FOREIGN POLICY

By Brian M. Rees

The post-Cold War world is still dangerous and often unstable. We must be open to new approaches to stabilize international relations.

In 1995, the U.S. spent approximately $21.2 billion on foreign aid--two thirds of which was military aid. However, these expenditures have not brought peace, economic stability, or greater economic cooperation in the family of nations. We continue to live in a dangerous world troubled by widespread violence and regional conflicts, as evidenced by the Gulf War, the ethnic violence in Bosnia, recent embassy bombings in Africa, and continuing terrorism in the Middle East and even on U.S. soil. Moreover, as a major supplier of the world's armaments, the U.S. has sometimes directly contributed to such conflicts.

In addition, no real consensus exists concerning the purpose, allotment, and amount of foreign economic aid now that the historical goal of containing communism is no longer an issue. There is an urgent need to address America's deteriorating relations with China, strained relationship and multibillion dollar trade deficit with Japan, and economic competition with Western Europe. These relationships are especially troubling in view of the continuing U.S. financial commitment to defending Japan, as well as Germany and Western Europe.

I am a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve and a graduate of the Army's Command and General Staff College. Foreign policy has four limbs: informational, diplomatic, economic, and military. To those who would slash our defense budget I say this: unless we are ready to renounce completely the military option of foreign policy, we are morally obligated not to plan to send our young people into harm's way without giving them what they need to survive and prevail. We must maintain the alertness of our nation's armed forces even as we shift from the military economy of the Cold War era to a new peace-time economy. Our military must continue to be the best trained, best equipped, and best led on earth. A too rapid diminution of military preparedness will be destabilizing among both our friends and our more opportunistic potential foes.

Having said that, I believe that U.S. foreign policy should shift immediately from one based principally on military aid to one based on the exportation of knowledge. American expertise in the areas of business administration and agriculture, supplemented when necessary with economic support, should replace military aid as the principal role of America in foreign affairs. This type of assistance would allow developing countries to become self-sufficient financially, create markets for American exports, eliminate poverty and create a more prosperous world. The U.S. and every other nation would be the beneficiaries of such a foreign policy.

The Natural Law Party is unique in offering a repeatedly field tested peace-promoting technology that would serve to neutralize international tensions and promote stability and harmony within the family of nations. Hold on to your hats: this may sound esoteric but this peace-promoting methodology is based on groups of experts collectively practicing Transcendental Meditation and the TM-Sidhi Program. Through this technology (which has been repeatedly documented in peer reviewed scientific journals) the Natural Law Party can ensure a peaceful world and thereby guarantee a steadily growing peace dividend to sustain life-supporting programs at home. Political parties that promote decreased defense spending without the technology to ensure world peace are not acting responsibly. Only through the addition of technology to generate an actual physical influence of peace among the family of nations can a political party responsibly cut defense spending and divert the precious resources of the nation toward more humane programs at home and abroad.

We must consider the creation of a prevention element within the military: a group whose primary purpose would be to prevent the outbreak of war while preserving and strengthening international peace. We are increasingly at risk of chemical and biological terrorist attacks that are not deterred by conventional military strength. By spending a tiny fraction of what we usually spend on foreign aid (and an even more minuscule fraction of our defense budget) training even one percent of our military personnel in the Natural Law Party's proven programs for reducing stress in individual and national life, we could create a true peace-keeping force that could maintain a powerful, integrated, coherent national consciousness and thereby keep enmities from arising. Proliferation of this technology would be welcome. This would probably end up being the most cost-effective use of our defense dollars: true deterrence based not on mutually assured destruction, but on a subtle shift in consciousness. By applying this proven technology for ensuring world peace, the U.S. and all nations could enjoy strength and harmony in international relations.