"Aleksandr I.Solzhenitsyn. Words of Warning to the Western World " - читать интересную книгу автора

the most generous country in the world. Wherever
there is a flood, an earthquake, a fire, a natural
disaster, disease, who is the first to help? The
United States. Who helps the most and unselfishly?
The United States.
And what do we hear in reply? Reproaches,
curses, "Yankee Go Home." American cultural
centers are burned, and the representatives of the
Third World jump on tables to vote against the
United States.
But this does not take the load off America's
shoulders. The course of history - whether you
like it or not - has made you the leaders of the
world. Your country can no longer think
provincially. Your political leaders can no longer
think only of their own states, of their parties,
of petty arrangements which may or may not lead to
promotion. You must think about the whole world,
and when the new political crisis in the world
will arise (I think we have just come to the end
of a very acute crisis and the next one will come
any moment) the main decisions will fall anyway on
the shoulders of the United States of America.
And while already here, I have heard some
explanations of the situation. Let me quote some
of them: "It is impossible to protect those who do
not have the will to defend themselves." I agree
with that, but this was said about South Vietnam.
In one-half of today's Europe and in three-
quarters of today's world the will to defend
oneself is even less than it was in South Vietnam.
We are told: "We cannot defend those who are
unable to defend themselves with their own human
resources." But against the overwhelming powers of
totalitarianism, when all of this power is thrown
against a country - no country can defend itself
with its own resources. For instance, Japan
doesn't have a standing army.
We are told, "We should not protect those who
do not have full democracy." This is the most
remarkable argument of the lot. This is the
Leitmotif I hear in your newspapers and in the
speeches of some of your political leaders. Who in
the world, ever, on the front line of defense
against totalitarianism has been able to sustain
full democracy? You, the united democracies of the
world, were not able to sustain it. America,
England, France, Canada, Australia together did
not sustain it. At the first threat of Hitlerism,
you stretched out your hands to Stalin. You call