More headlines: Steve Forbes on Foreign Policy

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Chechnya war & Yeltsin’s resignation are election ploys

McCAIN [to Forbes]: I want to talk to you about Russia. We’re concerned about Chechnya. We’re concerned about the Caucasus and Georgia and the oil and gas reserves that are there, and I’m particularly interested in your views of Mr. Putin and what we can expect and how you would handle our relations with Russia at this particular moment.

FORBES: I think that our relations with Russia today are another prime example of the lack of a foreign policy of the Clinton-Gore Administration. The way they’re applauding this coup that just took place with the thieving oligarchs of the Kremlin, told Yeltsin get out and we’ll let your family keep their illegal gains, and this way we can move the election up. Have the war fever from Chechnya. The war in Chechnya is simply an election ploy. It’s also, I fear, part of the first step of the old Russian nationalist of reestablishing the old Soviet empire. Chechnya today, perhaps Georgia tomorrow, Armenia after that. It’s a disaster.

Source: Republican Debate in West Columbia, SC Jan 7, 2000

IMF made Asian crisis worse

At a speech at Breeton Woods, Forbes called for closing the doors on the IMF. Some say the IMF deserves credit for helping end the recession in South Korea and Thailand, and for restoring those nations to economic growth. Forbes says the opposite: that the IMF made the crisis worse. “It’s an agency that has now become extremely harmful around the world,” Forbes said. “They violate the first rule of medicine - do no harm.” Source: Boston Globe on 2000 race, p. A14 Oct 5, 1999

Russia: We spent billions to support a corrupt elite

“Our foreign relations with Russia has been an unmitigated disaster,” Forbes said. “We’ve known for years that tens of billions of dollars were being siphoned off by a corrupt elite in the Kremlin, who were no more democratic than their communist predecessors. As a result of our turning a blind eye to massive stealing, massive oppression, the words ‘democracy,’ ‘free enterprise,’ ‘free market’ to the eyes of the average Russian have become ‘oppression.’” Source: Mike Recht, Associated Press, on 2000 presidential race Sep 10, 1999

Russia: No aid to kleptocrats until they pay workers

Forbes stated, “We have allowed, incredibly, in Russia the rise of a new system of serfdom.” He said four out of 10 Russians workers are not being paid. “We at the very least should tell the kleptocrats in the Kremlin we won’t even consider aid unless you become current as a government on paying your workers, and two, you deny export licenses to concerns in Russia who aren’t paying their workers in a timely manner.” Source: Mike Recht, Associated Press, on 2000 presidential race Sep 10, 1999

6-point prescription for Asian economic crisis

Help Asian nations stabilize their distressed currencies by fixing them to the US dollar at higher rates than now
Cut taxes substantially
Pressure the Bank of Japan to cease its on-and-off 8-year deflation
Urge these nations to set up independent entities to take over bad banking loans, just as we did with our S&Ls
Advise the Federal Reserve to cease its unintended tight money policy, which is exacerbating Asia’s woes
Urge these nations to stop accepting advice from the IMF.

Source: www.forbes2000.com “Free Markets” May 21, 1999

Russia: Bring young leaders to US to grow democracy at home

[Forbes supports bringing] large numbers of younger generation Russians to the US for extended periods of time. These people could thus see firsthand how a genuine democracy works, how a country flourishes under the rule of law. The Russians could learn that American free-enterprise and entrepreneurship is not the predatory gangster “capitalism” running rampant in Russia today. There is a precedent: The American Council on Germany played an important role in helping democracy grow in post-WWII Germany. Source: Fact and Comment FORBES Magazine Aug 24, 1998

Taiwan: Unconditional US response defends against China

Would Forbes defend Taiwan if China attacked? “Of course,” he said emphatically. “But unlike Clinton, I’d make damn sure Beijing knew that up front. Saying that protecting Taiwan would depend ‘on the circumstances’ invites trouble. That doesn’t mean you scream publicly,” Forbes said. “You don’t cause China to lose face needlessly. You hit them hard in private and send an unmistakable public signal. You send the Navy to the Taiwan Strait. You don’t explain why. You just do it. They’ll get the message.” Source: Time magazine article by Michael Kramer Feb 19, 1996

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