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Politics : Piffer Thread on Political Rantings and Ravings -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Techplayer who wrote (10008)	3/23/2003 6:01:52 PM
From: MulhollandDrive	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 14610

absolutely...lot of optimism. and i will say that the optimism will necessarily hinge on the outcome of the iraq war. think of president karzai in afghanistan... can he keep afghanistan moving in the right direction? (with american military support in the background) how about pakistan? can the radical islamics be held in check? and there is a nascent type of democracy being established with the kurds which leads to the hope that some form of democracy could take hold in iraq. so take a look a the map...iran is right in the middle of the that mix of potential burgeoning democracies. a new domino theory? way too optimistic? could saudi arabia resist reforms in that environment? and if they don't....does wahhabism win the day? the royal family surely doesn't want that....they spend the blood money BECAUSE they FEAR that. the extreme islamic fundamentalists thrive in an environment where the people are oppressed. if there is a chance for middle eastern democracies (sounds like an oxymoron, i know) to emerge, i believe that is our best hope to defeat terrorism and repressive regimes. i'm not sure i agree the eu gang is gaining on the economic front. germany's economy is sick. very sick. and so is france's. and could get even sicker considering they are SO dependent on ME oil. ultimately i do not think it serves our interests to see old europe beaten into the ground economically, but what would be worse would be a scenario where they were able to hamstring american national security interests. and as far as i am concerned, it's come down to that, and why the u.s. has stood firm against them.