On Nationalism

General Comment: It's over...

"And I think that the world is no longer divided between have and have-nots, but between connected and disconnected."
(Speech at annual meeting of American Jewish Committee, May 3, 2001)

COMMENT: If forced to choose, we would place Peres in the world of the disconnected.

"Socialism is civilization - the world is more open today than ever before and countries are no longer linked by the land or sea but by air. In the air, there are no countries and no borders."
(Quoted in Haaretz, March 6, 2001)

COMMENT: Remember KAL 007, downed for flying over Soviet airspace? Would Peres fly an El Al plane over Syrian airspace?

"The world went from a world of land to a world of science, so borders lost their importance, national economies lost their significance and every individual with internet or a computer became automatically part of the globe."
(Jerusalem Post, May 4, 2000)

COMMENT: The internet enhances communication. It does not make individuals consider themselves global citizens rather than citizens of their own countries.

"Whoever wants to have something national, they can have national poverty. But if somebody wants to have an economy, it must become global, competititve, innovative, open, integrated and by the way - the same goes for strategy. Whoever wants to live in a state of siege can remain alone. Whoever wants to attain peace must become global because missiles like science and technology does not respect borders. It is either that we should live together economically, strategically and psychologically, because television does nor respect borders or we shall return not only to our national habits, but to our national dangerous existence."
(Speech to Socialist International, May 18, 1998)

COMMENT: Peres sets up false dichotomies; the United States is a prime example of a country with "something national" which is also a full participant in the global economy.