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

To: Bilow who wrote (57678)	11/18/2002 3:32:12 AM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

In Iraq, we are, by contrast, in the unfortunate position of being the military power that has brought misery to the country with over a decade of sanctions. Sanctions have been loosened for seven years now, since the oil-for-food program came into place. Also, Saddam calls the shots in Iraq and says who gets what; I think the Iraqis may have figured this out. Lastly, we will be freeing the Iraqis from a police state so terrible and pervasive that the Taliban were strictly amateurs by comparison. I think the real Iraqi gripe will be the cry, "WTF took you so long?!"

To: Bilow who wrote (57678)	11/18/2002 1:29:40 PM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Carl....Re predictions: By now, we should ALL be aware, it only takes one small (or large) event in the world to change events everywhere in the world....aka recently September 11, 2001: On September 10, 2001, I wrote in response to yours: Message 16325931 and you replied later, but still September 10, 2001: siliconinvestor.com To:KLP who wrote (15933) From: Bilow Monday, Sep 10, 2001 11:10 PM View Replies (1) \| Respond to of 30225 Hi KLP; Nice collection of quotes re military preparedness. But, they don't have much application to the current situation. It's all a matter of degree. There has to be a happy medium, what we're arguing about is where that medium is. I don't think you (or much of anybody) is in favor of converting the U.S. economy completely into a weapons manufacturing business. If we did that, we'd be very militarily safe for a short while, and then our economy would collapse, our technology would become obsolete, and we'd be far worse off than we were before. Does anyone really believe that Japan is going to attack us again like they did in 1941? Since 1941 boring, huggable, democracies have taken over the planet. This is not the Earth of 1941. In 1941 Japan was ruled by some combination of an emperor and a group of military fanatics. Now Japan is more interested in selling us cars. In 1941, Russia was ruled by Communists who promised to use force to take over the world. Now Russia's military is in complete tatters, and we're helping them dismantle their useless and unneeded weapons. In 1941, France was under the rule of Nazi Germany, which was getting ready to rid Europe of the under races. Now France is quite free, and Germany is mostly interested in beer. In 1941 most of the 3rd world was getting ready to throw off their European oppressors. Now they're free, mostly democratic, and want assistance in making their countries as most like the United States as they can. We won. The whole world loves us. They all want to be more like us. Russia has a stock market. Movies made in the United States are seen all over the world. American technology is everywhere assumed to be the best, (and it frequently is). In every country where the local currency is suspect, the dollar is revered. The (paper) dollar is recognized world wide as a store of value, especially in places where the local currency is not. Our worst enemies (fascists), are long dead, and our second worst enemies (communists) are either recently dead, or making distinct signs of conversion. Does anybody really think that Cuba is a threat to the United States? We have enough National Geographics magazines in our garages to destroy them. We wouldn't have to bring out the military. There is no similarity between the current situation and 1941. The world is filled with powerful democracies, who have repeatedly demonstrated their incredible strength and their strong tendency to stick together when the going gets tough. Sure there are still a few backward countries, most of whom are trying to convert themselves into capitalist democracies as quickly as they can, but compare that to 1941 when world powerhouses Germany, Japan, Italy and Russia were ruled by regimes hostile to us. Now, our last great "threat", China wants to be more like Taiwan, not more like North Korea. Then, everyone wanted to be more like Nazi Germany. As a country, our primary threat now is getting behind economically, not militarily. We now spend 35% of the world's military expenses. What would you have us spend, 50%? We only have 5% of the world's population, how long do you think we can keep spending 35% of the military expenditures? -- Carl