A Time for a Breather?
The political situation has been volatile of late with ME tensions building and political points are fought for tooth and nail in preparation for the November mid-term elections. I want us all to take a breather and consider our next steps.
I've been cruising the internet and came across Asiantimes.org. and one of its main writers named "Spengler." For today, I want you to read his commentary When the devil dislikes the stink of brimstone. Please, let's read his thought provoking viewpoint regarding the direction we are taking as a country in light of the war on "terror" and the Middle East.
Then, when done, let's comment on topics his article addresses, such as:
1. The need for a mass invasion of the Baca Valley by Israel and end the Hezbollah threat.
2. An ultimatum to Tehran by the U.S. to dismantle nukes and if ignored, use strategic strikes to take out their nuclear installations.
3. Since regional destabilization works in favor of the terrorists, the U.S. should partition Iraq according to ethnic and religious lines and quit trying to stabilize a region already unstable. Go with what is natural to them regionally and historically.
4. Scrap the Bush doctrine of democratizing the Middle East which seriously crosses Just War principles.
5. Buckle up and create an oil embargo over Iran, enduring a 5% reduction in oil output but cutting off 100% of Iran's oil income.
Though Spengler's approach is pragmatic, I think he may give us "Western Goldfish" a chance to see things outside our fishbowl. Let's discuss it and learn what we can. No ranting or rhetorical bombs please. Though we have differences, we may learn that we all have some common objectives that we can build on.
As always, the "Common Master" prevails.
posted by Underground Logician @ 10:14 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
1. No, poor logic, invade to create peace? Israel to actually give the land they've stolen back? Yes, to withdraw to 67 bounderies? Yes. an invasion would even further de-stabalise the region and push Israel to the very outskirts of world politics, along with its ally the US.
2. Flawed, firstly because in a climate of military escalation set up by the Bush regime why is it that the US and its allies can have asmany weapons as they want but other nations aren't allowed to do what they want? Iran has no nukes, even if they had, they can have them until all nations agree to a total destruction of nuclear weapons, the logic of violence is the logic of an idiot.
3. Great, step in under false pretences and then walk away with a bodge job. Terrible, idiot speak, how about letting the Iraqi people choose what they want...call me old fashioned. Trouble is, the US wants to insert a regime it wants rather than what the people want. DEMOCRACY!
4. Bush should indeed stop pushing an oil focused agenda and attempting to control the Middle East but he wants all that oil. Funny how the most backward regimes in the Middle East are Kuwait and Saudi Arabia but no attempts at democracy there.
5. The targetting of Iran (who have done nothing wrong at all) will only fuel the hatred of the US and will continue to increase the attack upon American people and rightly so, Iran has done nothing wrong and is being hounded by the hawks on the hill.
An awful article written by someone with very little understanding of how democracy works and the history in a complicated region, written totally from a pro-Zionist, pro-Bush perspective.
Whatever you say, Mr. Gill.*
* For those of you new to my blog, Mr. Gill, who is from Britain, with his own words describes how he cannot wait until the day when the entire U.S. economy collapses. So don't be dismayed when you see me treat the young man with ridicule; he deserves this treatment since he willing brings it on himself.
Right, Mr. Gill?
1. It would not have the effect of ending the Hezbollah threat. Guerilla armies can not be defeated by "Invasion." The only episodes of guerillas being defeated have come at the expense of the extermination of the local populations, Poland 1940's...It failed in Viet Nam, Algeria, and Palestine (How do you think Israel became a nation). Any wholesale invasion of the area would have an untold impact on civilians and would do nothing but fuel the hatred in the region.
2. Not really an option either because the U.S. lacks the moral credibility in the world to sell it to those nations it would be designed to help, Iran's neighbors. Our Intel is not trusted and our agenda is questioned. This is what happens when you invade sovereign nations based on lies at worst or mistakes at best. The U.S. Government needs to scrap its failed philosophy of not directly talking to governments it does't like. We don't have the military strength to attack Iran at this time and we place the troops in Iraq in extreme danger by any attack on Iran. That is just a sad fact.
3. I agree.. If you go back and dig through my blog, if you can stand it..., you will see that I have advocated this for years. All of the borders in the Middle East are artificial. They were created by western countries in the wake on WWI that displayed little consideration for the historical, religious or ethnics divisions there. These borders were contrived as a means to control the area and place friends in control of strategically important points.
4. Agreed. The western notion of democracy can not be forced upon eastern countries at the point of a knife. It's like beating a starving man with a gold bar.
5. See answer #2. We can't sell it to the world and there are plenty of nations that would be happy to buy whatever oil we don't want.
The key to regional stabiliy is to stop shooting and try to sell peace as more beneficial to all the parties. A very important part of this is getting Israel to return to its per-1967 borders. Give the Palestinians the State they were given in the same UN Act that created Israel. We need to engage Syria and Iran as partners in the process of peace.
What we have been doing for the last 60 years isn't working.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein.
We need a new Manhattan project to create energy independence for the entire world. Fighting over energy resource and the ground the sit under has been a blight on mankind. If we can put spaceships in orbit around Mars we can figure out how to keep the lights on and get to work without oil.
I don't want the economy of the US to collapse, I want it to prosper and grow so that the US becomes a fucking brilliant nation and I'd like that economy to be built on sustainable and environmentally friendly polices and while we're at it I'd like for there to be a health service and a decent welfare system, which of course will mean a tax rise but we could use that tax rise to buy back some the debt and start working on a surplus so that we can fund alternative energy sources.
YAY!
Phew!
I know I'm sweating!
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