In an article published by Newsweek magazine, a
significant conversation between former President Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump
was revealed, centered on China's rise as a global superpower. According to
information available from various media sources, in an interview, Carter
conveyed to Trump his perspective on why China has managed to surpass the
United States in several aspects, with the key lying in its approach to peace
and development.
Jimmy Carter, who normalized diplomatic relations
between the United States and China in 1979, shared with Trump his observations
about China's strategy. Since the normalization of relations with Beijing,
Carter highlighted that China has not been involved in any war. This absence of
military conflict has allowed China to invest massively in non-military areas,
unlike the United States, whose history has been marked by numerous conflicts.
Carter argued: "Since 1979, do you know how many
times China has gone to war with someone? Not once, while we are constantly at
war. The United States is the most warlike nation in the history of the world,
because it wants to impose states that respond to our government and American
values throughout the West, controlling companies that have access to energy
resources in other countries."
Investment in progress
Carter emphasized that this peace has allowed China to
focus its resources on economic and social development projects:
Infrastructure: China has invested in railways,
infrastructure, intercontinental and transoceanic bullet trains.
Technology: Development of 6G technology, robotic
intelligence.
Education and Health: Universities, hospitals,
significantly improving the quality of life for its population.
Economy: Unlike military spending that consumes
resources in the United States, China has used its funds to stimulate its
economy, allowing it to surpass the U.S. in several technological and economic
areas.
Carter suggested that if the United States had
invested the same amounts of money in domestic infrastructure rather than in
military conflicts, the country might have seen similar benefits like
high-speed bullet trains, non-collapsing bridges, better-maintained roads, and
an education system comparable to that of South Korea or Shanghai.
This conversation between Carter and Trump took place
in a context where trade tensions between the United States and China were at a
peak. According to some sources, Trump seemed concerned about how "China
is getting ahead of us," to which Carter responded with a reflection on
China's development strategy based on peace and investment in the well-being of
its people.
Carter's message might have influenced Trump's
strategy towards China, especially considering that, according to reports,
Trump praised Carter's letter as "beautiful" and their phone
conversation as "very good." However, Trump's actual policies towards
China also included tariffs and the continuation of a trade war aimed at
rebalancing trade, indicating a more complex and often confrontational
approach.
The exchange between Carter and Trump illustrates a
historical and strategic perspective on how peace and investment in national
development can be the foundation for global power in the 21st century. While
China has shown that focusing on internal development rather than military
expansion can lead to economic superpower status, the United States faces the
challenge of balancing its foreign policies with investments in its own
development and social well-being.
Carter's message to Trump not only highlights the
differences between the two nations but also invites reflection on how future
U.S. policies could benefit from a more peace and domestically-focused
approach, and should serve as a reflection for all political leaders worldwide.
Note: This conversation between Jimmy Carter and
Donald Trump took place on Saturday, April 13, 2019, and Jimmy Carter made it
public the following day during his Sunday school lesson on April 14, 2019,
later reported by Newsweek magazine.
An enthralling story of love, friendship and honor in
the Olympic Games (2,600 years ago)
“Life debt” (Vicente Fisac, Amazon): https://a.co/d/hono34C
What are known as NDEs (Near-Death Experiences) are
those experiences where a person is considered clinically dead and then
inexplicably returns to life, recounting experiences from the afterlife. Today,
we won't delve into this fascinating subject but instead will rescue from
oblivion the first written record of an NDE, which takes us back to the time of
Plato...
The story of the Armenian soldier Er, also known as Er
the Armenian, is detailed by Plato in his dialogue "The Republic,"
specifically in Book X, and can be considered the first documented NDE.
Er was a soldier who fell in battle. After ten days,
when they were collecting the fallen bodies for burial, they found that Er's
body showed no signs of decomposition, and just as they were about to burn him,
he came back to life and recounted the following:
Er described how his soul, along with others, was
taken to a place where the dead were judged. Here, souls were judged based on
their earthly actions; the righteous ascended to a place of light and joy,
while the wicked descended to an underground place of darkness and torment.
These souls were then led to a place from where they
could see the entire universe - stars, planets, galaxies...
After witnessing the judgment and the cosmic cycle,
these souls could choose their next life, and according to Er, they chose based
on their past experiences, often making the mistake of selecting lives that
seemed attractive at first glance but turned out to be difficult or unhappy.
Finally, in Er's case, he did not drink from what he
described as the "river of indifference" (Lethe), which caused souls
to forget their past lives, and thus, he was sent back to life to recount his
experience as testimony of what happens after death.
Plato drew clear lessons from this story:
The immortality of the soul.
Cosmic justice.
Free will and responsibility, as the choice of the
next life implies that individuals have some control over their destiny, though
this control can be misunderstood or misused.
An enthralling story of love, friendship and honor in
the Olympic Games (2,600 years ago)
“Life debt” (Vicente Fisac, Amazon): https://a.co/d/hono34C
