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[John Young <jya@pipeline.com>]

   Vigorous Cypherpunk debate on its purpose and future may be
   a harbinger of global conflict. A book review today on
   global conflict and six related essays in November
   Foreign Affairs may provide illumination -- both for
   Cypherpunk's crypto-mission and for its intramural clashes.
   (See Lewis Koch's inquest of global CP disputes.)

   11-6-96. NYP:

   "A Scholar's Prophecy: Global Cultural Conflict." Book
   review.

      With the end of the cold war, the division of the world
      into ideological camps and political networks has
      yielded to the basic human propensity to find meaning
      and identity in cultural commonality -- in blood,
      religion, heritage and birthright. After four centuries
      of Western domination, global politics will now become
      a complicated and deadly earnest contest among the
      world's major civilizations, mainly the Western one, the
      Islamic one, and the Sinic one deriving from China.
      Unless the West recognizes the power of cultural
      conflict, it could perish from ignorance, overconfidence
      and complacency.

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   http://jya.com/clash0.txt

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   The Foreign Affairs essays:

      http://jya.com/clashidx.htm 

   (The URL is the index of the six; Huntington's is ready;
   others follow.)

   Abstracts:

   The West: Unique, Not Universal, Samuel P. Huntington

      Many in the West believe the world is moving toward a
      single, global culture that is basically Western. This
      belief is arrogant, false, and dangerous. The spread of
      Western consumer goods is not the spread of Western
      culture. Drinking CocaCola makes a Russian no more
      Western than eating sushi makes an American Japanese.
      The essence of the West is the Magna Carta, not the
      Magna Mac. As countries modernize, they may westernize
      in superficial ways, but not in the most important
      measures of culture language, religion, values. In fact,
      as countries modernize they seek refuge from the modern
      world in their traditional, parochial cultures and
      religions. Around the globe, education and democracy are
      leading to "indigenization." And as the power of the
      West ebbs, "the rest" will become more and more
      assertive. For the West to survive as a vibrant and
      powerful civilization, it must abandon the pretense of
      universality and close ranks. Its future depends on its
      unity. The peoples of the West must hang together, or
      they will hang separately.

   Democracy and the National Interest, Strobe Talbott

      Democracy makes good neighbors, and in an increasingly
      interconnected world the United States has both the
      means and the motive to promote the democratic process
      abroad. On the home front, Americans crave a foreign
      policy grounded, like their nation, in idealpolitik as
      well as realpolitik. The administration has made support
      of nascent democracies a priority of its diplomacy from
      Latin America to East Asia, and the returns from South
      Africa, Haiti, Russia, even Bosnia seem positive. But
      democratization is a long, hard journey in which
      elections are only the first step. The United States
      should encourage new democratic governments through
      their most fragile phase.

   Defense in an Age of Hope, William J. Perry

      Twice before, America had the opportunity to make the
      prevention of conflict its first line of defense. It
      must not lose this moment after the Cold War to foment
      a revolution in security strategy. Preventing
      proliferation is key, and U.S. programs help turn Soviet
      missile sites into sunflower fields. The American armed
      services the world's most emulated, show other
      militaries how to function in a civil society and
      conduct exchanges that head off misunderstandings. In
      Europe, George Marshall's fondest hopes are being
      realized through the Partnership for Peace which
      reverberates well beyond the security realm. Meanwhile,
      the United States leverages forces for maximum
      deterrence and invests in smart technology. But its best
      investment is in openness and trust, the essential tools
      of the art of peace.

   Germany's New Right, Jacob Heilbrunn

      Not skinheads in jackboots but journalists, novelists,
      professors, and young businessmen constitute the German
      new right. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, they have
      sought the "normalization" of German history, a revival
      of nationalism, and recognition that Germany is the most
      powerful country in Europe. When confronted with the
      Nazi past, they talk about Stalin's crimes and complain
      of an oppressive "political correctness." Violence
      against immigrants is answered with complaints of
      attacks against Germans. Though not a political
      movement, the new right is extending the boundaries of
      the politically acceptable.

   Banning Ballistic Missiles, Alton Frye

      Heady years for arms control make a superpower
      complacent. The structure of restraint accepted by
      Washington and Moscow could crack; meanwhile,
      proliferation continues apace and nuclear materials
      trickle onto the world market. The Clinton team has
      followed through on the work of past negotiators, but it
      is high time for a third START. The United States should
      propose the dramatic steps of placing nuclear warheads
      in "strategic escrow" and banning ballistic missiles.
      Advanced monitoring and inspection technologies make the
      plan practicable, and there will be security payoffs for
      all.

   Is the World Ready for Free Trade?, Charles R. Carlisle

      Though a leap to global free trade is a nice idea, the
      political support is just not there. Nor is any such
      earthshaking step necessary. The World Trade
      Organization has an extensive built-in agenda that
      should not be derailed. Fears of regionalism are greatly
      exaggerated, since regional trade has not increased much
      since the early 1970S and current plans for free trade
      in the Americas and the Pacific are unlikely to succeed.
      Few countries share the free-trade faith of the United
      States and Great Britain, and even in those places,
      economic anxiety threatens to push trade in the other
      direction.

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