Obama Hits on Greatest Danger: The Way We Live (DernieresNouvellesd'Alsacé, France)
"The enemy is no longer a superpower cemented in
doctrinaire ideology. It is a way of life - our way. ... The danger is not in
the accumulation of nuclear warheads, aircraft or tanks. It is in the way we
feed ourselves and travel, clothe ourselves and house ourselves, and keep
ourselves warm. The danger is not from a nuclear conflagration that would
fossilize all or part of our Earth. It is of an irreversible degradation of its
capacity to accommodate the human species."
In Berlin, 50 years ago, the president of the
United States - at the time the dashing John Fitzgerald Kennedy - proclaimed
"Ich bin ein Berliner" (I
am a Berliner). This famous phrase signaled the support of the world's leading
power for tiny West Berlin, located in a German Democratic Republic subservient
to Moscow.
A quarter century later, the Wall fell, and
with it came the end of the Cold War.
The day before yesterday, in a reunited Berlin,
another president of the United States, the no less spirited Barack Obama, promised
another fight. That for a "global pact to fight climate change ... refusing to
condemn our children to a harsher, less hospitable planet."
For a crusade like this, will a quarter century
be enough?
The enemy is no longer a superpower cemented in
doctrinaire ideology. It is a way of life - our way - which is dreamed of by
the poor in the wealthiest countries, and the poor in the poorest. The danger
is not in the accumulation of nuclear warheads, aircraft or tanks. It is in the
way we feed ourselves and travel, clothe ourselves and house ourselves, and
keep ourselves warm. The danger is not from a nuclear conflagration that would fossilize
all or part of our Earth. It is of an irreversible degradation of its capacity to
accommodate the human species.
Posted By
Worldmeets.US
That an American president, in the heart of old
Europe, is preaching the crusade against global warming, is indeed a sign.
Perhaps the United States, which has not signed the Kyoto Protocols, will draw
closer to those tentatively allied in this global ecological war. Perhaps
America, too, will oppose the powerful selfishness of those who, when it comes
to climate issues, have a single motto, "Après moi le déluge!" [
"After me - the deluge," i.e.: "I don't care what happens next,
I'll be gone."]
