Monday, February 18, 2002

A New 'New World Order'

A top Russian commentator believes the terrorist attacks will only increase the
importance of the U.S.

BY YURI ZARAKHOVICH/MOSCOW

Wednesday, Sep. 19, 2001

TIME's Yuri Zarakhovich spoke with Professor Dmitry Furman, Director of the
Commonwealth Of Independent States Research Center at the Russian Academy of
Sciences' Institute of Europe, about the role of the U.S. in the aftermath last week's
terrorist attacks.

TIME: How do you see the world changing after the attacks?
FURMAN: The main — and immediate — result of that horror will be a drastic increase
of America's role in the world.

TIME: Quite contrary to what the terrorists had in mind?

FURMAN: Absolutely. Just like was the case here back in 1991, when the hardliners
launched the putsch to save the Soviet Union — and killed it instead.

TIME: But how will the attack enhance America's role?

FURMAN: The attacks made the world fear for its existence. A part of the world also
fears the U.S. response. This double fear creates an understanding that the world needs
unity and a leader to survive. Who else can be such a leader, if not America?

TIME: Why?
FURMAN: For the same reason that America has become the terrorists' target: it's the
quintessence of mankind's development.

TIME: So what does America do?

FURMAN: In immediate terms, America becomes the world's good guy who fights the
world's baddies — and assumes this role with much stronger world approval than ever
before September 11. The real long-term strategic objective is a world state with the U.S.
as its leader.Conflicts, like the Israeli-Palestinian one, or the Azeri-Armenian one, or
many others can't be resolved just by parties involved. A just and workable solution can
only be enforced — and that requires a world government.

TIME: Does the same approach apply to the Chechen conflict in Russia?
FURMAN: Certainly. Chechnya isn't just Russia's internal affair.
TIME: The concept of national sovereignty is dead, then?
FURMAN: The terrorists struck it a mortal blow. We now see that we reached a point
where old patterns don't work any longer. [What will work is] a repetition and
solidification of the Kosovo operation. That operation was seen as doubtful by many, and
not without reason. But now we'll have something of that kind on a global scale and with
much less objection. The principle of interference in the realm of national sovereignty has
been established, thus setting the agenda for the 21st century. Now, again, not unlike the
case when it fought Hitler or communism, America has a strategic objective: to lead in
the building of the new world order.

[But] terrorism isn't the only challenge. Take the Kursk submarine disaster, which leaves
countries like Norway hostage to a potential nuclear catastrophe. Recall Chernobyl. The
world is technologically vulnerable, something that concerns us all. We need safety
techniques. Only the globalization of such techniques can provide a comprehensive
answer to the globalization of the challenges. The main problem is that some traditional
democratic principles won't apply for a while, if we want democracy as the end result.

TIME: Will the new world order deny democracy, then?

FURMAN: No, it must evolve into democracy. But only as the end result of a long and
painful process. It'll take the whole of the 21st century. We're entering a morally and
ideologically difficult period. The developed countries must spread their values to the
other billions who are not ready yet, and they have to avoid the temptation of superiority.
This is where the main challenge to America lies. There will be some extremist reactions.
But step by step liberal-democratic values will take hold the world over.

There is no other way. America is the leader not because Americans are better human
beings, but because America is more successful than any other country. Someone always
gets ahead, that's life. We all need patience, and America needs it most of all. If we find a
balance between pride and humility, we'll succeed. But America is the only one who can
head the process. There is simply nobody else on the map.