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Author: John T Owens (---.bos.east.verizon.net)
Date: 01-22-04 11:26
Dear Tann,
I like your idea that the social sciences are in a state of constant evolution. I remember people starving to death in Shanghai, and in the Thirties there was starvation in Russia. That has gone.
I had the privilege of teaching English to Chinese ministers of state who came to study American jurisprudence at Boston University. They were the hand-picked brains of China, all Communists, but when you spoke to them you knew they had higher ideals. Their government sent them to the US to study our system of constitutional law. Eventually they will be writing a constitution for China.
Of course we have different ideas of the law. In America an accused is innocent until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury of his peers, equals to himself. Other countries do not respect that idea, but we seem to be approaching a consensus in the world on what constitutes justice.
The paradox of our lives is that while in some ways the world is improving greatly, in others the spirit of evil is more alive than ever before, ready and increasing able to destroy the part of the world they hate.
I am glad to see Russian women becoming interested in politics. It is the only hope the world has for self-government through respect for the rights of others. The Cold War should have taught us that a state of continual heavy armament is full of danger. We are lucky to have come through that period relatively whole. The more WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) there are in the world, the greater the chances are that some power will use them with evil intent.
As Americans we are thankful for Russians like Kruschev, Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and now Putin. Men who changed the course of history. What did they have in common? I think they all had good wives, which says a lot for Russian women.
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