Ruhr
26-02-2004, 23:44
The Carter Doctrine
It is not true that Ruhr feels any land hunger or entertains any projects as regards the other nations of the Western Hemisphere save such as are their welfare. All that this country desires to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly, and prosperous. Any country whose people conduct themselves well can count upon our friendship. If a nation shows that it knows how to act with reasonable efficiency and decency in social and political matters, if it keeps order and pays its obligations, it need fear no interference from the Ruhr. Chronic wrongdoing, or an impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized society, may in Ruhr, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation, and in the Western Hemisphere the adherence to past policies may lead Ruhr, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence, to the exercise of an international police power.
Our interests and those of our southern neighbors are in reality identical. They have great natural riches, and if within their borders the reign of law and justice obtains, prosperity is sure to come to them. While they thus obey the primary laws of civilized society they may rest assured that we would treat them in a spirit of cordial and helpful sympathy.
We would interfere with them only in the last resort, and then only if it became evident that their inability or unwillingness to do justice at home and abroad had violated the rights of Ruhr or had invited foreign aggression to the detriment of the entire body of Ruhrian islands. It is a mere truism to say that every nation, whether in Ruhr or anywhere else, which desires to maintain its freedom, its sovereignty, must ultimately realize that the right of such independence can not be separated from the responsibility of making good use of it. We have acted in our own interest, in the past, as well as in the interest of humanity at large. There are, however, cases in which, while our own interests are not greatly involved, strong appeal is made to our sympathies. In extreme cases action may be justifiable and proper. What form the action shall take must depend upon the circumstances of the case; that is, upon the degree of the atrocity and upon our power to remedy it.
It is not true that Ruhr feels any land hunger or entertains any projects as regards the other nations of the Western Hemisphere save such as are their welfare. All that this country desires to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly, and prosperous. Any country whose people conduct themselves well can count upon our friendship. If a nation shows that it knows how to act with reasonable efficiency and decency in social and political matters, if it keeps order and pays its obligations, it need fear no interference from the Ruhr. Chronic wrongdoing, or an impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized society, may in Ruhr, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation, and in the Western Hemisphere the adherence to past policies may lead Ruhr, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence, to the exercise of an international police power.
Our interests and those of our southern neighbors are in reality identical. They have great natural riches, and if within their borders the reign of law and justice obtains, prosperity is sure to come to them. While they thus obey the primary laws of civilized society they may rest assured that we would treat them in a spirit of cordial and helpful sympathy.
We would interfere with them only in the last resort, and then only if it became evident that their inability or unwillingness to do justice at home and abroad had violated the rights of Ruhr or had invited foreign aggression to the detriment of the entire body of Ruhrian islands. It is a mere truism to say that every nation, whether in Ruhr or anywhere else, which desires to maintain its freedom, its sovereignty, must ultimately realize that the right of such independence can not be separated from the responsibility of making good use of it. We have acted in our own interest, in the past, as well as in the interest of humanity at large. There are, however, cases in which, while our own interests are not greatly involved, strong appeal is made to our sympathies. In extreme cases action may be justifiable and proper. What form the action shall take must depend upon the circumstances of the case; that is, upon the degree of the atrocity and upon our power to remedy it.