Perception To Reality, G20 Summit – and Beyond
Susan Elaine Wheeler
April 07, 2009
These self-inflicted wounds cut deep with our growing debt and the internal weaknesses that have collapsed our economy. The choices our government made not to acknowledge pollution´s harmful effects on all of our natural resources, that's backed by scientific data because special interests didn´t want to change to fuel-efficient cars and renewable energies. Multiply these neglects and bad judgments and you can understand why the U.S. has lost its Super Power status.
According to International Monetary Fund figures, the U.S. had 31 percent of Gross World Product in 2000; China was at 4 percent and Russia at 1 percent. Since then, America's share of GWP has been declining to 23 percent in 2008. At the same time, the share of China—who owns most of our debt, has grown to 7 percent in 2008. The U.S. has lost nearly a third of its relative power in international trade, while China has doubled and Russia has tripled.
The price paid for the Iraq war, with upfront costs slightly over 650 Billion is only the tip of the iceberg. The total cost to our society is in the trillions of borrowed dollars that could have gained a better return on investment for our society in education, health-care and renewable energies.
Even with our stimulus package we´re so behind the curve when you compare the ideology of those who had been running our country with the investors that sold us out. Our vast and growing indebtedness inevitably makes it harder to afford new health-care plans, make large-scale repairs to crumbling roads and bridges and build better-equipped schools. Where we invest our money is where we're focused. We need to decide, war or Peace?
President Barack Obama has inherited not only a collapsing economy and a series of foreign policy predicaments; he´s also facing these challenges with far less relative power. This reality is significant to understand in the changes our country needs to make for growth and the intelligent diplomacy it will take to achieve the changes needed.
The G20 summit in London was the next step in an outline of crucially important negotiations that the President is making based on common interests as he´s defining the road ahead for our country's future. He has vowed to listen to his foreign counterparts and leads by example. At the summit, he spoke of an "Era of Responsibility," meaning no more wild financial dealings and a willingness to take joint corrective actions.
As we re-evaluate our priorities with a common sense of purpose, persistence and optimism, we need a foundation for lasting progress based on understanding and respecting different points of view. The president said, "We have to open our minds and our hearts, to our differences among us, but also to our commonalities."
President Obama met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, at which they agreed to start negotiations on nuclear weapons reductions and to complete this by December. He also met with Chinese President Hu Jintao and agreed on a "strategic and economic dialogue" to start in Washington this summer.
The French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, had proposed a walkout at the Summit if stricter regulations were not sought for the financial community, but they stayed. After the Summit, President Obama traveled to Strasbourg, France, and Kehl, Germany, where he met with both the French President, the German Chancellor and participated in the NATO working group. He then traveled to Turkey, meeting with President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, bringing a pledge to rebuild relations with the Muslin world, with bridges, not walls.
Steve Clemons, the program director for the New America Foundation´s American Strategy, discussed the role of diplomacy in American foreign policy with outgoing United States Ambassador to the United Nations, the Honorable Zalmay Khalilzad.
This is what Ambassador Khalilzad said on the importance of respect in foreign policy: "I believe it´s very important to show respect, to be respectful. Not to have the attitude that you have the answer for every problem in the world, but to engage people and see whether we agree that we have a problem, and see what are the alternative ways to deal with the problem, do they have a better option and why do they think that´s a better option. And I think the mere fact of engaging and listening gets them into your domain, because you´re talking about the problem."
Serious problems were discussed and serious progress was made at the G20 Summit for a framework of tighter global financial regulations, including the "shadow banking" system where investment funds that depend on very short-term borrowing are to be eliminated and commitments were made to fight against protectionism and to crackdown on tax havens.
G20 leaders agreed to take sanctions against tax havens using the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, as its basis. Angel Gurria, Secretary General of the OECD, said, "The G20 summit had helped to focus minds on the issue of tax havens. We stand ready to deploy sanctions to protect our public finances and financial systems. The era of banking secrecy is over."
America had lost the respect of the world because of arrogance, dishonesty and greed. What upset our financial markets was the absence of common sense, when profit became more important than having integrity, which created chaos. As we re-evaluate our motives and work towards a reality that's honest and sustainable, the President is leading the way with sincere words and common sense that brings diplomacy full circle.
The G20 Summit and the meetings that followed were filled with intelligent commitment and determination to cooperate. This doesn´t mean that all is well, but we´re headed in a more positive direction. Our government now has a much stronger perspective for overcoming problems when understanding and respect is shared. The time has come to get down to business and translate these words into actual achievements for all those around the world interested in peace and prosperity.
The world likes what they're hearing and this is what they´re saying about President Obama, "He's not afraid, he's not angry, he's not arrogant, he's not mean, he isn't scary, he's real and he listens. This guy knows when to talk and when to listen." Perception goes beyond the world stage, as our country´s new reality will prosper as long as we learn from our past mistakes and correct the attitudes and behaviors that twisted our economy into ashes.