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

To: bentway who wrote (160943)	4/23/2005 11:54:26 AM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

It was always hypocritical of the US to talk up democracy, but run around supporting some really crummy tyrants. That was the realpolitik of the Cold War. Surely you can see the advantage if the US starts matching its praise of democracy to its actions? The US needs to support democracy by supporting democracies. Yet the only country in the Mideast that is an unquestionable flourishing democracy is the only one you want to dump, in favor of a bunch of corrupt autocrats.

To: bentway who wrote (160943)	4/28/2005 2:41:28 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

What's the OBJECTIVE advantage? Forget the emotional appeals. I can't believe anyone would ask such a question with regard to the value of defending fellow democracies.. IT'S A DEMOCRACY!!! That's an "objective" enough reason in itself!!! The fact that it possesses a government that is accountable to its people via an electoral and legal process is reason enough to defend its right to exist. Especially when it is surrounded by totalitarian dictatorships and Monarchies. And it's the very reason that I'm over here in Iraq trying to do what I can to help these people (ALL OF THEM) get along and have an accountable government attentive to their needs. But in defending democratic states, that does not mean that I have to defend all, or any, of their policies. If you can't find any objective reason to defend democracy as a principle, then you're truly someone who's morally deficient. But if you're confusing objective advantage with Machiavellian power politics, then you're on quite a different level than the one I'm referring to. In those terms, defending democratic states is in a state's self(ish)-interest. The fewer states and allies in existence that share a common political and social ideology, the more likely our own systems will be eroded in favor of "detente" and cross-border compatibility. Hawk