Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: epicure who wrote (105160)	7/13/2003 9:04:11 PM
From: marcos	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

Just re-discovered your Africa thread - #Subject-53866 ... you have some good pieces over there None of my thinking on Liberia is very fixed, i'm just going on a few points of widely available information, maybe missing something crucial, don't know .... but it seems like the major point is that liberians themselves identify with the US and invite its participation [probably many want its cheques more than its police, but they'll get what they get, and if well done, that will be more equitable than at present, as well as being more peaceful] It would be possible to screw up such an operation, quite easily ... can't be stupid about it, start up with some big armoured invasion and go around strafing villages on the way, manufacturing insurgentes as you proceed .... little force may be necessary, beyond demonstrating the capacity ... wouldn't hurt to park a big carrier off the coast maybe, and do an airshow for the folks every few days, strictly entertainment of course The mistake in Iraq was in botching the diplomacy so horribly .... even if you accept that an invasion in that manner was the right thing to do at that time, which many don't including myself, you have to admit that there was gross failure in the building of a coalition ... the phoney coalition they ended up with was a joke, just Blair and Howard trailing along as ever-faithful puppies, and the poles sending a couple of hundreds ... very poor showing for a bunch wanting to rule the planet, that they could not do better than this You do not want to go to war without the canucks .... it's nice that post-Dec-1941 you don't wait for us to slog away for a couple or three years before you come in, but it's not wise to go where we won't, either, like Viet Nam, that was pretty misguided to oppose their independence, and it cost you bigtime .... we're there when reason exists to go, and a workable plan presents itself ... got a woefully small military currently, but canucks would pay to improve it, and support it, if it looked like it would be used responsibly .... so that is where to start your diplomacy imho, like with Ike and Mike over Suez, they did just fine working together, it could be that way again if your neocons or their replacements could grab a clue, develop a reasonable attitude ... then if the Chrétien camp gets stupid in foreign affairs, as they are wont to do in the domestic, we will slap them around right here, no problem