US won't stay on top, says Clinton

canberra.yourguide.com.au (downunder) ^ | Monday, 25 February 2002 | AAP (?)

[It'salmosttolate]

US won't stay on top, says Clinton

AAP
Monday, 25 February 2002
Sydney

ACKNOWLEDGING the United States would not be the world's most powerful nation forever might lead to a better approach in its current international relations, former US president Bill Clinton said today.

Speaking at the 2002 World Congress on the Peaceful Reunification of China and World Peace in Sydney, Mr Clinton said this "brief moment in history" when the US had pre-eminent military, economic and political power, would not last.

"This is just a period, a few decades this will last, and I think that all of us who are Americans should think about this and ask ourselves how do we wish this moment to be judged 50 years from now," he said.

"And how would we like to be treated when we no longer have this pre-eminent position and we have to work in a cooperative fashion with others to a far greater extent than we have to do today.

"It seems to me if we would think about it like that it would be much more likely to lead all Americans, without regard of their party, to making the right decisions about how we should approach a lot of these problems that we face."

The former president said he did not want to be critical of the current US Administration.

"I feel that I should be careful in what I say [but] I believe that the [current US] President has been much more interested in international cooperation since September 11th, and I take that to be a very positive sign," Mr Clinton said.

He also said he hoped President George W. Bush's recent visit to Korea would have a positive outcome.

"I certainly have no illusions about the North Korean Government," he said.

". . . But the fact is they ended their nuclear program in 94, in 98 they ended testing of long-range missiles and in 2000 we had the elements of an agreement with them to end their entire missile program."

Mr Clinton's comments come after Mr Bush named North Korea as one country in its "axis of evil" along with Iraq and Iran last month.

Mr Bush visited South Korea for the first time last week. AAP

[Texaggie79]

I wouldn't expect anything else from x42.

[Dog Gone]

Wow, he sounds like Pat Buchanan.

[b4its2late]

He should know. He tried his darndest ot knock us down.

[irish_lad]

Another instance of the Stainmaster trying to protect his ass. Clinton cut deals with China and North Korea that have damaged the international community, and proliferated nuclear problems for the world. I also admire how Slick ignored the UBL problem while he was using Monica as a humidor.

[f.Christian]

Clintomaniac picked up where Jimminy carter left off!

[eddie willers]

Wow, he sounds like Pat Buchanan.

I don't know...this seems very Carterish.
He should put on a sweater and talk about malaise.

[SBeck]

If you can get beyond the slimebag that he is, his comments have a kernel of truth. Looming on the economic horizon is China and later Russia, the former because of their vast potential in terms of human resources (not to mention a good deal of industrial might - the result of shipping manufacturing jobs to them, bottom line you know) and the later because of petroleum and other non-renewable resources.

In addition, don't discount India and the nations of the sub-Sahara for the same reasons.

[RecallJeffords]

This is exactly the attitude that left us vulnerable September 11, e.g. we were the first terrorists because of lynchings in bygone era, so we had it coming. The view that the US is destined for the ash heap of history is an odd one for an American President, but Clinton was always more interested in impressing academics, the media and chicks than protecting the country.

[NativeNewYorker]

Translation: Rest of world, fear not. The Democrats will do everything they can, for as long as it takes, to make sure the US does not enjoy its edge for long. Don't compromise with the US. Don't take Bush seriously. Be patient. The future will be yours.

TRAITOR.

[bfree]

Well the jerk won't go away, so I can only hope Pres. Reagan outlives this traitor!!

[It'salmosttolate]

Does anyone have the pic of him sitting under the communist flag similar to the Esquire pose.

[Reagan Man]

This jerk is starved for attention.

Clinton's like a canker. A sore that won't go away.

[Dog Gone]

I was thinking of Pat's book, Death of the West, and all that negativity.

But it does remind me more of Carter, now that you mention it.

Of course, the unspoken corollary to this is that nobody presided over a greater country than Clinton. Naturally.

[Euro-American Scum]

Mr Clinton said this "brief moment in history" when the US had pre-eminent military, economic and political power, would not last.

Yes. Well, we all know about Bill Clinton and his commitment to America's Armed Forces.

Bill Clinton's Draft Avoidance

[MotleyGirl70]

I'm shocked x42 would say this, shocked I tell you. /sarcasm

[Endeavor]

I couldn't disagree with you more. This is typical left wing horsesh*t. Treating future or current world powers with kid gloves (ie: as if we don't have long on top of the heap) is not going to matter one iota in how they will treat us in the future, no matter what that future US status is. That's like saying we want to treat the detainees at GITMO with kid gloves so that the same terrorist groups who killed 3,000 innocents on Sept 11th, who cut off Danny Pearl's head, etc. will treat our prisoners/hostages "better."

It's about time the left wing figured out that no matter how much joy and light Daniel Pearl brought into the world, his naivete and theirs regarding the utter ruthlessness of the barbarians we are facing, will continue to be a threat to the security of America.

[HENRYADAMS]

Statement: "US won't stay on top, says Clinton."

Response: He is right-for once.( By electing this man twice. With full knowledge of just how rotten he is the American people have clearly signaled they are on the way towards the 'ash heap of history.' The election of this man was a lesson in semiotics!)

[kassie]

We have him to blame for military cuts, complete lack of morality, and high taxes. What a guy, what an idiot, scum,creep, rapist,liar, IMPEACHED 42 president. Wxactly what does he know, anyway?? Just wishful thinking on his part.

[RLK]

ACKNOWLEDGING the United States would not be the world's most powerful nation forever

--------------------------

With presidents such as him, and Hillary ready to take his place, I can will believe it.

[jrlc]

When is this guy going to admit he's simply an anti-American communist? Won't he and his leftist wife simply go away???? Enough already.

[Contra]

Why didn't he spout this marxist-leftist rhetoric while he was in office? He did spout other marxist-leftist rhetoric but didn't go this far. Remember, the press referred to him as a "moderate." This is anti-American propaganda you expect to hear from china, russia, europe and democrats. The sad thing is, if democrats and wimpy Republicans keep getting elected, this will come true.

[free from tyranny]

TRAITOR!! Exactly!! This guy was and is no President of the United States of America. He has never believed in the US Constitition. He embodies the same characteristics as the corrupt and dispicable third world leaders that he is telling to be patient, "the US can not continue on much longer..." This man is devoid of hope and all morality. Where Ronald Regan saw " America as the shining city on the Hill", X42 sees the world as pagan orgy.

[Anthem]

He should put on a sweater and talk about malaise.

More likely he'll work up a sweat thinking about mayonaise.

[Dog Gone]

Clinton did his best to transfer technology to China and North Korea in order to make sure that we couldn't remain the world's lone superpower.

If Kyoto had been ratified, it would have transferred American productivity to the rest of the world as well.

Clinton did all he could to make his prophecy come true.

[Anthem]

Only if the Left succeeds in destroying our freedoms here at home. It's freedom that made us the most powerful nation on the planet. His dreams of the "Third Way" fascism for this country, and the rest of the world, are what he's banking on to reduce the US to just another supplicant before some sort of world government.

[jabonz]

Belle Harbor dittos. and bump!

[Osinski]

Oh that brilliant intellectual, Bill Clinton. That paragon of virtue. That selfless crusader for civil rights. That economic genius. Bill, the foreign policy mastermind. I hang on his every word. Now what did he say?

[Texbob]

One thing for certain, Clinton did not stay on top, he will be forever know as White Trash Scumbag.

[USMA '71]

I understand that the late stages of syphillus really eat away a person's ability to reason. I always thought this man had a head full of mush - now I am certain.

[Semper Paratus]

Clinton & Carter - Aim for average.

[Orangedog]

I wouldn't expect anything else from x42.

He sure did his level best to make sure that the U.S. won't be on top for long. Thanks to him and his lackies, the Communist Chinese military now has the information to reproduce the W-80 missile and the neutron bomb.

Is everyone here familiar with what the neutron bomb can do to us? It would allow the Communists to kill tens of millions of us and in a few years when the short lived neutron radiation fades, they could roll right on in and help themselves to our intact resourses and infrastructure. Thanks, Bill!

[Southack]

"This is just a period, a few decades this will last, and I think that all of us who are Americans should think about this and ask ourselves how do we wish this moment to be judged 50 years from now," he said.

NOTE To Clinton: The U.S. has been the world's leading military power since 1864, when the combined Northern and Southern Armies boasted millions of men, gatling machine guns, electric mines, repeating rifles, mass production, aerial balloons, speed-of-light communications via electric telegraph, while Northern and Southern Navies boasted steam-powered iron-clads with revolving turrents and combat submarines - all at a time when state-of-the-art warfare in Europe consisted of infantry with unrifled muzzle-loaders and woodern sailing ships for navies.

Though European history texts deny it to this day, the U.S. military has been the most advanced and most powerful for the last 140 years.

The American economy has been the world's most advanced and largest financial empire since at least 1890, more than a Century ago.

America is more than 40 years ahead of China, India, Japan, and Europe in orbiting a man around the Earth, and more than 3 decades ahead of the rest of the combined world in placing a man on the Moon, so the concept that some other nation "must" surpass us in the next 50 years is absurd. Sure, it could happen, but it's not very likely.

For all of those reasons and more, Clinton is wrong. In fact, not only is he wrong, but he's uninformed and misguided. His left-leaning politics are pretty questionable, too (so far as patriotism is concerned).

[Ceebass]

"It seems to me if we would think about it like that it would be much more likely to lead all Americans, without regard of their party, to making the right decisions about how we should approach a lot of these problems that we face."

I wonder how much the suckers in Sidney paid to hear incomprehensible gibberish like the sentence above.

[Dog Gone]

Excellent points.

The one thing I would add to them is that I believe Clinton, and many on the left, are uncomfortable with the USA being on top. It's just not "fair."

[Southack]

Clinton's central thesis that American world pre-eminence is a "new phenomenon" is conclusively flawed, unless one considers the previous 140 years to be "new".

And that "man" got to be President of this great land. Sheesh, never underestimate the power of the American media to sway the masses with lies and propaganda...

[Beowulf]

Speaking at the 2002 World Congress on the Peaceful Reunification of China and World Peace in Sydney, Mr Clinton said this "brief moment in history" when the US had pre-eminent military, economic and political power, would not last.

Any country resilient enough to survive a Slick Presidency and stay on top is likely to last so into eternity. Jeepers, what a doofus that jerk is, as well as being a very busy USA basher.

[Sara Dorian]

I understand that the late stages of syphillus really eat away a person's ability to reason.

We would've seen x42's symptoms during his nauseous 8 years in orifice; lesions on mucous membranes, fever, patchy loss of hair, rash... but just that horrible nose unless the comments by Monica are reliable. So i agree he is/was a magnet for contracting syphilis but methinks he instead probably has "just" pelvic inflammatory disease, herpes, condyloma, warts, and chlamydia.

[1 FELLOW FREEPER]

Nah, he suffers from TRAITORIUS PROFUCI !!

[gusopol3]

I heard this line, "U.S. is past its prime," beginning in college in mid-70's. Who was the author 15 years ago who had Japan ascending to the gold-medal spot on the cover of his book: Rise and Fall of the Great Powers? Appreciated your perspective on U.S. power vis-a vis Europe from 1860's onward. Recently read an excerpt of a biography of C.S. Lewis, who, while hunkering down in a trench in France, as a 19 year old, in 1917, looked forward with great anticipation to the arrival of the Americans that he saw as the only alternative to death in the trench. Clinton is wishful-thinking along the lines of his sovereignty-surrendering pal, Strobe Talbot.

[RedWing9]

Mr Clinton said this "brief moment in history" when the US had pre-eminent military, economic and political power, would not last.

You know, I would lean toward his being correct, had it not been for this garbage...

"This is just a period, a few decades this will last, and I think that all of us who are Americans should think about this and ask ourselves how do we wish this moment to be judged 50 years from now," he said.

IMO, we will just be starting to truly be in our glory 50 years from now. But I do realize that societal evolution will someday remove these borders most of us hold dear. Lets just hope that these borders can extend around the entire Earth.

[Southack]

"I heard this line, "U.S. is past its prime," beginning in college in mid-70's. Who was the author 15 years ago who had Japan ascending to the gold-medal spot on the cover of his book: Rise and Fall of the Great Powers?"

I hammered Paul Kennedy on his "Japan will rule us" claim at the time, but I do grant that Kennedy made a very astute point about nations that have fallen because they spent too little on their national defense while others fell because they spent too much on defense and went bankrupt.

Note to Kennedy: The U.S. is the goldilocks of spending...

[Inkie]

Read Larry Elder's opinion column on the back page of the Investors Business Daily for tomorrow (Monday). It catalogues the entire deal Bubba made with Loral and how it sold out American security for campaign bucks. For instance, did you know that the change from State Department to Commerce Department power over high-tech sales to China was accomplished overnight through Clinton's executive order?

What was it the War Room folks used to say? "Stroke of a pen, law of the land. Cool." The gulag is too good for these people.

[AmericanVictory]

Nice to see the first traitor president come out of the closet. He never liked this country's constitutional system and does not want to see it succeed, knowing in his heart, that if it does,it will do so by moving away from him and all he stood for leaving him no legacy except ss the first hate America firster to be elected President.

[Barnacle]

Mr Clinton said this "brief moment in history" when the US had pre-eminent military, economic and political power, would not last. "This is just a period, a few decades this will last, and I think that all of us who are Americans should think about this and ask ourselves how do we wish this moment to be judged 50 years from now,"

Çliñt¤ñ is in essence telling us "Prepare your minds for defeat so that your conquerors will be merciful to you."

I’m not sure that I can say that on Free Republic, but it’s true. - Çliñt¤ñ is a piece of treasonous crap!
There, I said it. - Crap, crap, crap! Çliñt¤ñ is a piece of treasonous crap!

[It'salmosttolate]

Have you seen this? CLINTON CHINA-GATE DIGITAL BOOK

[Barnacle]

Justice! Where is justice?

I knew she was blind. But, is she deaf and dumb too?

[iconoclast]

You a$$hole, you can't recognize the difference that Pat has been trying to warn us for years, and Clinton is ready and eager to surrender!