comment35

Issue #44

Last Update March 2, 2006

Commentary 2004 is ending, leaving us with a host of unsettled issues. We await the approach of 2005 with a great deal of trepidation. Some of the trepidation is caused by the magnitude of the problems we will face in the coming year, some is caused by quality of the leadership, here and abroad, we will be depending on to solve these problems. We optimistically believe that a certain fundamental sanity will assert itself in national and world affairs when it is no longer possible to fanticise these problems into non-existance. There are signs of this already.

Internationally, the problems include Iraq; religiously inflamed terrorism; the slow slide of Russia into authoritarianism and hostility to the West; the possibility that Iran and North Korea will become nuclear states; continued ecological destruction; and the international health and local humanitarian problems caused by the numerous failed states of Africa. Nationally, the problems include our economy, plagued by enormous budgetary deficits, the huge costs of the Iraq war, a trade imbalance that threatens the dollar, and sluggish employment figures; and other issues such as the increasing intolerance shown non-Christian religions (indeed, intolerance of the non-religious as well); a health care system in need of radical reform; a decline in the creation of native-born scientists and engineers, coupled with a reduction in the number of foreign science and engineering students that grows out of the inhospitability shown them since 9/11; a growing threat to our traditional freedoms that has begun to stifle both political dissent and artistic creativity; an inability or unwillingness to deal with energy structures that keep us hostage to the Middle East; and a military that has been hollowed out by the demands placed on it in recent years.

Nevertheless, there are encouraging signs. With the passing of Arafat, the possibility of some reasonable modus vivendi between Palestinians and Israelis has grown slightly. The Kyoto accord, however flawed, has come into effect with Russia's ratification, allowing the rest of the world to focus more clearly on reducing greenhouse gases and forcing the United States, the world's largest polluter, to take another look at its policies. There is a steady growth in multinational management of economics, health issues and matters of war and peace (again, excepting the US) which is more suitable to our shrunken world than individual nation-state actions. Technology, including biological and communications advances, continues to provide better and better tools for dealing with the crises we face. All in all, there is an almost universal awareness of global interdependence; unfortunately, this sometimes leads to violent reactions at home and abroad from those who feel threatened by loss of privilege or changing custom.

We hope that it is the encouraging signs, rather than the counter-reaction to change, that will flourish in the coming year. The staff of New York Stringer Magazine wishes all of our readers a happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous new year.