President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
[Delivery Via Email]

Dear Mr. Obama:

I am writing to share with you my great concern about the Defense Authorization Act, just passed by Congress and signed by you, which permits indefinite detention of American citizens.

I do not approve of the process where this provision was rolled in to a bill that needed to be passed to continue funding our national defense needs. Denials of freedom and liberty are more important issues that should be fully debated by the American public than was done in this case. I believe this matter is significant enough that the bill should not have been signed despite assurances your administration would not exercise those provisions.

Such a radical step as allowing Americans to be locked up without due process, in my mind, is in violation of the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and the American way of life. The Constitution that is being abused in this case is not the same one I swore to defend for 26 years in the United States Navy. I ask you to take action to reverse this disturbing development.

Thank you for your consideration of my concerns and thank you for your service and leadership.

Patrick W. Ryan
LCDR, USN (Ret)

***

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This year will long be remembered and analyzed by scholars and students for the so-called “Arab Spring” sweeping the Arab world from North Africa across to the Arabian Peninsula. Simmering tensions in a dozen countries boiled over in protests and revolts toppling several regimes – Tunisia, Egypt and Libya – and pushing others to the brink. In the Persian Gulf Iran is playing an outsized role, threatening the neighborhood: sponsoring terrorism, building nuclear weapons, and dominating the scene in Iraq as America is shown the door by Baghdad. Meanwhile, 44 years of conflict and occupation in Israel-Palestine shows no signs of a solution. Indeed the threat of an American veto to a Palestinian statehood bid in the United Nations illuminates Washington’s dilemma of balancing interests versus America’s principles.

As historic Arab world developments play out it focuses attention on the centrality of Saudi Arabia to America’s enduring role in the region. Against this background Cookeville will welcome Thomas Lippman, a distinguished speaker on U.S. Middle East policy, this week as a guest of the Tennessee World Affairs Council. Lippman – preeminent journalist, scholar and commentator – has written numerous books on U.S. Middle East affairs including “Inside the Mirage: America’s Fragile Partnership with Saudi Arabia,” and the forthcoming, “Saudi Arabia on the Edge: The Uncertain Future of an American Ally.” Tuesday he will visit Tennessee Tech for a public forum, the Breakfast Rotary Club and Cookeville High School to talk about Saudi Arabia from “Arab Spring to Iran Showdown.”

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States have been close partners since the 1930s when oil exploration led to formal commercial ties. Diplomatic links were in place when Franklin Roosevelt traveled at the height of World War II to meet King Abdul Aziz in the Suez Canal, and that 1945 meeting solidified relations, based on mutual interests and respect.

Saudi Arabia demonstrated its standing in the world when, just 13 years after its own founding as a unified country, it was a founding member of the United Nations, as a signatory to the UN Charter. Its partnership with America showed through during decades of Cold War as it stood staunchly alongside the United States in thwarting Communist ambitions from Afghanistan through Africa and Central and South America. In the 1970s and 1980s as revolution in Iran and a hot war in the Gulf threatened regional security and the provision of global energy supplies, Saudi Arabia was steadfast in its commitment to stability.

The Kingdom continues to pursue peace between Palestine and Israel as demonstrated by authorship of comprehensive plans in 1982 and 2002. The latest offers peace and relations between Israel and all members of the Arab League in exchange for a return to pre-1967 war borders, the yardstick most observers see as a realistic framework.

Saudi Arabia’s leadership among Arab and Islamic countries is shown through its moderating role in both the 22 member Arab League and the 56 member Organization of the Islamic Conference. Its influence is underpinned by service as custodian of the holy places of Islam, Mecca and Medina, and its role as annual host to three million pilgrims who journey to the Kingdom for the Hajj.

Saudi Arabia is an active participant in numerous efforts to bring global partners together. As the scourge of terrorism reached a peak in the West and the Arab world, Saudi Arabia – having suffered its own wave of deadly attacks from an Al Qaeda campaign launched in 2003 – convened an international conference on counter terrorism, fostering practical ways to tackle the global affliction. The Kingdom’s commitment continues, exemplified by very close intelligence cooperation with its allies. Al Qaeda’s plot last year to destroy two U.S. bound airliners with parcel bombs was interrupted only as a result of intelligence shared by Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom’s commitment was reaffirmed this September when it provided $10 million to fund a counter terrorism center at the United Nations.

On the energy front Saudi Arabia leads in ensuring adequate supplies to meet global energy requirements. It is the only oil exporting country with enough production – made possible through significant expense – to make a difference in global supplies. It regularly makes up shortfalls in the aggregate world market resulting from civil unrest, conflict, and natural disasters that would otherwise cause severe market disruptions. The recent loss of Libyan oil on the world market was made up by Saudi spare capacity.

The Kingdom continues as an active partner with its Gulf and Western allies in defense arrangements. The 1990-1991 Gulf War spotlighted Saudi Arabia’s leadership in hosting, supporting and serving in combat alongside a grand international coalition to contain and ultimately expel Iraq from Kuwait. Defense cooperation remains a pillar in the relationship, especially in the face of the Iranian regional security threat.

There is perhaps no more emblematic sign of Saudi Arabia’s partnership with America than the King Abdullah Scholarship Program, which has placed more than 40,000 students in the United States, including over 100 at Tennessee Tech. The program provides higher education to a growing number of Saudi youth while serving to build bridges during their stays in America and then serving as unofficial ambassadors when they return home.

The relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States, like that between any partners in the world, faced obstacles along the way, but the more than 80 years of commercial and diplomatic ties remain strong by every measure, and have served both sides well.

by Patrick W. Ryan

WOW is right! The 12th Window on the World, Tennessee Tech’s annual global awareness festival that celebrates, at once, international unity and diversity, was center stage on campus this weekend. The Roaden University Center, festooned with scores of country flags that symbolize the origins of many Tech students and faculty, was filled with hundreds of people working and thousands of people visiting the music and dance performances, art displays, shopping kiosks, food courts, children’s activities, and country table displays. The atmosphere, as always, was electric as people moved about to take it all in – to enjoy it all and to learn something about every corner of the world.

It’s a slice of the world that is brought together once a year in Cookeville and it’s a tribute to the many people at Tech who work hard to bring it all together – the scores of students, community partners, performers and everyone who plays a role in making WOW so wonderful to take in. As with most spectacular events that capture a place on our calendars and in our sense of Cookeville as being someplace special, there is one person – who is usually hidden behind the scenes – to whom we can pay tribute for its success.

Katie Kumar. The founder and coordinator of WOW for its first 11 years credits the idea for a festival to a cultural diversity class at Tech. But it was Katie who nurtured the concept, building it into a landmark celebration. In a 2006 video interview about WOW, which found its way to YouTube, Katie said she loved being coordinator of WOW, “It represents a commitment to things that are international, but also things that are important to every human being – to appreciate where we came from, where we’re going, enjoying the similarities and the differences of each other.”

Anyone who has been involved in Window on the World knows Katie is the spark plug that makes it all come together – every detail is attended to, every group or individual request taken care of. And every WOW is better than the last WOW. She admits it’s quite involved to pull it off every year, “I start usually as soon as one is over thinking about the next one, thinking about all of the things I have not done that would be fun to do.” She adds, “I love it.” It’s that passion and commitment that makes the festival a great experience for everyone who participates.

One feature of the Window on the World festival is the presentation of the Mandala Award which honors a member of the community for their work in promoting international understanding and cultural diversity. One could assume there would have been no better recipient of the award in the past than Katie Kumar, but that was not the case. Until this year. Katie is the 2011 Mandala Award winner and there is no one more deserving of that honor for what she has accomplished in giving us the Window on the World festival, and her many other efforts on campus and in the community.

We are in a time when world events are becoming more complicated and more dangerous than ever and what happens among our fellow crewmembers on spaceship Earth is increasingly relevant to our own well-being. So it is heartening to see such a successful effort as Tech’s Window on the World. The many challenges we jointly face can only be tackled through mutual understanding and cooperation. We can be thankful for efforts like WOW to help us learn more – especially in a fun way – about the things that are different and those that are the same among us. And we can be thankful for people like Katie Kumar who opened those windows.

by Patrick W. Ryan

As a land-locked state, Tennessee doesn’t strike most people as having a deep Navy tradition. But they would be wrong. Many men and women from the Volunteer State have served as American Bluejackets and many ships have carried the names of Tennessee cities, counties, and the State itself. It was the third ship named USS Tennessee that survived the devastating blow at Pearl Harbor in December 1941 to be repaired and serve with great distinction through to the end of the war, participating in most of the greatest naval battles fought.

The Tennessee namesake is carried on by a submarine, as nuclear powered ballistic missile submarines replaced the disappearing battleships as America’s “capital” ships – the most powerful vessels in the fleet carried states names. These craft sail the seas as a key arm of America’s deterrent force seeking to prevent war through the readiness of its crews. Besides the word “Volunteers,” the USS Tennessee’s emblem carries the words, “America at its best.”

News came this week about another proud Navy ship, named for a Tennessee city. USS Memphis, the sixth ship with the name, carried as its motto “In defense of human freedom may she ever prowl the sea.” Nevertheless she was ending 33 years of very distinguished service in defense of the nation. Memphis was built to “fight” the Cold War with the Soviet Union, as an attack submarine that would seek out and, if “hot” war came, destroy enemy ships, especially Russian ballistic missile submarines that targeted the American homeland. As a submariner during a large part of my Navy days I had the honor of sailing aboard Memphis during her first deployment to the Mediterranean. It was my first glimpse of the, then, brand new Los Angeles class attack boats and she was impressive. After the Soviet Union cracked, in part a tribute to the years of undersea patrols and deployments by ships like Memphis and the men who sailed in them, she continued to compile an envious service record – much of it sensitive work that does not receive the public acclaim it deserves.

Like the Memphis the USS Thresher, also in the news this week, was built to fight the Soviet Navy, but in an earlier era when nuclear attack submarines still followed their World War II predecessors with names from “denizens of the deep.” Submariners remember her not for distinction in operating against potential foes but for the tragedy that befell her and the 129 men aboard her 48 years ago today. She sailed from Portsmouth, New Hampshire for a shakedown, to test repairs and modifications made during a shipyard overhaul.

USS Thresher

On the morning of April 10, 1963 Thresher’s surface escort received a garbled message from the submarine, “..minor difficulties.. attempting to blow..” But the high-pressure air blow to remove seawater from the ballast tanks, used to surface the ship, was unsuccessful and Thresher slid into the deep Atlantic, crushed by the tremendous pressures of the sea. Some time later remains of the Thresher were discovered scattered about 8,400 feet below the waves. An investigation concluded a cascade of mechanical failures led to the ship being unable to reach the surface after a weld in a seawater piping system failed, flooding the engine room. The loss of Thresher resulted in a crash program to correct design, construction and maintenance processes and procedures on every submarine in the U.S. Navy, the so-called “SUBSAFE” program that mandated the most demanding standards. The loss of Thresher resulted in nearly half a century of submarine service, millions of man-days of submarines underwater, with an unprecedented record of engineering safety.

The proud traditions of the submarine force, and the motto “Pride Runs Deep,” that protected America throughout the Cold War were built upon the service of its forerunners in World War II. They comprised two percent of the Navy’s forces but accounted for over 30 percent of enemy shipping sunk in the Pacific, the untold story of how the tide of that global war was turned. It was ships like the first Thresher, with 15 combat war patrols to her credit, and the men who sailed in them who paid a heavy price for their successes – the loss of 52 boats and over 3500 men.

The American public may not know as much as they should about this small segment of the United States Armed Forces, after all it is called the “Silent Service” due to the requirement for secrecy about many of its missions. But Tennesseans should be proud of the contribution its service members have made to the defense of the nation, and of its namesake ships. And speaking as one “sub-vet” among those who call Cookeville home I was happy to hear of the effort to have the sail, the conning tower, of the USS Memphis installed as a monument in the Volunteer State.

Patrick Ryan is a writer who lives and works in Cookeville, Tennessee. During his 26 year Navy career he served in American attack and ballistic missile submarines. His essays are available at www.ThePatRyanReport.com

by Patrick W. Ryan

The tide of revolt that has swept the Arab World in the last two months has been stunning in scope, intensity and importance. From the Atlantic Ocean to the Persian Gulf autocratic regimes have been shaken and some have fallen in an historic reformation of how Arab countries will manage their affairs. This transformation, dubbed an “Arab Spring,” has also stunned foreign policy making institutions in the United States as America’s values and interests are increasingly at odds with each other.

Tunisia, the first episode, was a relatively brief affair starting in January but U.S. policymakers had an easy call – the regime must respect peoples’ rights to protest – since there were few American strategic interests at stake. The protests eventually drove out thuggish leader President Ben Ali and his family. The next case was not so simple. Egypt is a keystone; it is the most populous Arab country, a major U.S. ally and a key element in American policy in the region, especially important in the pursuit of peace between Israel and its neighbors. So pulling the rug out from the increasingly unpopular rule of long-time American friend and brutal dictator President Hosni Mubarak was not in the cards going in. But as the demonstrations in Cairo and around the country achieved a critical momentum and the beginning of a very bloody crackdown was seen, Washington found its footing, “Mubarak must go.” And so it was.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula the monarch in the tiny Gulf state of Bahrain and the minority Sunni population were facing off with the repressed majority Shia population. America’s reflexive interest in maintaining the status quo in an Arab country mattered very much in the case of Bahrain. It has been a linchpin in U.S. Gulf security policy for decades – the home of America’s fleet in the region and a key ally in the seemingly never-ending face off with Iran across the Gulf. However, once again American values were at stake and Washington’s reaction, when blood started flowing in the streets, was to urge restraint in dealing with the protests. The stakes only increased when Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain’s Arab partners in the Gulf, sent troops to bolster security in the streets out of their fears of Shia ascendency and Iranian influence. The situation has been tamped down but the final chapter has not been written.

Back in North Africa the pot continued to boil and Libyan protestors, tired of over 40 years of the buffoonish tyrant Qaddafi, caught their own wave and took to the streets. The demonstrations quickly turned very bloody as the regime was caught off guard but not unprepared to unleash a very violent campaign against the rebels, especially once they lost the eastern half of the country including Benghazi, the nation’s second city. Full-scale military battles, including the use of air power, erupted and observers started calls for international action, especially creation of a “No-Fly Zone” to aid the rebels. Washington watched, hoping Qaddafi’s rule would fall under its own corrupt weight, but the Colonel wasn’t following the script of slipping gently into the night. Calls to interrupt Libya’s use of air forces increased, leading America’s Defense Secretary to bring focus to what was being asked of the United States. Robert Gates told Congress that there should be no mistake that imposition of a “No-Fly Zone” meant that America would be at war with Libya. He also reminded everyone that America’s men and women under arms were already over committed around the world. Others who feared being tied down in another war in another Muslim country noted the passing of the eighth anniversary of the War in Iraq and its cost of blood and treasure to America – over 4400 Americans killed and 32,000 wounded, over $750 billion spent with a total liability estimated at $3 trillion.

The Administration deliberated. This time it was being asked for more than pronouncements on American policy about demonstrations; it was being asked to drop bombs and commit Americans to the fight with no clear course as to how it would come out. There was also no clear international consensus. There was Qaddafi. There was violent repression on TV every night. There was oil. There was the prospect that the defeat of the Libyan uprising would put a freeze on the “Arab Spring.” There was the rampant impression that a “No-Fly Zone” is something easy, quick and cheap to do – the 12 years we did it over Iraq was none of those. There was support from the Arab League – important cover for Western intervention in one more Islamic nation – and the French and the Brits were ready to go “all-in” but there were doubts among some NATO allies and UN Security Council. There was also the question of precedent. Why Libya and why not – fill in the blank with one of the many countries where the government brutalizes its people? Asked the question if a response in Libya would be hypocritical veteran American diplomat Edward Walker told a Sunday talk show last week, “You can’t be consistent in international relations.” Lack of consistency appears to infect Republican politicians as well with some Administration opponents assailing Obama both for doing nothing until he did and then criticizing him for doing something about Qaddafi.

In the end Washington bought a big piece of the Libyan adventure, promising to play only a supporting role. But a week into the mission – characterized by the Defense Secretary as having been done “on the fly” – there are already questions being asked about how is this really going to turn out. Qaddafi is resolute and he still has cards to play. The four billion dollars in gold he sits on is sanction-proof and will buy lots of African mercenaries and his chemical weapons stockpiles will buy a lot of chaos. As the Libya mission is assumed under a NATO mantle we’re left to wonder if it will actually take “boots on the ground” to put an end to Qaddafi. Meanwhile, back to Syria, Jordan, Yemen, etc., etc. and more policymaking on the fly, consistent or not.

by Patrick W. Ryan

The throngs of Egyptians who have taken to the streets in the Arab world’s most populous country are shaking the foundations of regimes across North Africa and the Middle East with scant hope America will emerge from this new crisis with a winning hand, much less breaking even.

Egypt, like many other countries led by highly autocratic regimes, appeared to be stable and enjoyed good relations with its Western partners including the United States. The partnership evolved from a global strategic calculus that lined up clients in the Cold War on the side of the United States and the West, or the Soviet Union. It came to include, in the case of Egypt especially, support for American efforts to achieve peace treaties between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

American policymakers were mindful for decades that much of the region was in desperate need of political and social reforms, the introduction of civil society including viable political opposition and democratic values. These goals took a back seat to regional security issues like peace with Israel, and in the last decade, a fear of Islamic extremism. Both cards were played very well by rulers like Egypt’s Mubarak earning him respect on the world stage and billions in U.S. aid. Meanwhile the discontent among his 80 million fellow Egyptians simmered. While it is little surprise to those who have watched developments in the Arab world over the last decades that we have arrived at the tipping point, it is still shocking to see how swiftly the current of revolution has rattled one of the most important countries in the region.

It was just last month that a Tunisian young man named Mohamed Bouaziz set himself on fire after being humiliated by police in his rural village for trying to set up his street cart, the sole source of support for his family. Bouaziz’ desperate act set off uprisings across Tunisia toppling President Ben Ali there, and subsequently lit fires across Egypt and elsewhere in the region this week.

How will this revolt play out in Egypt and what are the implications for the United States? On Friday Mubarak sacked his cabinet and defiantly pledged to stay on but most observers believe his rule is in its final days, riding on the loyalty of the Army. As the days of rage on the streets of Egypt show no sign of letting up, the leaders in the Army are likely to conclude it’s time to cut the country’s losses, and Mubarak will be gone.

With the stakes so high the Obama Administration is already laying the groundwork for its full support of change in Cairo. The White House is mindful of the blowback it will earn for failing to heed the pleas from the streets of Cairo, voiced by one protestor, “I want to send a message to America please don’t help Mubarak, because Mubarak will go.” Washington is keen to have the anti-Mubarak protests reach a soft landing to avoid damaging America’s many interests there. The short list is geo-strategic: Egypt’s balancing influence in Israel-Arab relations, as the first and most important peace treaty partner; Egypt’s strategic location and ownership of the Suez Canal, one of the world’s most critical trade chokepoints; and the potential for extremists to exploit the chaos of an extended downward spiral. The United States must also protect its interest in promoting human rights and justice, which is not far from the mind of Secretary of State Clinton who on Friday called on Egypt to “engage immediately with the Egyptian people in implementing needed economic, political, and social reforms.”

It is a tipping point for freedom and justice in the Arab world – there’s no putting the genie back in the bottle – but it is also a period of peril for American leadership as the United States simultaneously faces the challenges of the Arab-Israel peace stalemate; the likelihood of war in Lebanon; the disengagement from Iraq and Afghanistan; the Iranian drive to dominate the region and build nuclear weapons; the quest for stability of world energy supplies from the Gulf; and a diminishing reserve of America’s reputation and political, military and economic power to influence events.

So while the goal of building democratic institutions across the region moves forward, as it must – whether through deliberate reforms from within, or from revolt in the streets – it will be a time of increased jeopardy for the United States. How well Washington is able to balance these objectives – security and justice – will affect America’s position in the Middle East and the wider world for generations.

Patrick W. Ryan is a retired U.S. Navy officer who has traveled widely in the Middle East for 38 years. He writes newsletters about Middle East affairs and he can be contacted through www.ThePatRyanReport.com. He lives in Cookeville, Tennessee.

The images are from another place and time, grainy, black and white photos among an archive of American experiences from “back in the day” and they appear in my mind when I think about the word “polio.” One of these ancient photos is of a warehouse-sized room filled with row after row of capsules each containing a person, like some strange 1950s era sci-fi movie. Dozens of nurses in old-style uniforms and caps are buzzing around the tubes. The capsules have viewing windows, access ports, gauges and dials and at one end a pressurized seal where each patient’s head extends outside the tube. The scores of tubes in the image are iron-lungs, the much feared last resort treatment for the thousands and thousands of Americans afflicted with polio who, because of paralysis, were unable to breath on their own. Their lives were extended through the pumps that provided negative air pressure, taking over the function of their ineffective diaphragms.

This image, however, is not so ancient in the American experience, some relic of the 1940s and 1950s. Less than two years ago the last iron-lung patient in the United States passed away in her home in Tennessee. Dianne Odell of Jackson, who contracted polio four years before the vaccine was created, had survived thanks to an iron-lung for 61 years until thunderstorms knocked out power and the backup source failed.

Dianne worked hard to battle the limitations polio and the iron-lung placed on her life. She attended college, wrote a children’s book and volunteered as a phone counselor for people battling their own hardships, according to a story of her experiences on the Rotary International web site. Her connection with Rotary was her battle against polio and her childhood friend Sheila Campbell, a Rotarian from Tullahoma. In 2002 the Rotary Club of Jackson honored Dianne as a Paul Harris Fellow at a meeting held in her home. Dianne was supportive of Rotary’s battle against polio and, according to her friend Sheila, she was optimistic that someday the disease that stole much of her life would be eradicated.

So what is the relevance in 2011 of a disease from so far back in the minds of Americans as polio, and of iron-lungs, and Rotary clubs. It is this. Rotary clubs have had as Job One on the mutual agenda of 1.2 million members in 33,000 clubs around the world, the global eradication of this disabling and sometimes fatal affliction. When Rotarians began their unified push against polio in 1985, three decades after the lifesaving vaccine had been created, there were 350,000 cases in 125 countries. Now with Rotary working with health organizations and governments around the world there are four last bastions where polio is endemic: India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. There are outbreaks elsewhere that are tamped down, but there are just four countries where the disease is persistent, and serve as the final battleground for polio eradication.

And how is this relevant to people in Cookeville? The two Rotary clubs here are among those whose members have been contributing regularly for years to wipe out polio. Two years ago these clubs, with their 1.2 million fellow Rotarians, were challenged by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to raise money, beyond their regular Polio Plus program donations, for the final push to eradicate polio. The first year was a $100 million matching challenge. That was followed by the Gates Foundation putting up $255 million to be met with another $100 million from Rotarians. That money, over a half billion dollars, will be the ammunition in the final campaign. And until the specter of polio is wiped out there remains the danger that it can return with a vengeance to places where it had been eliminated. More than 10 million children are at risk for paralysis from polio over the next 40 years if we don’t get the job done.

Last year, to meet the polio challenge, the Cookeville Breakfast Rotary Club, launched an annual event to both extend the polio eradication fund raising effort to the community and to carry out one of Rotary’s missions, to build global understanding and peace. The first International Night last January raised much needed funds to fight polio while providing an exciting evening of fellowship, good food and entertainment, focused on the honored country of India.

This year the second International Night is set for January 29th at the Clarion Inn in Cookeville and will again raise funds for the final battle against polio and other international humanitarian works of Rotary. This year the Tennessee Tech Saudi Students Club is working with the Rotarians to present their country’s cuisine, history, culture and dancing along with distinguished visitors invited as after dinner speakers. It will be a great evening to celebrate what people in Cookeville are doing to make a difference in the world. It is not often that you can have dinner and be entertained and go home thinking that you have just joined the ranks of the world’s great “polio eradicators.” Will you be there?

– Patrick Ryan is a writer and Rotarian from Cookeville, Tennessee. Information and ticket ordering for Rotary International Night are available at www.CBRotary.com, click on the “International Night” button.

Editor’s Note:  Also check out “What is the Saudi Connection to Cookeville, Tennessee?” posted by AmericanBedu.com blog on January 16, 2011

Indifference to global developments is not a new phenomenon in America’s public life. In recounting the story of the Council on Foreign Relations, Colorado College political scientist David Hendrickson, writing in “Foreign Affairs,” noted the relative ignorance among officials and the public about the world. Of the former he said the U.S. State Department, in the wake of World War I, lacked the “detailed knowledge of European conditions that would be required for redrawing, as fairly as could be done, the map of the world.” Of the citizenry of the day, he said “American domestic opinion was returning with a vengeance, to the insular habits that had long characterized it,” citing as evidence the “Philadelphia Record’s” comment in 1928 that, “The American people don’t give a hoot in a rainbarrel who controls north China.”

It is an interesting game of “what if” to examine the implications for America and the world to American global indifference after World War I. Could US leadership and involvement in sorting out the global map and power relationships have prevented the rise of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, averting World War II?

We should be pleased that the State Department’s reputation for global awareness is greatly improved since Woodrow Wilson’s Administration, as America’s position in the world – and the extent that what happens in the world impacts its domestic life – has seen a monumental expansion. However, too many key officials, policy and decision makers, and “thought leaders” in the United States perpetuate, and in some cases celebrate, global indifference and ignorance. Pick your side of the political aisle and you can easily find someone on the other side who can be lampooned for some laughable faux pas with an interviewer. Some candidates and prospective campaigners have built media firewalls around their ignorance, resorting to one extreme cable news channel or the other, or Facebook and Twitter as they seek to limit their interactions with legitimate questions and prospective constituents.

In his 2008 book, “Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter,” Rick Shenkman cited seemingly inexhaustible facts and figures to support the argument that we citizens of this great Republic are little more than metaphorical ostriches with our heads buried. Most Americans can’t name their Congressional representatives, only 20% hold a passport, 30% cannot identify the Holocaust. A 2006 National Geographic Society survey of young adults, those most recently educated by our schools, reported that only 30% of Americans could locate Iraq on a map, just three years after the United States’ invasion of that country and the investment of priceless American blood and unending American treasure to transform it. Shenkman argues the ignorance of our citizenry in civic and international affairs is exploited by manipulative media and politicians who have come to rely on American indifference to advance their agendas. One need only look at the striking absence of international issues – anything at all, much less anything meaningful – from the 2010 mid-term election cycle campaign dialogue. Demagoguery and shouting have replaced thinking and conversation.

It might have been excusable in another time to argue that there are too many troubles within our own borders to concern ourselves with challenges beyond the water’s edge. That argument might have made sense to the readers of the “Philadelphia Record” in 1928, but it doesn’t wash anymore. Our economic troubles are not ours alone – not in an era where our indebtedness to China rocks our geostrategic footing in every corner of the planet. It should by now go without saying that the United States’ future is interwoven with the globalized world, but sadly too many of us have little idea what the rewards and challenges of globalization are about. While we are irrevocably interconnected with the world the ignorance of our trade imbalances, the sources of our energy resources, the identities and differences among our global friends, foes, and adversaries, where and why our sons and daughters are in combat, imperils our ability to navigate past rogues in the media and in the political process.

To be sure, our domestic agenda, what occupies the little attention Americans seem to give to public affairs, is daunting and warrants understanding. But just take a look at the international landscape. America’s role in the world is wildly outsized compared to its understanding of it. Troops in hot wars in two countries as well as two more theaters where hostilities involving American armed forces could erupt within days or months – belligerent challenges from North Korea and Iran. There are almost certain states of war and crisis impending between Israel and Lebanon that involve American interests. How many Americans have contemplated being involved in four shooting wars simultaneously as well as a handful of other crises that demand our attention? Just today there is a referendum in Sudan, Africa’s largest country, which could divide that nation into north and south, and spiral into a humanitarian disaster. Observers warn of atrocities – potentially genocidal campaigns – that would beg international (meaning American) intervention. What public discussion has there been of America’s role in stopping another African genocide?

Even in “good times” we cannot remain ignorant of the world. Even if we avoid war in the Persian Gulf this year the recovery from the global recession will mean higher fuel prices as a result of higher demand for energy. American petroleum consumption, about 25% of the global total, even though we are 1/20th of the population, is already up 4.4% compared to a year ago. Global capacity to meet the demand for oil will be tested again this year and the milestone prices of 2008 will probably be eclipsed. Sadly, rational discussion will undoubtedly be shouted down by anger over five dollar a gallon gas at the pump by American consumers who have little understanding or interest in where and how fuel comes to their gas station.

Which politicians are talking about our options, our interests and our role in the world? Which Americans are listening and demanding realistic courses of action? Is it time for a wake up call? Time for a campaign against ignorance and indifference? Are we ready to change the channel from “American Idol” to American interests? Or are Americans not yet ready to give a “hoot in a rainbarrel” even with some knowing there will be consequences?

***

Patrick W. Ryan is a writer and editor in Cookeville, Tennessee.

Published in the Herald-Citizen on January 9, 2011

Four minutes, fifteen seconds well spent.

I did go to Brooklyn Technical High School but it didn’t stick.  In other words I am not a rocket scientist although I am able to operate our K-Cup coffee machine.  However, when Fareed Zakaria, on his tremendous show GPS on CNN, talks about the Nobel Prize in Physics (Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov “for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene“) I pay attention.  Today’s dip into the world of science included a mention of graphene, a ”one-atom-thick planar sheet of sp2-bonded carbon atoms that are densely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice,” and the fact that it is 100 times stronger than steel.  I remember the conversation I was having in 1995 when I first heard the words, “search engine.”  I suspect fifteen years from now I’ll remember that I was making a cup of coffee on a Sunday morning when I first heard the word, “graphene.”

If there was a stock IPO for one-atom-thick planar sheets of sp2-bonded carbon atoms I’d be buying.