Wah, dari semua Presiden RI, SBY adalah satu-satunya yang pernah menulis di media asing seperti IHT. Seingat saya, ini tulisannya yang kedua....
----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Koran Digital Milist" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 7:47 AM Subject: IHT: The World Cannot Afford A New Cold War (by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) > Ini tulisan Presiden RI Sulilo Bambang Yudhoyono di International Herald > Tribune tanggal 15 September 2008 tentang global cooling. > > Selamat membaca > > > ED > > > > The world cannot afford a new Cold War > > By Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono > > International Herald Tribune > Monday, September 15, 2008 > > > > > When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the world had enormous expectations > that it would finally harvest peace dividends from the ruins of the Cold > War. > > > Indeed, despite the turbulent transition of the international system, we > saw some progress. Relations between the major powers improved > significantly and the UN Security Council began to function again. The > threat of World War III and nuclear holocaust fizzled and the arms race > was halted. Strategic rapprochement - especially among United States, > China, Russia - occurred and tensions became manageable. Democracy and > open society spread across the globe. > > > In much of Asia, the guns have been relatively silent - including my > country, where peace now reigns in Aceh. The number of conflicts in the > world has declined; the majority of them are now within states rather than > between states. Indeed, according to the Stockholm International Peace > Research Institute, for four straight years, between 2003 and 2007, no > inter-state conflicts were recorded. > > > The last thing that we need now is a new chill in the international > system. Yet that new chill is being felt with loose talk of a "new Cold > War" between Russia and the West following the recent clash between > Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia. > > > This geostrategic tension, which was fueled earlier by the row over > Kosovo's independence, remains fluid, with potential for expanded > confrontation. That chill is also being felt in the UN Security Council. > > > It is not likely that the world will go back to the ideological divide of > the 20th century. The real danger lies in the fact that this chill, if it > persists and reverberates throughout the international system, could > divert attention and resources from the critical issues of the day. > > > Already, we are seeing disconcerting signs. Military spending by the > United States, Russia and China are at their peak, and, except for Russia, > higher than at the end of the Cold War. > > > Total world military spending has increased rapidly in recent years. > Strategic contentions over arms and missiles are resurfacing. The Nuclear > Non-Proliferation Treaty is in jeopardy. There is an evident build-up of > mistrust, which makes the risk of geopolitical confrontation more likely. > > > The international community cannot afford to lose time and focus on > defusing the real ticking time bombs: energy, food and climate change. > These are the ultimate security threats of our time, and from where we > stand now, we are barely scratching the surface. > > > We need to find a proper balance between oil supply and demand, end our > addiction to oil and develop cheaper, low carbon alternative energy > sources, so that we can end the skyrocketing oil prices now strangulating > the world economy. > > > On food security, we need to achieve a second green revolution - this > time more environment friendly - to boost worldwide food supply to prevent > potential socioeconomic and political crises in 33 countries, while > helping the 100 million people worldwide from sliding back into poverty. > > > On climate change, we need to urgently come up with an ambitious post-2012 > global scheme so that we can slow and stop global warming to within two > degrees Celsius in the next decades. Meanwhile, countries, particularly > major emitters, must begin to ambitiously reduce their greenhouse gas > emissions. > > > We also need to push harder so that the global Millennium Development Goal > targets can be achieved on schedule by 2015. > > > These are all momentous challenges. They transcend East-West and > North-South relations. These hard issues will not be resolved by hard > power. They can only be resolved by a collective long-term response, > coupled with adequate political will and enormous resources. > > > The foundations of our security and survival in the 21st century rest upon > our success in meeting these challenges. > > > And certainly none of these challenges can be achieved unless the major > powers work together, and demonstrate the leadership that the world > expects of them. > > > The all-powerful forces of globalization do not make geopolitics > irrelevant. But the world cannot afford to slip back into the geopolitics > of domination, conquest and confrontation of the past. > > > Instead, what we need is a new geopolitics of cooperation. This new > geopolitics must be driven by the imperative to address common challenges. > It would focus on strategic cooperation, not confrontation; on building > bridges, not divisions; on the spread of soft - not hard - power; and on > mutually assured benefits, not mutually assured destruction. > > > This new geopolitics is not Utopia. We are already seeing it in practice > in many instances: in the admirable global response to the tsunami crisis > of 2004; in the global struggle against terrorism; in the six-party talks > on North Korea, and in the hard-won success of the UN Climate Change > Conference in Bali last December. > > > Let us stay on course and complete that journey. > > > <em>Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is the president of the Republic of > Indonesia.</em> > > > > http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/15/opinion/edyudoyono.php > > Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from XL GPRS network
