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

To: Win Smith who wrote (7515)	10/25/2001 12:27:37 PM
From: Michael Watkins	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

>> Whether that is indicative of apathy or a really high poster to reader ratio on SI, I couldn't say.<< Or perhaps acknowledgement, or gut feeling at least, from many that solutions to complex problems are not likely to be found in petitions?

To: Win Smith who wrote (7515)	10/25/2001 12:46:18 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

I think we should think about our relationships in the Middle East. Maybe re-think them. Put it all on the table and really think hard about it. We get into these entrenchments and then we get stuck in them. A good example is the Philippines. We stayed there way past time to go home, IMO, due to simple intransigence. Part of how we got to where we are was the Cold War, which is over. We won. After that, what's been our motivation? Oil and Israel. What else? Put it on the table. To the extent that US foreign policy is dictated by our strategic need for oil, we need to re-examine that. To the extent that US foreign policy is dictated by people whose loyalty is to Israel, we need to re-examine that. I realize that there are those who don't want to think about this because it's bin Laden's agenda, and we don't want to give him credence. But he's made me think about things I didn't really think about and I do have questions. I read on one of the whacko websites something that actually made sense, in a way - "War is nature's way of teaching Americans geography." Most Americans don't pay attention to foreign policy, and most of the few who do have vested interests. Declassified material made available by Georgetown's National Security Archive documents that British and US intelligence became motivated to oust Mossadegeh in Iran when the Iranians decided to nationalize oil companies - in part - but it's the first thing mentioned in the declassified CIA briefing book written at the time, that the Mossadegh government was unwilling to reach an equitable settlement with the oil companies. Call me naive but I don't think that's what US foreign policy should be about. gwu.edu gwu.edu Kudos to the Russians for removing their listening posts in Cuba and Viet Nam. We all need to rethink old alliances.