Nobel Speech

[Richard Ryan]

Ah the typically chill, grimly eloquent Barack at work.  Thanks Mark.

On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 7:12 PM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I make this statement mindful of what Martin Luther King said in this same
> ceremony years ago - "Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social
> problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones." As someone who stands
> here as a direct consequence of Dr. King's life's work, I am living testimony to
> the moral force of non-violence. I know there is nothing weak -nothing passive -
> nothing naïve - in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.
>
> But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided
> by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the
> face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: evil does exist in
> the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies.
> Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. To say
> that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism - it is a
> recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.
>
> I raise this point because in many countries there is a deep ambivalence about
> military action today, no matter the cause. At times, this is joined by a
> reflexive suspicion of America, the world's sole military superpower.
>
>
>



-- 
Richard Ryan
New York and the World
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