Review: The World Without US

How many times have you seen the images on television of people in foreign countries railing against American presence and influence overseas? How many times have you seen angry mobs marching and burning the American flag in protest over something the United States has said or done on the world scene?

How many times have you seen this from crowds within our own country? Maybe you’ve heard people in your own political party say, “Everything would be so much better if we just kept out of the world’s business.”

If the United States really did that—pulled out our troops from around the world and just kept to ourselves—what would the world look like?

“The World Without US” is a 2008 documentary film by Mitch Anderson and Jason J. Tomaric, and through interviews with public figures around the world and some dramatic “what if” clips, it presents a startling vision of what that that world might look like.

And it’s not the rosy globe of peace and love some wish it might be.

The film begins with a dramatized segment of fictional American presidential candidate, “William Turner,” making a campaign commercial in which he presents the voter’s choice: continue to “overextend” U.S. military presence abroad, or use those resources to fix problems here in America.

Turner pledges that if he is elected, he will withdraw “all military presence from all foreign soil” and redirect half of the money saved to domestic programs.

In his campaign speeches, Turner says America manipulates and invades other countries “because they don’t serve our needs.”

The narrator, Anderson, grew up in Romania during the Cold War and communist oppression. He tells childhood tales of how the Romanian people had hoped Eisenhower would return after World War II to deliver them from the sphere of Soviet domination, but “it never happened.” As a young man, after many escape attempts, Anderson finally made it out of Romania and eventually to freedom in the United States.

Throughout the film, Anderson takes us on a tour of the world, talking with people in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

In Europe, we find that some people don't like the way America "acts," while grudgingly admitting they owe liberation from Nazi and communist oppression to America.

Considerable time is spent during the European segment examining the 1990s conflicts in the former Yugoslavian republics. American intervention is credited with stopping tremendous suffering and slaughter, while Europe ignored the problem in its own back yard.

Dr. Niall Ferguson, a Scottish Professor of History at Harvard University, called American intervention in the former Yugoslavia a “desirable” form of imperialism, a “human rights imperialism.”

As the tour moves to the Middle East, Anderson examines the accusation that the Iraq invasion was over oil. The film points out that oil supply is no petty matter, and is a resource vital to modern civilization. We also see that while oppression and exploitation are the lot of most invaded countries, a different picture emerges in the wake of American invasions.

Dr. Ferguson points out that if there was no American commitment to stability in the Middle East, not only would there be no state of Israel, the entire area would rip itself apart as it has threatened to do on many occasions in the past.

As the film turns to Asia, we see clips from a cheery communist North Korean propaganda film telling about the paradise of rich fruits “swaying in the breeze” and “pretty girls.” The man who escaped the hell of North Korea, shown in silhouette to protect his identity, tells a different story, a story of oppression, brutality and starvation.

Interviews with South Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese officials reveal that these prosperous Asian countries remain very dependent on the United States military presence for stability and security in the region. Communist China bears a grudge against Japan, has designs on Taiwan, and backs the oppressive communist regime in North Korea.

Japan, while very wealthy, would be at risk from China. One critical vulnerability Japan has against China is the fact that they do not have nuclear weapons to deter their use by China. Some of the experts in Anderson’s film believe that if the U.S. pulled out of Japan and the rest of Asia, we would see a massive military buildup as Japan scrambled to prepare to defend itself.

But would the Chinese military sit idly by while Japan attempted this?

You’ll have to order a DVD copy of “The World Without US” to see Anderson’s sobering dramatization of what might happen in a world where the United States abdicates its leadership for peace and stability.

Where the UN Went Wrong

American Minute from William J. Federer

The United Nations Charter was signed JUNE 26, 1945, by 51 member nations.

Two months earlier, President Truman addressed the delegates: "At no time in history has there been a more important Conference than this one in San Francisco which you are opening today...As we are about to undertake our heavy duties, we beseech our Almighty God to guide us in the building of a permanent monument to those who gave their lives that this moment might come."

In 1953, President Eisenhower addressed the UN: "The whole book of history reveals mankind's never-ending quest for peace and mankind's God-given capacity to build."

As UN actions began opposing the United States, former President Herbert Hoover told the American Newspaper Publishers Association in 1959: "I suggest that the United Nations be reorganized...with those peoples who disavow communism, who stand for morals and religion, and who love freedom...What the world needs today is a definite, spiritual mobilization of the nations who believe in God against this tide of Red agnosticism."

Hoover ended: "It is a proposal for moral and spiritual cooperation of God-fearing free nations...rejecting an atheistic other world."

William J. Federer is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and president of Amerisearch, Inc, which is dedicated to researching our American heritage. The American Minute radio feature looks back at events in American history on the dates they occurred, is broadcast daily across the country and read by thousand on the internet.

UN Conference on AIDS Legitimizes Dangerous Behavior

Reprinted by permission of The Christian Post

By Aaron Leichman
Christian Post Reporter
Fri, Jun. 20 2008 07:39 PM ET

Conservative and pro-family groups expressed their shock and disappointment over efforts to legitimize aberrant sexual behavior during a recent high-level U.N. conference on AIDS and HIV.

Thomas Jacobson, Focus on the Family Action's representative to the United Nations, said that high-level officials of the international organization tried to push an agenda that would grant special status to sex workers, homosexuals and people living with HIV/AIDS.

“This was the first meeting where homosexuality, prostitution and injection drug use was promoted as acceptable behaviors that should be protected," he told CitizenLink.com, referring to the U.N. General Assembly's high-level meeting last week to review progress made in implementing the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS.

During the June 10-11 session, members of the U.N. panel discussion reportedly said that such groups should be considered “sexual minorities” and be free from the social stigma and laws against sodomy and prostitution that exist in many countries.

“[M]any countries have criminalized behaviors that push people underground and make them afraid to come forward to receive proper prevention and treatment,” lamented Opening Plenary Speaker Ratri Suryadarma of Coordination of Action Research on AIDS and Mobility Asia (CARAM Asia) in Malaysia.

“Decriminalize behaviors associated with risk of HIV that are targeted at specific groups,” she urged the United Nations, referring to “drug users, sex workers, gay men” and other vulnerable groups.

“HIV is a virus, not a moral issue,” one NGO representative said, according to the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute.

Alternative or new approaches over faith-based programs could reduce the spread of HIV, members of the panel reportedly said.

Piero Tozzi, executive vice president at the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, however, argued against the assertion.

“Rather than legitimizing the behavior that leads to HIV/AIDS, there should be efforts meant at curtailing it," he told CitizenLink.com.

"The notion that this is going to help the addicts and benefit society is false,” he added.

According to figures released on the eve of last week’s high-level meeting, there is a decline in global AIDS deaths and infections. An estimated 32.2 million people worldwide were living with HIV in December 2007 compared with 39.5 million people in 2006. Also, the annual rate of new infections seemed to have declined over the last decade. There were 2.5 million new infections in 2007 down from 3.2 million infections in 1998.

Last week’s meeting hosted 8 presidents and more than 90 prime ministers, foreign ministers and health ministers.

Copyright 2008 The Christian Post. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

No Lobster at UN Hunger Summit

In 2002 UN officials who gathered to fight world hunger ate vicariously for the starving masses around the world. They had foie gras, kiwi, lobster in vinaigrette, goose with olives and fine wines.

Looks like the starving folks in Marxist paradises like North Korea are going to have to do their vicarious dining in less opulence this time around.

From the UK Times:

World leaders attending the UN food summit in Rome settled down today to a "modest" lunch in order not to be accused of "hypocrisy" as they were at the last world food summit six years ago.

Lobster, goose and foie gras have given way to pasta, mozzarella, spinach and sweetcorn. "It does not look good if leaders discussing global starvation are seen to be dining lavishly," an official of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said. "At the last summit in 2002 we did not give enough thought to the menu and were open - unfairly, in our view - to the charge of hypocrisy."

Unfairly charged with hypocrisy? This is one of the reasons the United Nations is a corrupt, worthless organization that needs to be ditched. They aren't even in the same galaxy with reality.

Take a look at what meager rations they'll be subsisting on during this year's hunger conference:

Leaders first ate vol au vent stuffed with sweetcorn and mozzarella, followed by a pasta dish with a sauce of pumpkin and shrimps, and then veal meatballs and cherry tomatoes, with a fruit salad and vanilla ice-cream for dessert. The wine was a "straightforward but very acceptable Orvieto Classico", officials said.

Tomorrow the lunch menu features cheese mousse, pasta, green beans and pineapple with ice-cream, all washed down with a Nero d'Avola Cabernet from Sicily. On Thursday, the last day of the summit, delegates will be offered courgette tart, parmesan risotto, ragout of veal with sautee potatoes, and lemon mousse for dessert with a strawberry sauce, with Pino Grigio from Trentino as the wine.

Now these "caring" individuals from some of the greatest enclaves of tyranny, er, compassion around the world are truly slumming it and living like the rest of us...well, some of us. ;-)

Video: Why Burma Turned Away Global Aid

Wonder Land columnist Dan Henninger speaks to Kelsey Hubbard about why the Burmese and Chinese governments have rejected global aid in the wakes of their deadly disasters.

Ambassador John Bolton on Law of the Sea Treaty

Ambassador John R. Bolton, author of a new book Surrender is Not an Option, spoke at The Heritage Foundation on December 19, 2007 about the problems facing our national security.

Ambassador John Bolton on How to Fix the UN

Ambassador John R. Bolton, author of a new book Surrender is Not an Option, spoke at The Heritage Foundation on December 19, 2007 about the problems facing our national security.