At 04:13 PM 8/1/01 +0200 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>> > Oh, and the U.S. representative was booed off the stage.
>>
>> I love it. I should probably end my post here, because you've already
>> made my point for me.... but in case some people don't immediately
>> grasp why the US has so little interest in negotiations with other
>> countries that delight in rubbing our nose in the dirt, I'll lay out
>> some of the specifics.
>
>Am I the only one to whom this sounds somewhat patronizing?
Hey, I wasn't the one who thought that I could condemn the US for
"unilateralism" in one breath and then mention that the US was being booed
off the stage during negotiations in the other.
>> My personal favorite example of this behaviour occurred during the
>> Landmine Ban Conference - a Conference *we* initiated, I might add. The
>> US wanted an exemption for the Landmines currently in place on the
>> Korean border, a border we are currently defending under UN-
>> authorization. As the US proposed amendments were voted down, the
>> Europeans were hootin' and hollerin' at the good time they were having
>> embarassing the US - because now they'd get the pristine joy of signing
>> the Treaty *AND* being able to rub the US's nose in it while doing it.
>
>Did the US sign the treaty, even though they didn't get what they wanted?
No, we could not. To sign the Treaty would mean digging up all of the
landmines in Korea. This would, of course, make thousands of Americans
and South Koreans much more likely to have to face armed conflict across
the Korean border. This was simply inhumane and unacceptable.
>Yeah, don't you just HATE the democratic process when it means you don't get
>what you want?
Something you Europeans conveniently forget when it comes to remembering
that our Senate gets to ratify all Treaties. So yes, Jeroen I am all for
the democratic process. I just have little tolerance for European
diplomats who seem to have no interest in passing agreements that will
actually get *approved* by the democratic process.
>Yeah, why start a second Cold War in ten years, when you can start one now?
Because, as soon as a country like DPRK or Iraq gets a nuclear ICBM, you
have a new Cold War. The only question is how tolerable do you want to
make living in the new Cold War?
JDG
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
We are products of the same history, reaching from Jerusalem and
Athens to Warsaw and Washington. We share more than an alliance.
We share a civilization. - George W. Bush, Warsaw, 06/15/01
