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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sultan who wrote (66145)	9/23/2002 11:54:15 AM
From: Fred Levine	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 70976

Sultan-- >>Iraq was at that time apparently a regime in good standing (goes to show dubious principles at best on US part.. Nothing new here.. US foreign policy is well documented.. Fairness and justice has nothing to do with it.. Self interest is..).<< Not only do I agree with you, I think that self-interest is basic in the foreign policies of all countries. In the early 50's or so, when India, the voice of Ghandi, neutralism, and morality, invaded Goa, I recognized that Machievelli was accurate in divorcing politics from morality. The question now is how do we make peace so that it is to everyone's self interest? The futility of war neutralized N. Ireland, Greece-Turkey, Germany-France, etc. etc. Mexico has legitimate gripes against the US, but it is to their self-interest not to attack. I think Iraq has to see that defiance is not to their self-interest, and that most Palestinians will see that terrorism will backfire. In a similar way, I hope that Israel sees the settlements as being a constant challenge to the Palestinians. The one area where I see reason as being futile is when dealing with religion. Religion allows no compromise since some see killing as doing God's work. Frankly, IM (less-than-humble) O, we have learned thru history about the enormous evil and destruction done in God's name. I have a hard time seeing a religious exception to this rule. I am aware of the paradoxes of many religions claiming to promote peace, then their members promote war. It's sickening. fred