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View Full Version : "America's Economic Greed and Neglect in Panama/Middle East"


Nie Trink Wasser
9th April 2003, 11:53 AM
please feel free to contribute to this debate :



I am quite certain that there are very good arguments for and against actions in panama. What would help would be to thoroughly examine BOTH of these perspectives.

- I have examined more than one side to each of the scenarios I've mentioned, and several others. Yes, there are argument for and against the actions taken (eg. in Panama), however those arguments are all fundamentally self-serving, or at least blind to the needs and desires of the rest of the world.


since when has America's policy been "'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'" ........ I would love for some evidence of this besides pure rhetoric.


-evidence: American support of Taliban in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union, througout the 80's, the arming of Nicaraguan terrorists (see Oliver North), sponsorship of secret poli in Pakistan also against the Soviet Union, concurrently fueling money to the world's largest opium source, American support of a corrupt and repressive Saudi Arabian government (ongoing), CIA-staged overthrow of Mossadegh's Iranian governent and installation of the Shah in 1953, support for Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war in order to weaken Iranian air power, destroy eastern oil reserves, etc.

Do you want more examples? Am I clear enough?


we cannot control the morals of militant groups that we hope can support a cause that we believe will benefit the areas in question. If they turn and make bad decisions, why is it all of a sudden our fault ?


-It isn't necessarily, but when the nature of a group is clear (and declassified White Houte and CIA documents have revealed that at least in some of the above cases it was clear to American government) and support is tendered anyway, that's inexcusable. Most modern and neutral political analysts will tell you that much this type of 'support' has little or nothing to do with 'benefitting the areas in question'. It's more often a question of political interest.


"forgetting about them afterwards" ?


example ? - example: Saddam Hussein (until the Gulf War, when inexplicably, America let him stay in government) and the Taliban are probably the two most obvious examples. Would you like more?

Ben Shniper
9th April 2003, 12:03 PM
It seemed like a good idea to work with Stalin against Hitler and the Japanese Imperialists, didn't it? Need more examples of the perfectly obvious principle of "gain diplomatic advantage where possible"?

Since when did we have to attack everyone at once? Or should we never defend ourselves and our allies?

-Ben

Advocate
9th April 2003, 02:28 PM
Sometimes you have to support the lesser of two evils, such as Stalin vs. Hitler. Often the choice comes down to who will be more difficult to deal with later. And often we have to fight the very same people we supported in a previous war. We supported Iraq against Iran and now we are fighting them. We supported the USSR against Germany, then the Afghan Mujahideen against the USSR, then we fought the Taliban (successors to the Mujahideen). It isn't always easy but if you restrict yourself to only helping countries that measure up to some standard then you will have few allies and many enemies. Sometimes you help one side not because they are good but because the other side is worse.

kedo1981
9th April 2003, 03:54 PM
If Truman had nuked Moscow would this be a better world?