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

To: LindyBill who wrote (43124)	9/10/2002 10:48:21 PM
From: jcky	Respond to of 281500

It will cause an increase in virulent behavior by them, not peace. All you have to do is look at the history of Israel's attempts to appease them to see that it will not work. Israel's checkered past is hardly an example of unabated appeasement to the Arabs. Of course in this country where the majority of history is portrayed from an Israeli perspective, it is very easy for individuals to make this connection. I am not here to debate the accuracy of historical context because, quite frankly, I find it is an intellectually dishonest endeavor to explain the atrocities of human behavior by blaming others. Your assumption that an increase in virulent behavior is the direct result of our "weakness" is another one of those unproven hypothesis. So you may be right or you may be wrong. I am certainly not smart enough to figure this one out. But what I can suggest is that offering all carrot and no stick or all stick and no carrot is probably not as effective as a combination of both options. Let's just call it the multilateral approach to the carrot and stick policy. So you may be correct in assuming there is too much carrot for fundamentalist Islamists but you must also accept there is certainly not enough stick for Israel's unmitigated actions in the Mideast. Since there are no Arab countries that fit your statement, I assume you mean the European Countries. The people there that oppose us, and is it just of them,(mainly the "Chattering classes), who think like you do. Plus, they envy this country, and do not like the position we have in the world. They would like to see us brought down a peg. It is the "Tall Poppy" syndrome. I was referring to every day citizens of modern, pro-western, democratic nations. This would include people from the European nations, Asian nations, the Canadians, and many Americans. Nation envy? Sure, there may be a component there but to dismiss legitimate criticism based upon emotional appeal is really too simplistic.