first truly independent newspaper in the colonies. <br />
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Benjamin was an aspiring writer, but his brother would not publish anything he wrote. So, the apprentice wrote letters under the pseudonym of “Silence Dogood,” ostensibly a middle-aged widow. These letters became famous and increased circulation of the paper, but when James found out Ben was the author he became furious. Ben quit his apprenticeship without permission, becoming a fugitive under the law, so he fled from Massachusetts. <br />
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At the age of 17, Franklin ran away to Philadelphia, seeking a new start in a new city. When he first arrived he worked in several print shops. Franklin was noticed and induced by Pennsylvania Governor Sir William Keith to go to London, ostensibly to acquire the equipment necessary for establishing another newspaper in Philadelphia. Finding Keith’s promises of financial backing a newspaper to be empty, Franklin was stranded in England, so he worked as a compositor in a printer’s shop in Smithfield. With some savings with the help of a merchant named Thomas Denham, who gave Franklin a position as clerk, shopkeeper, and bookkeeper in his merchant business, Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1726. <br />
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Upon Denham’s death, Franklin returned to his former trade. By 1730, Franklin had set up his own printing house with the help of a financial backer and became the publisher of a newspaper called “The Pennsylvania Gazette”. The Gazette gave Franklin a forum to write about a variety of local reforms and initiatives. His commentary, industriousness, personal growth, and financial success earned him great social respect at a very young age. <br />
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Civic Virtue</b><br />
Franklin strongly promoted the idea of civic virtue and strove to be an exemplary leader. Franklin was an avid reader, self-taught in several languages and fluent in the classics. He read and conversed with Enlightenment thinkers in England, and became a leader of the Freemasons in Philadelphia, who promoted public service, erection of large public buildings, and religious tolerance. He also founded the American Philosophical Association. <br />
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Franklin and several other local leaders joined their resources in 1731 and began the first public library in Philadelphia, inventing the concept of lending books and library cards. The newly founded Library Company ordered its first books in 1732, mostly theological and educational tomes, but by 1741 the library included works on history, geography, poetry, exploration, and science. The success of this library encouraged the opening of libraries in other American cities. <br />
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In 1733, he began to publish the famous Poor Richard’s Almanack (with content both original and borrowed) on which much of his popular reputation is based. His own views on self-discipline and industriousness were promoted in adages from this almanac such as “A penny saved is twopence clear” (often misquoted as “A penny saved is a penny earned”), “The early bird gets the worm,” and “Fish and visitors stink after three days” remain common quotations in the modern world. He sold about ten thousand copies a In 1736 he created the Union Fire Company, the first volunteer firefighting company in America. In 1743, he set forth ideas for The Academy and College of Philadelphia. He was appointed President of the Academy in November 13 1749, and it opened on August 13 1751. At its first commencement, on May 17, 1757, seven men graduated; six with a Bachelor of Arts and one as Master of Arts. It was later merged with the University of the State of Pennsylvania, to become the University of Pennsylvania, today a member of the Ivy League. <br />
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In 1751, Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond obtained a charter from the Pennsylvania legislature to establish a hospital. Pennsylvania Hospital was the first hospital in what was to become the United States of America. <br />
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<b>Religious Toleration</b><br />
Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn who was know for his insistence on religious toleration. Philadelphia was known as a city where every type of belief, church, and sect flourished. Franklin was a great promoter of religious toleration and worked to create a city, and later a national culture, where people of all religious and cultural backgrounds could live together in harmony. <br />
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Franklin worked out his own moral code and belief system at an early age and it evolved with his experience. He was called a Deist because he was a free thinker who did not take the miracles in the Bible literally. However, unlike the deists who viewed God as the “clockmaker” who wound up the universe and left, Franklin believed in God’s active Providence in human affairs. <br />
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Franklin believed that all religions helped to fortify the personal self-discipline and morality required for self-governance and democracy. He told his daughter Sarah to attend church every Sunday, but that he didn’t care which one she chose to attend. At one time or another Franklin gave money to every church in Philadelphia. He owned a pew in the Episcopal Church, he built a church for evangelist George Whitfield when he came to Philadelphia, and he contributed the the building of the first Jewish synagogue. Such generosity and tolerance earned Franklin many friends and a reputation for having a big mind and heart that could transcend the petty bickering so common in human affairs and make him a successful politician who earned the respect and could represent the interests of all Americans. <br />
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<b>Scientific Inquiry</b><br />
Inspired by the scientific discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton and other European contemporaries, Franklin engaged in scientific inquiries when not heavily occupied by money-making or politics. <br />
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In 1748, he retired from printing and went into other businesses. He created a partnership with his foreman, David Hill, which provided Franklin with half of the shop’s profits for 18 years. This lucrative business arrangement provided leisure time for study, and in a few years he had made discoveries that made him famous throughout Europe, especially in France. <br />
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<b>Electricity</b><br />
These include his investigations of electricity. Franklin proposed that “vitreous” and “resinous” electricity were not different types of “electrical fluid” (as electricity was called then), but the same electrical fluid under different pressures (See electrical charge). He is also often credited with labeling them as positive and negative respectively. In 1750, he published a proposal for an experiment to prove that lightning is electricity by flying a kite in a storm that appeared capable of becoming a lightning storm. On May 10, 1752, Thomas Francois d’Alibard of France conducted Franklin’s experiment (using a 40-foot-tall iron rod instead of a kite) and extracted electrical sparks from a cloud. On June 15, Franklin conducted his famous kite experiment and also successfully extracted sparks from a cloud (unaware that d’Alibard had already done so, 36 days earlier). Franklin’s experiment was not written up until Joseph Priestley’s 1767 History and Present Status of Electricity; the evidence shows that Franklin was insulated (not in a conducting path, as he would have been in danger of electrocution in the event of a lightning strike). (Others, such as Prof. Georg Wilhelm Richmann of St. Petersburg, Russia, were spectacularly electrocuted during the months following Franklin’s experiment.) In his writings, Franklin indicates that he was aware of the dangers and offered alternative ways to demonstrate that lightning was electrical, as shown by his invention of the lightning rod, an application of the use of electrical ground. If Franklin did perform this experiment, he did not do it in the way that is often described (as it would have been dramatic but fatal). Instead he used the kite to collect some electric charge from a storm cloud, which implied that lightning was electrical. See, for example, the 1805 painting by Benjamin West of Benjamin Franklin drawing electricity from the sky. <br />
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In recognition of his work with electricity, Franklin was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and received its Copley Medal in 1753. The cgs unit of electric charge has been named after him: one franklin (Fr) is equal to one statcoulomb. <br />
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<b>Meteorology</b><br />
Franklin established two major fields of physical science, electricity and meteorology. In his classic work (A History of The Theories of Electricity & Aether), Sir Edmund Whittaker (p. 46) refers to Franklin’s inference that electric charge is not created by rubbing substances, but only transferred, so that “the total quantity in any insulated system is invariable.” This assertion is known as the “principle of conservation of charge.” <br />
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As a printer and a publisher of a newspaper, Franklin frequented the farmers’ markets in Philadelphia to gather news. One day Franklin inferred that reports of a storm elsewhere in Pennsylvania must be the storm that visited the Philadelphia area in recent days. This initiated the notion that some storms travel, eventually leading to the synoptic charts of dynamic meteorology, replacing sole dependence upon the charts of climatology. <br />
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Other Science and Accomplishments</b><br />
Franklin noted a principle of refrigeration by observing that on a very hot day, he stayed cooler in a wet shirt in a breeze than he did in a dry one. To understand this phenomenon more clearly Franklin conducted experiments. On one warm day in Cambridge England in 1758, Franklin and fellow scientist John Hadley experimented by continually wetting the ball of a mercury thermometer with ether and using bellows to evaporate the ether. With each subsequent evaporation, the thermometer read a lower temperature, eventually reaching 7 °F (-14 °C). Another thermometer showed the room temperature to be constant at 65 °F (18 °C). In his letter “Cooling by Evaporation,” Franklin noted that “one may see the possibility of freezing a man to death on a warm summer’s day.” <br />
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His other inventions include the Franklin stove, medical catheter, lightning rod, swimfins, the glass harmonica, and bifocals. <br />
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In 1756, Franklin became a member of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (now Royal Society of Arts or RSA, which had been founded in 1754), whose early meetings took place in coffee shops in London’s Covent Garden district, close to Franklin’s main residence in Craven Street (the only one of his residences to survive and which is currently undergoing renovation and conversion to a Franklin museum). After his return to America, Franklin became the Society’s Corresponding Member and remained closely connected with the Society. The RSA instituted a Benjamin Franklin Medal in 1956 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Franklin’s birth and the 200th anniversary of his membership of the RSA. <br />
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During a trip to England in 1757, Franklin was awarded an honorary doctorate for his scientific accomplishments by Oxford University, and from then on went by “Doctor Franklin.” <br />
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In 1758, the year in which he ceased writing for the Almanac, he printed “Father Abraham’s Sermon,” one of the most famous pieces of literature produced in Colonial America. <br />
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While living in London in 1768, he developed a Phonetic alphabet in A Scheme for a new Alphabet and a Reformed Mode of Spelling. This reformed alphabet discarded six letters Franklin regarded as redundant, and substituted six new letters for sounds he felt lacked letters of their own; however, his new alphabet never caught on and he eventually lost interest. <br />
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<b>Political Leadership</b><br />
 This political cartoon by Franklin urged the colonies to join together during the French and Indian War (Seven Years’ War).In politics Franklin was very able, both as an administrator and as a diplomat. His most notable service in domestic politics was his reform of the postal system, but his fame as a statesman rests chiefly on his diplomatic services in connection with the relations of the colonies with Great Britain, and later with France. <br />
<br />
In 1754 he headed the Pennsylvania delegation to the Albany Congress. This meeting of several colonies had been requested by the Board of Trade in England to improve relations with the Indians and defense against the French. Franklin proposed a broad Plan of Union for the colonies, The United Colonies of America. While the plan was not adopted, elements of it found their way into the Articles of Confederation and later the Constitution. Franklin’s newspaper, which was distributed throughout the colonies, was instrumental in creating a national identity before the American Revolution. <br />
<br />
In 1757 Franklin was sent to England to protest against the influence of the Penn family in the government of Pennsylvania, and for five years he remained there, striving to enlighten the people and the ministry of the United Kingdom about colonial conditions. He also managed to secure a post for his son, William Franklin, as Colonial Governor of New Jersey. <br />
<br />
On his return to America (1762), Franklin played an honorable part in the Paxton affair, through which he lost his seat in the Assembly. But in 1764, he was again dispatched to England as agent for the colony, this time to petition the King to resume the government from the hands of the proprietors. <br />
<br />
<b>Revolutionary times</b><br />
In London, he actively opposed the proposed Stamp Act, but lost the credit for this and much of his popularity because he had secured for a friend the office of stamp agent in America. This perceived conflict of interest, and the resulting outcry, is widely regarded as a deciding factor in Franklin’s never achieving higher elected office. Even his effective work in helping to obtain the repeal of the act did not increase his popularity, but he continued to present the case for the Colonies as the troubles escalated toward the crisis which would result in the Revolution. This also led to an irreconcilable conflict with his son, who remained ardently loyal to the British Government.<br />
 <br />
In 1773 or 1774 Thomas Paine visited Franklin in England and enthusiastically discussed his book manuscript critical of many religious doctrines. Franklin, while personally agreeing that many of the miracles in the Bible were unbelievable, argued that the moral teachings in the Bible were the highest teachings known, and to undermine them without providing a better replacement would ruin personal character and destroy society. Franklin told Paine to burn the manuscript, but he sent Paine back to America full of ideas about an independent United States. <br />
<br />
Before his return home in 1775, he lost his position as postmaster and broke with England after leaking information about Thomas Hutchinson, the English-appointed governor of Massachusetts. Although Hutchinson pretended to take the side of the people of Massachusetts in their complaints against England, he was actually still working for the King. Franklin acquired letters in which Hutchinson called for “an abridgment Liberties” in America and sent them to America causing outrage. Franklin was called to Whitehall, the English Foreign Ministry, where he was condemned in public. <br />
<br />
In December of 1776, he was dispatched to France as commissioner for the United States. He lived in a home in the Parisian suburb of Passy donated by Jacques-Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont who would become a friend and the most important foreigner to help the United States win the War of Independence. Franklin secured the support of the King of France for the American Revolution and recruited military leaders to train and lead soldiers. <br />
<br />
Franklin remained in France until 1785, and was such a favorite of French society that it became fashionable for wealthy French families to decorate their parlors with a painting of him. He conducted the affairs of his country towards that nation with great success, including securing a critical military alliance and negotiating the Treaty of Paris (1783). When he finally returned home in 1785, he received a place only second to that of George Washington as the champion of American independence. Le Ray honored him with a commissioned portrait painted by Joseph Siffred Duplessis that now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. <br />
<br />
<b>Last Years</b><br />
After his return from France, Franklin became an ardent abolitionist, freeing both of his slaves. He eventually became president of The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage. <br />
<br />
In 1787, while in retirement, he was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention that would produce the United States Constitution to replace the Articles of Confederation. It met in Pennsylvania under the leadership of George Washington, who struggled to guide the discussion above the petty and selfish interests of the states and delegates. At one point discussions broke down and Hamilton went home. Progress remained elusive until wise elder statesman Franklin stood up and gave a prescient speech in which he stated that creation of the Constitution was a unique opportunity for a people to create a government based on reason and goodness, not the will and power of a military conquerer. He pleaded for humility and recommended the Convention begin each day with prayer to orient them to a higher purpose. This speech marks the turning point for drafting the Constitution. <br />
<br />
He is the only Founding Father who is a signatory of all three of the major documents of the founding of the United States: The Declaration of Independence, The Treaty of Paris and the United States Constitution. Franklin also has the distinction of being the oldest signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. He was 70 years old when he signed the Declaration, and 81 when he signed the Constitution.<br />
 <br />
Between 1771 and 1788, he finished his autobiography. While it was at first addressed to his son, it was later completed for the benefit of mankind at the request of a friend. <br />
<br />
In his later years, as Congress was forced to deal with the issue of slavery, Franklin wrote several essays that attempted to convince his readers of the importance of the abolition of slavery and of the integration of Africans into American society. <br />
<br />
On February 11, 1790, Quakers from New York and Pennsylvania presented their petition for abolition. Their argument against slavery was backed by the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society and its president, Benjamin Franklin. Because of his involvement in abolition, its cause was greatly debated around the states, especially in the House of Representatives. <br />
<br />
<b>Legacy</b><br />
Memorial marble statue of Ben FranklinBenjamin Franklin died on April 17, 1790 at the age of 84. 20,000 people attended the funeral. He was interred in Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. <br />
<br />
At his death, Franklin bequeathed £1000 (about $4400 at the time) each to the cities of Boston and Philadelphia, in trust for 200 years. The origin of the trust began in 1785 when a French mathematician named Charles-Joseph Mathon de la Cour wrote a parody of Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack called Fortunate Richard. In it he mocked the unbearable spirit of American optimism represented by Franklin. The Frenchman wrote a piece about Fortunate Richard leaving a small sum of money in his will to be used only after it had collected interest for 500 years. Franklin, who was 79 years old at the time, wrote back to the Frenchman, thanking him for a great idea and telling him that he had decided to leave a bequest of 1,000 pounds each to his native Boston and his adopted Philadelphia, on the condition that it be placed in a fund that would gather interest over a period of 200 years. In 1990, over $2,000,000 had accumulated in Franklin’s Philadelphia trust. During the lifetime of the trust, Philadelphia used it for a variety of loan programs to local residents. From 1940 to 1990, the money was used mostly for mortgage loans. When the trust came due, Philadelphia decided to spend it on scholarships for local high school students. Franklin’s Boston trust fund accumulated almost $5,000,000 during that same time, and eventually was used to establish a trade school that, over time, became the Franklin Institute of Boston. (excerpt from Philadelphia Inquirer article by Clark De Leon) <br />
<br />
*This article is taken from the <a href="http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org">New World Encyclopedia,</a> which is developing a value-oriented encyclopedia based on <i>Wikipedia</i>. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Benjamin_Franklin&amp;oldid=32097512">orginal Wikipedia </a>article was rewritten by Gordon L. Anderson for the Encyclopedia Project, which be released in 2008. <br />
]]></description>
 <category>Articles</category>
<comments>http://www.pwpa.org/pwpa/index.php?itemid=25</comments>
 <pubDate>Mon, 16 Jan 2006 10:19:21 -0500</pubDate>
</item><item>
 <title>Philosophy of the United States</title>
 <link>http://www.pwpa.org/pwpa/index.php?itemid=3</link>
<description><![CDATA[<div class="rightbox"><a href="http://www.pwpa.org/pwpa/media/1/20051221-1557788448.jpg"></a> </div> Paragon House publishes Gordon Anderson's book <i><a href="http://www.paragonhouse.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=380">Philosophy of the United States: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. </a></i>Reviewers recommend it for all political science students. <br />
<br />
"An absorbing, informative discussion of fundamental ideals, intended for intermediate students but accessible to any lay reader who wants to do some thinking about the basic principles of the American nation." <font size="-2"><i>—The Bookwatch, The Midwest Book Review</font></i> <br />
<br />
“With unusual scope and clarity, Anderson explores key moments in the development of Western civilization and the distinctively American qualities it presently embodies. With penetrating insight and constructive criticism, the book charts a course that the United States is well advised to follow if it is to live out the best meanings of its creed.”<br />
<font size= "-3">—John K. Roth, Edward J. Sexton Professor of Philosophy and Director, The Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights, Claremont McKenna College</font><br />
<br />
"...this is an informative and challenging book on the relationship between religion, philosophy and government that discusses all the right issues about which we should think and debate."<br />
<font size= "-3">—Morton A. Kaplan, Distinguished Professor of Political Science Emeritus, University of Chicago and publisher of <i>The World & I</i></font><br />
<br />
<i>From the February 2005 issue of CHOICE:</i><br />
Taking the events of September 11, 2001, as a call for reflection on the philosophy of the United States, Anderson provides a political history focusing on the founders' vision for the new nation and how the US has increasingly diverged from those ideas. This book compares the current economic and political power of the US to that of Babylon and Rome and concludes that America's pursuit of national self-interest since WW II has little to do with the nation's original aims. Some of the most interesting parts of Anderson's account concern radical changes in attitudes toward business corporations; corporations moved from being objects of suspicion and scorn at the nation's founding to being "persons" worthy of equal protection under the law by 1886. Anderson denies that the US is a "faith-based" society in the contemporary sense. He argues that early American civil religion entailed only that a transcendent deity endowed all with equality and a desire to pursue happiness. The book is highly critical of federal involvement in education and the welfare state. For Anderson, the best vision for the US lies in the tenets that guided its founders. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and general readers. <font size= "-3"><br>—J. A. Gauthier, University of Portland</font><br />
<br />
"<i>Philosophy of the United States</i> is a most timely call for the reassessment and streamlining of the workings of America's system of justice, which has been increasingly questioned and maligned in recent times. As former counsel to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, a constitutional and criminal lawyer, and an advisor to the Haitian, Philippine, South African and several other constitutional drafters, I have found few concise analyses and explications of this country's legal and constitutional machinery to share with those seeking to draw inspiration from the United States experience. Anderson's book clearly presents and outlines the fundamental questions that must be addressed by any constitutional democracy in the twenty-first century. If democracy is not only to survive but is to flourish it is incumbent upon citizens of all nations to understand the issues which Anderson articulates and advances so very well."<br />
 <font size= "-3">—Nicholas N. Kittrie, University Professor, Washington College of Law and<br />
author, <i>The Future of Peace in the Twenty-First Century</i> </font><br />
<br />
"<i>Philosophy of the United States</i> provides a clear understanding of the legitimate use of political power. As a former military commander, political advisor, and professor of United States history, I am impressed with the way Anderson discusses our founding fathers’ understanding of human nature. This is important in developing a US foreign policy that provides genuine world leadership. It is imperative that contemporary Americans grapple with the issues he discusses. Any citizen who wants to vote with a broad view of the challenges we face should read this book. It is a call for action"<br />
<font size= "-3">—Col. Buford Johnson (ret.), professor of political history and senior policy advisor to the Independence Party of Minnesota</font><br />
<br />
“Students, scholars, and lay readers will come away with a new understanding of historical parallels and of the relevance of considering the past for shaping our future. Given the events of September 11, 2001 and the political, economic, and military responses to those events by the government of the United States, I think this is a very important book.” <br />
<font size= "-3">—Bryan Hilliard, Department of Philosophy, New England College and author of <i>The United States Supreme Court and Medical Ethics</i></font><br />
<br />
"Perhaps the most valuable features are the comparative analyses of Babylon, Rome and the United States, and the useful incorporation of many relevant historical details into its narrative..."<br />
<font size= "-3">—Patrick Hayden, Lecturer in Political Theory, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand</font><br />
<br />
"Americans in general are lost in terms of where this country came from and what it is about. I was particularly interested in the sections on financial power and globalization which show that Americans have often viewed corporations naively, with critics underestimating their potential for good and supporters ignoring their potential for harm, and often misrepresenting the philosophy of Adam Smith. Anderson provides a non-partisan and balanced framework for understanding the issues the United States faces."<br />
<font size= "-3">—Kenneth R. Gray, Associate Professor of International Management, Florida A&M University</font><br />
<br />
"Gordon Anderson's book answers a newly recognized need to understand the role of the United States in the modern world.  America must discover a new recognition of itself, as its old self-image disappears. Oceans are no longer enough to keep the world's violent problems from our doors. The world we live in today cries for a reassessment of our founding principles. <i>The Philosophy of the United States</i> does this.”<br />
<font size= "-3">—Frederick Sontag, Department of Philosophy, Pomona College, and author of <i>The American Religious Experience: The Roots, Trends and Future of Theology</i></font><br />
]]></description>
 <category>Publications</category>
<comments>http://www.pwpa.org/pwpa/index.php?itemid=3</comments>
 <pubDate>Wed, 15 Sep 2004 17:01:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item><item>
 <title>Some Memories of Alex Shtromas</title>
 <link>http://www.pwpa.org/pwpa/index.php?itemid=5</link>
<description><![CDATA[By Gordon L. Anderson<br />
Secretary General, Professors World Peace Academy<br />
December 18, 2002 (PWPA Foundation Day)<span class="footnote"><a href="#5-1" title="PWPA-International was Founded, Seoul, Korea, Dec. 18, 1983">*1</a><a name="5-1f"></a></span><br />
<br />
December 18 is the anniversary of the founding of PWPA International. One stalwart member of PWPA involved in its founding was Alexander Shtromas. Professor Shtromas passed away in June 1999. This memory was written in his honor on PWPA Foundation Day 2002.<br />
The first discussions with Alex Shtromas that I remember were in Chicago in November of 1983. The occasion was the formation of International Journal on World Peace at a meeting that was attached to the prestigious International Conference of the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS), which was chaired by Professor Morton A. Kaplan, a distinguished professor of political science at the University of Chicago. About 20 peace scholars and members of the Professors World Peace Academy (PWPA) chapters in the United States and Europe had gathered together with a New York graphic designer to discuss the format of the new journal to be published by PWPA-USA.<br />
<br />
Alex had been a member of PWPA in the UK since some time in the 1970s after he had emigrated from the USSR to join his sister's family there. In 1974 he began working as a research associate and lecturer in peace studies at the University of Bradford where Peter van den Dungen also worked. Van den Dungen, a rising star in peace history, was also at the meeting in Chicago. I have a paper Alex wrote titled "Strategy for Peace in a Changing World Order" that he presented at an International Cultural Foundation Conference in London in April of 1977. The conference was organized by Brian Wijeratne, who was attached to Cambridge University. Through meetings sponsored by the International Cultural Foundation, Alex met Professor Kaplan and Kaplan arranged for the appointment of Alex as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago in the Spring Quarter of 1982.<br />
<br />
In 1983, I was working on my Ph.D. at Claremont Graduate School in California, but I had begun attending meetings of PWPA in the United States about 1980. Alex and I were destined to become close friends and work on dozens of projects together for the rest of his life. I have boxes of papers in storage related to PWPA events we worked on together and will not be able to do justice to any of the details in this short reminiscence.<br />
<br />
After the Chicago conference, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the International Cultural Foundation, and a staunch South Korean anti-communist, called 70 scholars from around the world to join him in Korea. The purpose was two-fold; to speak out about the dangers of communism to the South Korean people, and to organize Professors World Peace Academy International. Alex Shtromas delivered a speech "To Fight Communism: Why and How?" advocating a fight against communism in the West and outside the Soviet Union on an ideological level. He urged the West to switch "its policies from supporting the status quo to the support of change in the USSR and its dependencies." The speech was printed as a booklet and used as an article in the first issue of International Journal on World Peace, which appeared in September 1984. <br />
<br />
On December 18, 1983, Reverend Moon invited the 70 international scholars to his home where the founding documents of PWPA International were signed. Alex Shtromas was one of the founding signatories at the First International Congress of PWPA. The Reverend Moon promised the scholars that he would provide financial support for this new international peace movement, which would take the rhetoric of peace away from the seeming exclusive dominion the communists held over the term in those days.<br />
<br />
In January 1984, I was hired to work for the International Cultural Foundation as the Secretary General of PWPA-USA, to assist Professor Panos Bardis, a Professor of Sociology at the University of Toledo in Ohio with the production of International Journal on World Peace, and to help organize further activities of PWPA International. It wasn't long before I was communicating with Professor Shtromas on a weekly, if not daily, basis. <br />
<br />
After the PWPA Congress in Korea and subsequent discussions with Professors Kaplan and Shtromas, Professor Alexis Rannit, a prominent Estonian émigré teaching at Yale University, sent a proposal to PWPA for a large International Congress to be held on "The Fall of the Soviet Empire." In the proposal, Rannit stated that all empires are destined to fall, and that the Soviet Union, the last big empire, would fall as well. The world should come together to prepare for the impending collapse and insure that it happens peacefully. Professor Kaplan, now President of PWPA International, took the proposal to Reverend Moon, who agreed to fund a large international academic event to study and predict "The Fall of the Soviet Empire." Kaplan, Shtromas, and Rannit had been asked to organize the scholars to attend the Second International Congress of PWPA on the theme "The Fall of the Soviet Empire." I was to head the conference secretariat to support them. The Congress was scheduled for August 1985.<br />
<br />
Alex Shtromas was in the United States as a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institution during the Spring of 1984. Although Alex was widely read and knew the names and theories of hundreds of sovietologists, political scientists, and international legal scholars, it was a chance for him to become better acquainted with some of the most prominent scholars on communism and the Soviet Union in the United States. Among them was Sidney Hook, who was also at the Hoover Institution, and knew Professor Kaplan through their mutual work with The Society for Rational Alternatives in New York. Professor Shtromas received a comment from Professor Hook, for the first issue of International Journal on World Peace. Later in 1984, Professor Hook was awarded the Presidential Freedom Award from President Ronald Reagan.<br />
<br />
While a child, Alexandras Shtromas and his family, Lithuanians, were imprisoned by the Nazis. After the war, a prominent Lithuanian communist who had been a friend of his father, took him in, finished raising him, and had got him a top education at the University of Moscow. Indeed, he owed a lot to this communist leader. Frequently, when he was interviewed at PWPA conferences, Alex would say, "I was the last believing Marxist in Russia, and I quit believing in 1958…it is the system that has kept everyone going, but it is a non-viable system."<br />
<br />
I had visited a number of hotels and chose the Inter·Continental Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland to serve as the venue. Then we printed up letterhead for the Congress titled "The Fall of the Soviet Empire." We began sending out invitations to scholars. Some of the more famous scholars (I particularly remember Robert Conquest and Sidney Hook) had a problem with the title. I received a call from Sidney Hook after he received his invitation in the mail. He told me that he had been planning to attend the conference and give glowing praise for Reverend Moon, Kaplan, and Shtromas, but he could not attend a conference with that title. "I would be made a laughingstock," he told me, "because scholars study facts, and the fall of the Soviet Union is not a fact." Scholars would be discredited if they acted as soothsayers. He was very disappointed that Kaplan and Shtromas had agreed to such a title.<br />
<br />
With such feedback and in order to keep such leading sovietologists on board, without consulting Reverend Moon, we changed the title on the conference letterhead to "The Soviet Union and the Challenge of the Future." In September 1984, we held a planning meeting off the ICUS conference at the J.W. Marriot Hotel in Washington, DC. I had been asking Alex to write a complete conference program outline with potential speakers for several months. He still hadn't drawn up a plan by the time he arrived in Washington, so I called a temporary stenographer (who by coincidence had taken a class from Professor Kaplan in Chicago several years earlier) and told Alex, "Sit here with this secretary all day if you need to. Let's get an outline worked out."<br />
<br />
It was then that I became aware of the massive amount of knowledge Alex Shtromas carried around in his head. No less than three hundred names of experts on the Soviet Union, social scientists and lawyers, together with the names of their Universities and departments, were recited from memory. He gave not only names of people in the UK, at Chicago, the Hoover Institute, or Harvard, but the list included scholars in other countries, including Germany, Holland, Spain, Israel, Australia. By the end of the day, working with Professors Kaplan and Rannit, we had a conference outline: Part 1: The Coming Crisis and Part 2: The Alternative. Each part had plenary sessions with world-famous speakers like Michael Voslensky, Richard Lowenthal, and Edward Shils. Each part had six panels chaired by highly accomplished scholars. For each panel, Professor Shtromas suggested about six paper presenters and the titles of the papers they would write. Then he suggested an additional eight to ten discussants for each panel. He came with enough information in his head for us to track most of these people down and send them invitations.<br />
<br />
Morton Kaplan went to visit Reverend Moon in December of 1984 to give a report on the upcoming conference. Reverend Moon was surprised by the new title on the conference letterhead he told Professor Kaplan, "I promised support for a conference on 'The Fall of the Soviet Empire', not what you have on this letterhead." Kaplan told a gathering of 30 PWPA members in New York on December 18 that we were changing the name back, with the final result being "The Fall of the Soviet Empire: Prospects for Transition to a Post Soviet World." It was the last time I saw Professor Rannit. He died suddenly from a heart attack a week later. His wife Tina took on his role as her mission and followed up on all of his contacts and attended the conference.<br />
<br />
Sidney Hook and Robert Conquest did not attend, but in August 1985, 95 papers were presented to a group of 300 sovietologists and national PWPA leaders. The event was perhaps the largest assembly of such experts ever to gather. In addition, we had newspaper reporters as well as government intelligence agents coming to find out what was going on. Violetta Shtromas entertained us with songs in five languages after dinner one evening. It was truly a memorable event.<br />
<br />
 <a href="http://www.pwpa.org/pwpa/media/1/20051214-shtromas.jpg">Professor Alexander Shtromas speaking about the peaceful transformation of the Soviet system in Geneva in 1985</a><br />
<br />
The event was not only a high mark in the life of Alex Shtromas, it was a turning point in world history. Something changed in the hearts and minds of those who attended. Before the conference, nearly all sovietologists, as all other people in the West, felt that the Soviet Union was a power that would never collapse. People acted as if it would last forever. Émigrés acted as if they would never return home. This conference laid out the weaknesses inherent in the system, the ethnic strife, pollution and the reality of discontented youth. Much of this had been kept from the rest of the world by Soviet censorship and propaganda. Shtromas made it clear that he believed that the system could change from within, without triggering a nuclear holocaust. By the end of the conference, others had been persuaded. It was as if a large dark cloud had been lifted, and people who had come with pessimism, went home with the hope for change. They began talking of change, and that hope made a real effect on the views of others.<br />
<br />
A video tape on "The Soviet Union and the Challenge of the Future" was produced. Four thick books, edited by Shtromas and Kaplan, were produced with the most complete analysis of the Soviet System ever to appear in one place. <br />
<br />
In 1989, when the Soviet system collapsed and the Berlin Wall was torn down, much of the world was taken by surprise, but those who had attended the Geneva conference knew it was coming. In 1990, I had a conversation with a man who had attended the Geneva conference as an undercover agent for the CIA. He told me, "Not only did that conference accurately predict the nature of the collapse of the Soviet Empire, it may well have provided the blueprint."<br />
<br />
The Soviet Bloc was still intact in 1986, but Alex Shtromas and I attended numerous PWPA meetings in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. We created opportunities for him to speak to seasoned communists outside of Russia, where he was still persona non grata. I remember some feisty exchanges that took place at a conference in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia organized by our PWPA chapter in Greece in October of 1987. Participants from Eastern Europe, for the most part, had to defend the official state views on issues of ideology and history. There was a participant from Czechoslovakia who was explaining how the communists took control of some state in Eastern Europe after World War II. Alex, who was a fastidious student of East European history and spoke most East European languages, knew the details of the history that had been re-written, and set all of us straight about what really happened. When we toured Dubrovnik, even though he knew the language, he spoke in English so as not to endure the wrath of Yugoslavs who hated Russians and their occupation of Eastern Europe.<br />
<br />
My first trip to Russia was in October 1989. I went as a PanAm tourist and stayed on one of the PanAm floors in the Hotel Ukraina in Moscow. Alex supplied me with names of friends I should visit to get a real tour. These included: Victoria Chalikova, a literary author whose father had been dragged of to a gulag for wrapping up a fish in a newspaper that had Stalin's picture on the front. She took me to a community theater where a play about Solzhenitsyn's "Gulag" was being shown publicly for the first time. G.S. Pomerantz, a philosopher who had survived the gulag and written a book titled Rose of the World, in which he spoke about the unification of the world's great religions. Leonid Volkov, who was legally running for parliament on an opposition ticket for the first time, came to Professor Pomerantz's apartment to meet me. And, Jacob Berger, an expert on China, a good social scientist with a Jewish background, who was never promoted in the Institute for Social Sciences because loyal ideologues were always given those positions, gave me an inside tour of the buildings of the Academy of Social Sciences in Moscow. I went back to Russia many times in the next few years, but must thank Alex Shtromas for the introduction to his friends who gave me a look at Russia few other PanAm tourists ever received.<br />
<br />
In 1989, Alex Shtromas was back in the United States teaching at Boston College and then moved to his final home at Hillsdale College in 1990. Morton Kaplan was undoubtedly helpful in getting him a tenured position there. With the collapse of the Soviet System, PWPA had moved on to conferences on the future of democracy and Alex proved that he knew as much about Western political theory as he did about the Soviet system. <br />
<br />
The Fourth International Congress of PWPA, held in London in August 1989, was chaired by Edward Shils, founder of the Institute for Social Thought at the University of Chicago, and his former student, Roger Michner, who was teaching at Princeton University. Shils had been impressed by the Geneva meeting, and it was undoubtedly the success of that meeting that led to his acceptance to organize for PWPA a similar international event on "Liberal Democratic Societies: Their Present State and Future Prospects." Professor Shtromas was asked to organize a panel for this conference on "World Order and Liberal Democracy." His main concern was how to reconcile the right of nations to self-determination with the management and institutionalization of supra-national and global institutions. He advocated a global commonwealth that would enhance and protect the sovereignty of nations, much along the lines outline by Immanuel Kant in his Perpetual Peace.<br />
<br />
He developed and elaborated on this theme at PWPA meetings and in articles for International Journal on World Peace the following years. Occasionally we disagreed on whether homogeneous nation-states were desirable, or even possible, in our heterogeneous global society, but our discussions always increased my understanding of the issues and my respect for the commitment Alex Shtromas had made to the creation of a free and peaceful world. <br />
<br />
In 1991, the Professors World Peace Academy made a proposal to the University of Bridgeport to establish a relationship that would make a world-class university focused on training young men and women for the 21st century. Alex came, along with others, to encourage the university to accept the proposal. That year, now able to return to Russia, he traveled with me to a conference in Moscow on "Culture and Religion," where he presented a paper on "The Unification of the Contemporary World and Contemporary Values."<br />
<br />
One final thing that I will say about Alex Shtromas is that he treasured good friends and good conversation. At conferences, like the one in Dubrovnik, Alex would always be in the center of the conversation and inevitably have the newest soviet jokes to tell. On my first trip to Russia, I met many of his good friends there, with whom he had had many good conversations. While I lived in New Jersey, Alex occasionally stayed at my home. In 1992, when I moved from New Jersey to Minnesota, our family stayed for a day with Alex and Violetta in Hillsdale. His house was always open to friends. We stayed up late at night discussing the issues of the world. In 1996, PWPA was asked to help inaugurate the World University Federation in Montevideo, Uruguay. As usual Alex responded to the invitation quickly, for he always considered himself a "foot soldier" for PWPA. Again, when the meetings were over, I went to his hotel room where we reminisced and philosophized until about 3 A.M. <br />
<br />
The last PWPA meeting Alex Shtromas attended, and the last time I saw him face to face, was in Seoul, Korea, in February 1999. The occasion was a conference on "Family Ethics and World Peace." He attended with Violetta. Alex looked physically weakened since the last time I had seen him, but he never complained and never let on that he was battling cancer. In April 1999 I received a package of photos from him in the mail. Most of them were of him and me in various parts of the world. A handwritten note said, "I believe friends should keep such things." Alex Shtromas was a philosopher, a historian, a political scientist, a linguist and a teacher. We worked together to reform the communist system, establish better democracies, and better university education. But, that note, written when he knew his days were numbered, summarized for me what he felt was most important about life on earth: friendship. And, I am happy to remember him most as friend.<br />
<br />
<ul class="footnote"><a name="5-1"></a><li><a href="#5-1f">Note 1</a>PWPA-International was Founded, Seoul, Korea, Dec. 18, 1983</li></ul>]]></description>
 <category>Articles</category>
<comments>http://www.pwpa.org/pwpa/index.php?itemid=5</comments>
 <pubDate>Wed, 18 Dec 2002 14:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
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 <title>History</title>
 <link>http://www.pwpa.org/pwpa/index.php?itemid=4</link>
<description><![CDATA[<b>Korea - Japan Dialogue </b><br />
The Professors World Peace Academy (PWPA) was founded on May 6, 1973 in Seoul, Korea at a gathering of 168 Professors from Korea and Japan. The professors had held discussions of historical reconciliation that political and religious leaders had been unable to accomplish. National chapters were formed in both Korea and Japan. The Reverend Sun Myung Moon thought that such discussions were beneficial and gave it support to continue and expand on a permanent basis. <br />
<b>Annual Conferences in Asia </b><br />
In 1974, the professors associated with PWPA held the first International Conference on World Peace (ICWP). This became an annual conference in Asia, and continues to focus annually on Asia and the world. <br />
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<b>International Expansion </b><br />
Throughout the 1970s the Asian members of Professors World Peace Academy promoted the Academy's work throughout the world. By 1979 there had been Professors World Peace Academy meetings held in Europe, America, and Africa. A chapter in the United States was formed under the leadership of Morton Kaplan in 1979. In 1980 the Professors World Peace Academy began to hold annual meetings attached to the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS). Then in 1982, Chung Hwan Kwak, the Chairman of ICF, and Hugh D. Spurgin, the Secretary General of ICF, traveled to Africa, South America, the Middle East, and Asia to meet with professors and discuss the formation of chapters in their countries. <br />
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<b>PWPA International Formed </b><br />
In December 1983, the Reverend Moon called professors from seventy nations to Seoul, Korea for the First International Congress of PWPA Presidents. Morton Kaplan was chosen to serve as President of the new PWPA International network. On December 18th, the founder presented his vision for the Professors World Peace Academy. After this meeting, an international office was established in New York. A program of international grants to the newly forming chapters of the Professors World Peace Academy was sponsored through the International Cultural Foundation. Conferences were held on issues of crucial interest to different nations and regions. Many chapters incorporated and published proceedings. <br />
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<a href="http://www.pwpa.org/pwpa/About.php?itemid=24"><b>List of Conferences </b></a><br />
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<b>International Congresses </b><br />
To develop the leadership of the Professors World Peace Academy chapters, PWPA International has sponsored International Congresses of PWPA Presidents every two years. The Second Congress studied the Soviet social system, the Third Congress studied Chinese society, and the Fourth Congress was an analysis of liberal democracies. The Fifth International Congress developed scenarios for future society. The Sixth International Congress was on "The Future of the Family." The Seventh was on "Identity and Character." The Eighth will be on "The Impact of the Global Economy on Societ and Family." These congresses produced texts and reference books which were sold commercially and also used by PWPA chapters. <br />
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<b>Publications </b><br />
PWPA chapters in Korea and Japan began with the publication of newsletters and journals to support their activities. These were soon followed by the publication of academic books in several countries on an ad hoc basis. In 1983, Paragon House Publishers was established to produce quality scholarly books of the PWPA. <br />
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<b>World University Network </b><br />
In 1992, PWPA International began to implement the goal of creating a first class world university system, where young people of all races and nationalities can be educated as world citizens and as professionals able to grasp the needs of the global community. The hub of the network is the University of Bridgeport. <br />
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 <category>PWPA Information</category>
<comments>http://www.pwpa.org/pwpa/index.php?itemid=4</comments>
 <pubDate>Thu, 14 Dec 2000 13:07:00 -0500</pubDate>
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