Sometimes things work out wonderfully in the world. Twenty-five years ago, mathematician Anatoly Shcharansky was a prisoner in the Soviet Gulag. Now his ideas of spreading peace by spreading democracy have the ear of the Texas businessman who is the President of the U.S.
That amazing turn of events puts GWB's campaign for democracy into a broader context: perhaps it should be understood as the next phase of the struggle that occupied much of the last century. At present, the world is noticing the Islamic countries, but the status of human rights in the remaining Communist (or semi-Communist) countries reminds us that the Cold War's work is not yet finished. The idea of peace through democracy applies to China too.
