Ecuador Move Is a Wake-Up Call

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...ck=1&cset=true

May 21, 2006

Much of the world is on the march against the United States and American conglomerates that have destroyed other nations and their peoples ("Ecuador Seizes Oxy Operations," May 17).

One by one, they are taking back their sovereignty and their resources by nationalizing the oil, denouncing the U.S. and abrogating treaties that were one-sided and strong-armed in the first place. Only those nations that can still be bought (like Libya and Pakistan) are still cozying up to us.

When will we wake up to the fact that we are not the only nation on Earth; that for all our military might, we don't have the moral authority; and that if the foreign investors call in their notes, we will be ruined overnight?

Carrying the big stick doesn't work — never did, never will. As Thomas Friedman says, the world is flat, and everyone is gaining or regaining a level playing field.

The sooner we wake up to that reality and make major course adjustments, the sooner we will "win the war on terror.