no true de
What is a true democracy? This speech was written by Churchill, a British citizen who probably has a well-defined idea of democracy but democracy is not a universal concept: there can be different definitions of democracy, depending on whether we focus on the "by the people" criterion or on "for the people". Soviet leaders could thus argue that the democracy they are implementing may not be exercised by the people but definitely is "for" the people (in its interest)
BEING DESIROUS, on the other hand, to obviate the misunderstanding and disputes which might in future arise from new a
Ironic to see that this conference was meant to prevent disputes but actually generated many disputes among African countries (in the second half of the 20th century)
Men are born and remain free and equ
There are many similarities between this text and the American Declaration of Independence (1776): First, the idea of equality in Art 1. (+"all men are created equal). Then, the "imprescriptible rights of Man in Art 2("unalienable rights in the declaration of independence). And also the right to resist oppression ("when a long train of abuses and usurpations [...] it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government")...
Declaration of National Independence being entirely based on the great principle of human equa
Except concerning African-Americans who, at this time, were not even considered as human beings...
verted this railway construction into an instrument for oppressing a thousand millionpeople
It reminds me of the construction of the Congo-Ocean Railway (from Brazaville to the sea) which was constructed at the beginning of the 1920s, using forced labour (and thus opressing African people)
ring the universal Abolition of the Slave Trade as a measure particularly worthy of their attention, conformable to the s
Funny to note that they are justifying the abolition of slave trade through the idea of "the spirit of the time", which implies that modernity makes them consider slave trade as "repugnant" (as they say) and yet they only abolish slave trade: they do not talk about slavery (which was still lawful, even if it could be considered as even more "repugnant" that slave trade)
it up. We're the only nation on this Earth that could assemble the forces of p
It's interesting to note that both Bush and Putin talk about international relations and cooperation etc. but at the same time they both enhance their own country (reminding us how great it is, showing that it's better than others...). Even within this new framework of cooperation, Russia and the US seem to be conpetiting with each other. -> Putin says: "But I remind you that the key decisions on the principles guiding the cooperation among states, as well as on the establishment of the United Nations, were made in our country, in Yalta"
the border as a guardian of personal security
Paradoxical to consider the border as a guardian of personal security whereas in some case, the border itself is one of the most dangerous place of a country (when the Mexican migrants try to cross the Mexican-American border for example: it's meant to keep American citizens safe but it's dangerous for Mexicans + borders can cause disputes and wars, for example between Israel and Palestine or the Indo-Pakistani border in Kashmir)