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	January 29, 2007
	In this issue
	News
	The Carter Presidency: Lessons for the 21st Century
	Strong medicine: University submits proposal for re-use of Navy Supply Corps School as health sciences center
	African Studies director named University Professorupdate link; add new row
	Campus, community prepare to observe Black History Month
	Honors students awarded Rotary scholarships for international travel
	Honors students awarded Rotary scholarships for international travel
	Teaching teachers: Special education professor’s program prepares teachers to work with children with autism
	On the record: Oral history project helps preserve memories of the university’s past
	Brazilian court personnel take part in judicial training
	Their day in court
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	Campus Closeup
	Faculty Profile
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	Update: Private Giving
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campus newS

Foreign exchange

By Matt Weeks

mweeks@uga.edu

Taking part in a foreign policy panel session on the Middle East are (from left) Jon Meacham, editor of Newsweek who served as moderator; Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State; Howard Baker, former U.S. senator from Tennessee; Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security adviser; and Stansfield Turner, former director of the CIA. (Photo by Rick O’Quinn)

Jimmy Carter’s foreign affairs policies were politically costly, but advantageous over the long range, a group of panelists at the Carter conference said.

From giving away the Panama Canal to engaging unfriendly world leaders, Carter’s policies benefited America and the world, said Robert Pastor, the former director of Latin American Affairs on the National Security Council.

“People say that Carter is the greatest ex-president. . . and I don’t think there’s any question that’s true, but that comment is sometimes used to try to diminish his presidency,” Pastor said.

“He normalized relations with China, he did the Panama Canal Treaty, he transformed the view of America and our impact on human rights, democracy turned the corner in Latin America during his administration, multilateral treaties with other countries were passed overwhelmingly. . . ” but the American people tend to view his presidency as a failed administration, he added.

The panel served as a forum to discuss why people then and now saw Carter’s policies as weak and how those decisions look now, with the benefit of hindsight. With foreign affairs, especially with the Middle East, playing a significant role in present-day politics, comparisons between Carter’s approaches and the Bush’s approaches came up often.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter’s foreign policy adviser, offered a comparison between Carter’s dealings in Panama and the current policy on Iraq.

“We tend to see ourselves as playing a significant role in Iraqi freedom, but we don’t try to see it from their perspective. The Iraqi perception is that the 20th century is a century of their struggle against colonialism,” he said, recalling how the Iraqis struggled against foreign rulers, such as the British, in the past 100 years.

“Although we live in a post-colonial age, for the people that are involved, we are waging what is essentially a colonial war. That’s terribly important to understand if you want to be effective on the world stage. We understood that in Panama. I don’t think we understand that in regard to Iraq,” he said.

The Carter Presidency: Lessons for the 21st Century
Carter: United Staes should epitomize human dreams
‘No road maps’: Mondale discusses forging of a new vice presidency
Panelists: U.S. needs to develop othe fuel sources
Foreign exchange
Former first lady sheds light on private thoughts behind public face
More than 1,000 turn out for conversation with the Carters during town hall meeting
Student panel discusses policy decisions with former president
Journalists discuss Carter’s political rise. . . and fall

Columns is produced by the UGA News Service, a unit of UGA Public Affairs.
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Matthew Weeks (mweeks@uga.edu): senior reporter (706) 542-8024, Sara Freeland (freeland@uga.edu): reporter (706) 542-8077
Questions or comments should be directed to columns@uga.edu

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