Jimmy Carter

[Yazman]

I don't know much about him, but he seems like a good guy? I read the speech comrade Fidel Castro made when Jimmy Carter arrived in Cuba and he said that he made some reforms in the US policy towards Cuba that were later suspended by other presidents? Is this true?

He won the Nobel Peace Prize, do you guys think he's deserving of this? From the very little I know about him, he seems to be deserving of it. Could you guys give opinions on him, and if possible, information on the things he has done?

*edit* Comrades, do not take what I say about Jimmy Carter too seriously, as I know next to nothing about him.

[Sabocat]

Bourgeois ruling class politician all the way. A great favorite with the Wall Street crowd. Also, he was/is quite racist. While campaigning, made a statement to the effect that neighborhoods should remain ethnically pure....etc. etc.

The only good thing you can say about him really, is the work he's done with the "Habitat for Humanity" organization.

[truthaddict11]

the noble peace prize is a worthless title they gave it to Henry Kissenger for fucks sake

[truthaddict11]

Peace prize imperialist

We should give President Nixon our backing and support.

—Jimmy Carter, 1973

Much has been made of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize committee’s choice of recipient, Jimmy Carter. A generation has grown up watching him travel the world to promote peaceful diplomacy and build homes through his Habitat for Humanity foundation. But the millionaire peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia, with the easy smile and populist approach has a darker history as president.


Under Carter, the United States continued to support, all over the world, regimes that engaged in imprisonment of dissenters, torture, and mass murder: in the Philippines, in Iran, in Nicaragua, and in Indonesia, where the inhabitants of East Timor were being annihilated in a campaign bordering on genocide.

Most of the hundreds of thousands of deaths in East Timor took place during the Carter administration, which increased military aid to the Indonesian dictator Suharto by 80 percent. In Zaire, Carter sent the U.S. air force to ferry Moroccan troops to put down a popular uprising against the brutal dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko. He echoed Corporate America’s opposition to sanctions on the apartheid South African regime and vetoed UN Security Council resolutions that attempted to stop supplies to the racist military by U.S. companies. Carter ignored pleas from Salvadoran archbishop Oscar Romero to stop arms shipments and advisers to the junta there that was massacring trade unionists and human rights workers—and he continued arms transfers even after the junta brutally murdered Romero. In a move that would come back to haunt the U.S., he sent military and economic aid to strengthen the Islamic fundamentalist opposition to Soviet troops in Afghanistan. During a state visit in 1977, Carter toasted the Shah of Iran, calling him an “enlightened monarch who enjoys his people’s total confidence.” Two years later, the Shah’s forces fired upon thousands of protesters at the start of the revolution that threw him out of power.

Carter is perhaps best remembered for brokering a peace deal in the Middle East that led to Israeli forces pulling back from occupied Sinai. What is forgotten is that in exchange Egyptian president Anwar Sadat accepted billions in funds as America’s closest ally in the region after Israel. Calls for a Palestinian state were rejected, and instead Carter dramatically increased aid that went toward Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories.

The Nobel Prize committee may believe that Carter is committed to peaceful diplomacy as opposed to President Bush’s warmongering, “[b]ut in 1979, Carter signed Presidential Directive 59, establishing plans for fighting a ëlimited’ nuclear war, including a first strike policy.” Announcing the new “Carter Doctrine” in his 1980 State of the Union Address, Carter warned, “An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.” In the wake of the Shah’s fall, Carter was instrumental in developing the Rapid Deployment Force, capable under the new doctrine, of intervening to protect U.S. interests in the Middle East.

U.S. imperialism was seriously wounded in Vietnam—the beast had been beaten and needed to recover from domestic disillusionment and international disdain. If at times Carter pulled back from more overt military action, it had nothing to do with his supposed pacifism. Nothing about the fundamental dynamic of economic dominance by the U.S. had been altered. American multinational corporations in the late 1970s were more active internationally than ever before, and any personal abhorrence he might have had about the killing in Vietnam never amounted to aid for that country to rebuild. The human rights reforms Carter verbally pressed for in South Africa and Latin America never threatened commercial dealings with these nations that supplied the U.S. with 100 percent of industrial diamonds, coffee, and rubber.

After Carter’s election in 1976, the liberal establishment’s magazine, the New Republic, happily reassured Corporate America , “American foreign policy in the next four years will essentially extend the philosophies developedÖin the Nixon-Ford years. This is not at all a negative prospect.ÖThere should be continuity.” How right they were.

[Al Creed]

Damn...I thought Carter was the most respectable of the presidents:S

[Fidelbrand]

On the 14 Oct 2002, Nobel Peace laureate Jimmy Carter Monday slammed the Bush administration's Cuba policy, urging Washington to lift its 40-year embargo against the communist-ruled island. He said, ¡§I think that there is no doubt that the overwhelming portion of American people now do want to see a reconciliation with Cuba, an end to the restraints on travel and an end to the economic embargo,¡¨ Carter said in an interview released Monday with Sky Radio, which produces programs for six US airlines.

Carter charged that the US government's "ill-advised" policy on Cuba served not so much to restrain Cubans as it did to place "a restraint on the freedom of Americans." He added, ¡§I don't see why I, as an American citizen, can't go where I want to in the world if it's not dangerous. And if there's no danger in Cuba, why can't I go to Cuba?¡¨ the former US president said.

weLL said by Jimmy boy..... :D

[Al Creed]

DAMN!! Now, Im really torn:S

[Marxist in Nebraska]

Carter was an awful president. Howard Zinn gives a pretty good treatment of his administration in his People's History. The chapter is called "Carter-Reagan-Bush: The Bipartisan Consensus." Carter has some beliefs in human rights, but as president he always subordinated them in favor of the economic and military demands of the ruling class. He has been better for the human rights situation since leaving the White House--fewer corporate masters to take orders from.

[Ortega]

carter was an awful president... and a rich racist imperialist. he definetly had some good things to say about cuba and the embargo though. that speech might just make up for everything else that hes done in his life.

[Sabocat]

Originally posted by [email protected] 5 2003, 01:04 PM
On the 14 Oct 2002, Nobel Peace laureate Jimmy Carter Monday slammed the Bush administration's Cuba policy, urging Washington to lift its 40-year embargo against the communist-ruled island. He said, ¡§I think that there is no doubt that the overwhelming portion of American people now do want to see a reconciliation with Cuba, an end to the restraints on travel and an end to the economic embargo,¡¨ Carter said in an interview released Monday with Sky Radio, which produces programs for six US airlines.

Carter charged that the US government's "ill-advised" policy on Cuba served not so much to restrain Cubans as it did to place "a restraint on the freedom of Americans." He added, ¡§I don't see why I, as an American citizen, can't go where I want to in the world if it's not dangerous. And if there's no danger in Cuba, why can't I go to Cuba?¡¨ the former US president said.

weLL said by Jimmy boy..... :D
Where the fuck was "Jimmy Boy" on the embargo when he was president? He had every opportunity to end the embargo and like all good capitalist ruling class presidents.......did nothing.

[BuyOurEverything]

Damn...I thought Carter was the most respectable of the presidents:S

That's quite possible, unfortunately it's not saying much.

[Marxist in Nebraska]

Originally posted by [email protected] 5 2003, 04:47 PM
Where the fuck was "Jimmy Boy" on the embargo when he was president? He had every opportunity to end the embargo and like all good capitalist ruling class presidents.......did nothing.
Right.

The point being made is that now is he saying the right things. I think many of us are under no illusion that if he were president again, he would do the same as he did when he was president.

[praxis1966]

All things being equal, however, I would have much rather had him re-elected in 1980 than Ronald Reagan. In 1980 my parents made 16k. In 1981 after the so-called Reagan tax cut, they made 13k and payed out more in taxes than the year previous.

[marxstudent]

He was still one of the better Presidents of the U.S. It doesn't matter if he had faults everyone has had them. No way is he worse than most communist leaders you see in the past.

[truthaddict11]

Originally posted by [email protected] 5 2003, 08:00 PM
He was still one of the better Presidents of the U.S. It doesn't matter if he had faults everyone has had them. No way is he worse than most communist leaders you see in the past.
you dont think being responsible for thousands of deaths worldwide and being an imperialist bastard deserves the slighting bit of hatred?, he doesnt deserve any respect what he deserves like every other former president is a noose.

[marxstudent]

And all the communist leaders haven't done the same? Carter was no way worse than them. Mao had people shot for like no reason, for example. He had my uncle killed for no reason. He tried to kill off many of my family members who had either direct or indirect connections w/ Chiang Kai Shek...

There are still good sides to everything. None of you ever mention any... communism is perfect, right?

[Xvall]

Noble Peace Prize - Crap.

Keep in mind. They gave it to Kissinger. And Arafat.

[SonofRage]

I think he is an overall decent guy who is probably too nice for his own good. He would try to please everyone instead of always fighting the good fight. I'd much rather have him as president right now.

[flayer2]

Nice guy - good humanitarian. Made a lousy president cos hes not much of a leader.

[marxstudent]

Just about anyone would be better as President than Bush.

[truthaddict11]

humanitarian? decent guy? how is someone guilty of being a war criminal and an imperialist decent? If Henry Kissenger gave money to an organization to fight hunger would he be decent or a humanitarian for you? explain why you think that bastard is "decent".

[redstar2000]

Mao had people shot for like no reason, for example. He had my uncle killed for no reason. He tried to kill off many of my family members who had either direct or indirect connections w/ Chiang Kai-shek...

That one caught my eye. "Direct or indirect connections with Chiang Kai-shek"?

The gangster and fascist who used to run China before Mao?

One can only regret that Mao was not more efficient.

http://anarchist-action.org/forums/images/smiles/redstar.gif

The RedStar2000 Papers (http://www.anarchist-action.org/marxists/redstar2000/)
A site about communist ideas

[Marxist in Nebraska]

Originally posted by [email protected] 6 2003, 01:26 AM
Just about anyone would be better as President than Bush.
Pretty much... but that does not make Carter "one of the better presidents" like you mentioned in an earlier post. Hell, Richard Nixon looks pretty good to me right now!