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

To: ratan lal who wrote (1665)	9/28/2001 1:24:12 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Why should russia's lawlessness be our concern? ratan... Good question... We have no obligation to help anyone, but ourselves, IMO.. However, we have INTERESTS in helping certain nations out, over other nations, and not always in a manner that some consider to be the most beneficial to the indigenous people of those countries. We have an interest in preventing Russia from becoming an overt criminal state, armed with nuclear weapons for sale to the highest bidder. And this might involve Putin pulling a "pinochet" until he can bring about social order. And we have an interest in undermining extremist Islam, if only in the interest of self-defense... And that might involved siding with some unsavory states and playing them off against their equally unsavory neighbors. Outright governmental charity must not be the predominant component of our foreign aid. We must provide the means for economies to grow, and provide markets for those goods to be sold. Training, equipment, and capital is what they need. And we need stability, security of investment capital, and a return on that investment, in order that we can contribute to their economic growth. Without security and stability, US investments in those economies can be stolen and nationalized overnight, and thus undermining any established rule of law and property rights. Furthermore, the US foreign trade deficit is the largest in the world, and it represents a HUGE quantity of foreign assistance to those economies seeking markets for their products. Japan, on the other hand, hands out more money per capita than the US, but they close off their markets. They pass out "the fish", while the US trains the "fisherman" and gives him a market to sell into. This is why it's ridiculous to hear the socialists and bleeding hearts claim that US foreign policy has been oppressive or subversive to freedom. The fact is that freedom never existed before in these countries, and any assistance we offer should FIRST meet our own specific national interests, and not just theirs. Hawkmoon