... I propose replacing the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive military action with preventive action of a constructive and affirmative nature.

Introducing Soros the contrarian with an interesting counterpoint to Bush's recent 'democracy' speech. And in contrast to Al Gore's idle ranting, Soros is about to spend millions putting his message into action.

] The most powerful country on earth cannot afford to be
] consumed by fear. To make the war on terrorism the
] centerpiece of our national strategy is an abdication of
] our responsibility as the leading nation in the world.
] Moreover, by allowing terrorism to become our principal
] preoccupation, we are playing into the terrorists' hands.
] They are setting our priorities.

I agree with Jeremy. George Soros says so much more in 10 pages then Gore did in 50. If you want an intelligent counterpoint to Bush and the Neocons this is one of the strongest I've seen.

] The quest for American supremacy qualifies as a bubble.
] The dominant position the United States occupies in the
] world is the element of reality that is being distorted.
] The proposition that the United States will be better off
] if it uses its position to impose its values and
] interests everywhere is the misconception. It is exactly
] by not abusing its power that America attained its
] current position.

] Where are we in this boom-bust process? The deteriorating
] situation in Iraq is either the moment of truth or a test
] that, if it is successfully overcome, will only reinforce
] the trend.

This piece by George Soros really hits the nail on the head.

It appears that the Bush administration is doing exactly the opposite of everything I believe makes an entity a leader in a network.. That is if you consider sovereign states to be nodes in a network, their links things such as the trade (of both goods and ideas). George Soros shares that view, (economics in general share that view) and expresses it way more eloquently then anyone else I have read or seen recently, including our current crop of presidential candidates. (I fully agree with both Decius and Jeremy on that point. The current candidates are doing a really lousy job of saying why the Bush Administration sucks, in a high level way. At this point, none of them has yet won my support.)

He makes a good argument that seeking American supremacy via unilateral action as a primary piece of our security and foreign policy strategy, isn't going to get us supremacy. Not abusing our position of power has given us supremacy. Not being secretive has what has given us supremacy. Being an open society has been what has given us supremacy. Et cetra. This is a call from Soros to not flush these elements of our society and government down the toilet, and break the bubble before it breaks us.

However reasonable this may be, the neocons are sure attack this stance, and they will have an easy job doing so. The obvious troll to this is "you think america should be weak!" and "you appeaser you!".. All things that will work very well in that Bill O'Reilly kinda context where its all about being strong and right.

We may be uncovering another one of the 42 great true lies.