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

To: h0db who wrote (133890)	5/22/2004 2:48:03 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

The fact that it was not nearly as evil as the regime in P'yongyang does not make it democratic. But the fact that IT IS NOW DEMOCRATIC and one of Asia's largest economies DOES MATTER. The odds are pretty great that Park Chung-hee and his crew may never have seized power, had it not been for the fact that there have been over 1 million NK troops positioned on the DMZ, awaiting an opportunity of weakness in the south so that they could re-invade. time.com You should well know that ANY democracy, including our own, suffers when under constant threat from hostile and violent entities. It certainly is incredibly difficult to spur democratic reforms in a country that has never known democracy in the first place. But how can you honestly say that South Koreans are not better off than their Northern counterparts? You certainly cannot assert that in Vietnam, where the Communists won and that nation descended into even greater suffering and poverty. It is naive. Creating the conditions for democracy is a long, hard process. No sht, Sherlock... What gave you your first clue??!!! Want to transform a non-democratic society? Promote investment, business. Educate the children, particularly the girls, at least through the sixth grade.* Once again, your grasp of the obvious underwhelms me.. But to educate these kids, you have to have a government in power that will permit such educational reforms and which promotes, or at least tolerates, promoting such values. And in my conversations with soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, I can tell you that our folks are making a personal effort to interact with the children in order to instill within them the understanding that Americans are not nearly as evil as some of their adults would like to have them believe. It will take time to change minds and opinions. But EVERY long and difficult journey begins with the first step. But I get the feeling from your words that you can't even seem to get your @ss out of bed, let alone dedicate yourself to making such a journey. You just lie there, thinking up all the reasons as to why such a journey isn't worth embarking upon. But while your snug under your covers making up excuses, our service members are over there actually making something happen. And btw, anytime you decide to get off your butt and go to Iraq, I'll meet you there. The most successful examples of democratization are places where US businesses in international trade ran rampant--but not to the extent of the United Fruit, Co. in Central America--without military meddling. Please name for me those former totalitarian or communist nations which fall in that category? I've never said we're perfect h0db, or that various factions within the alliance, or even our own country, don't have partisan agendas that might not be very beneficial to the countries we're trying to reform. But we're certainly better than the marxists/maoists, and definitely better than the Islamic militants. Hawk