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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: George Papadopoulos who wrote (848)	9/22/2001 12:32:21 AM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

We support tyrants and dictators IF it supports our interests (oil and gas mostly). As opposed to the other non-democratic states who support tyrants and dictators who oppose our interests?? Don't be such a polly anna George... It's a cruel world out there and few of these power mongers have any interest in promoting democracy or the concept of inalienable rights. Although some might claim that we have "created" many of these dictators, that's just a cop out and outright attempt to deny that authoritarian regimes are the norm, and US style is the anomaly on this planet. And the reason people hate us is because we're not willing to promote their particular special interest over the interests of their political and economic competitors. For every person around the world who "hates" us, I'm sure you can find one who "loves" us because we have enhanced their economic or political livelihood... IMO, the only gauge of whether people love or hate the US, is contained in the numbers of individuals who risk their very lives to emigrate here to make a new life for themselves. Call it patriotic jingoism, if you want, but its a reality that few other nations can claim... I certainly don't see an onrush of Americans screaming to emigrate to Greece.. (but we sure like to vacation there... :0) And I really don't believe that, overall, US foreign policy has been any worse than those of other states. We make our mistakes, and sometimes our corporate interests get us involved in policies that aren't of the best benefit to the indigenous people. But that's not to say that our non-democratic competitors would have been any more altruistim (quite likely they would be far more oppressive). As for Iran... the recent overwhelming electoral results for Khatami has been quite a statement that the Ayatollahs are losing power in that society. The Iranians are quite a modern people, who were forced to suffer under some very repressive conditions after the "revolution". But his government needs to be nurtured until the power of teh mullahs has sufficiently diminished.. And that's how creating democratic societies work.. It takes time and often you take 2 steps back for every 3 steps forward. Democratic values are learned, not inherited. Tolerance for one another, and respect for both the rule of law, and each other's personal rights can take generations to nurture. I'm often reminded of how long it has taken to diminish outright racism in America. There are still bastions of racism that exist (like where some of my relatives live), but they exist because of ignorance, or more appropriately, the fear created by ignorance. And it will take generations to fully eradicate, if ever... I don't believe any society is incapable of adopting democratic values, but unless we're willing to fully occupy them and undertake a utter coerced restructuring of their political system (as we did with Japan), we have to be content with the fact that true democracy only comes when the people are fed up of being ruled by dictators (and only they can decide that for themselves). So I'm not sure I understand what you expect from the US with regard to our relations around the world. We are criticized when we interfere in other societies, but then we're criticized when we do nothing... We're criticized for not getting involved in the bloodbath that resulted from Milosevic's nationalistic jingoism in Yugoslavia, preferring to let Europe handle their own "backyard", but then we're condemned when the scenes from CNN force us to intervene and protect Kosovars from Serbian pogroms. But hey... who ever said it was easy being a superpower.. :0) Hawkmoon