ANZBC interview with Vermont President Jim Douglas in October 2009 (1983: Doomsday)

''The following consists of excerpts of the transcript of an interview with Republic of Vermont President James Douglas conducted by Australia and New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation reporter Lauren Gilmore at the League of Nations in Tonga on 26 October 2009. The interview was taped for airing on ANZBC television and radio 3 November, as well as later airing in Vermont and other North American nations. Douglas was asked about a wide variety of subjects, including his views on the LoN; the former United States; his regret at not being able to talk with George H.W. Bush; and his perceived role as a "peacemonger" in North American politics.''

On Vermont's neutrality and its emergence as the "new" Switzerland:

More to come....

On the League of Nations, and why membership is so important to Vermont:

More to come....

On his growing reputation as a "peacemonger", someone willing to fight and negotiate for peace and cooperation:

More to come....

On why Vermont's former isolationism was an idea whose time has passed:

More to come....

On how he feels Doomsday has been a "crutch" for some nations to not move forward, and why it is important for all nations to "move on from the past":

More to come....

On the relatively small, but persistent, idea of American nationalism that still exists in North America, Mexico and Oceania:

More to come....

On his regret at not being able to meet George H.W. Bush:

More to come....

On the question of any future reorganization of the United States government:

More to come....

On his hopes and fears for the future:

JD: September 25, 1983 was the most frightening night I have ever had to live through. I honestly thought we were all...we would all die, that this was the end and everything was over....we have a golden opportunity before us, those of us who have survived, to build a new world where people can live in peace, and cooperation, and never have to live under the sword of Damocles, or with the possibility of the clock striking midnight and everything coming to an end. We have to find the missiles, and disarm them. We have to never use destructive weapons like that again. I wouldn't wish what I went through, what we all went through, on my worst enemy. Doomsday has changed me and in ways I recognize and probably in ways I don't even realize. It informs everything I do, why I "wage" peace, why I fight to keep my country in a position to facilitate that peace and cooperation that is so desperately needed today. Peace is important. Perhaps the most important thing, after the war that nearly destroyed the world. I can think of no higher worldly goal to pursue and to fight for.