At 03:05 PM 8/3/01 +0200 Baardwijk, J. van DTO/SLBD/BGM/SVM/SGM wrote:
>There are still people dying out there because of landmines. Innocent men,
>women and children still die or get mutilated for life because they
>accidentally step on a landmine. Innocent people, John. Now THAT is inhumane
>and unacceptable.
Care to give me a figure of the number of innocent men, women, and children
that have died in the 50 years there have been landmines on the Korean
border? Care to give me the reasonable likelihood that an innocent man,
woman, or child will die in the future from a landmine on the Korean
border. (Here's a hint, the United States has a detailed map of where
every landmine is there.) Finally, care to take a wild guess as to how
many innocent men, women, and children will die if a second Korean War
breaks out, due to desperation on the part of the DPRK.
>> Something you Europeans conveniently forget when it comes to
>> remembering that our Senate gets to ratify all Treaties.
>
>Crap. Europeans know quite well how the US system works. And *you* know that
>we know, so kindly refrain from this unfounded Euro-bashing.
That doesn't seem to stop Europeans from railing against George Bush for
not signing a Treaty that could *never* come into effect anyways.
Finally, I would like to address one last point:
>Yet another example of the US refusing to sign a treaty because they didn't
>get everything they demanded. :-(
Yes Jeroen, exactly right. You see, this is the entire principle of
foreign policy. Unlike democratic governance, there is no "outvoting" in
most foreign policy. Instead, Treaties are made by the mutual agreement of
all parties involved. The United States agrees to Treaties that benefit
it, and France, and Germany, agree to Treaties benefit it. There is
absolutlely no basis for saying that because the US, France, and Germany
all agree to a Treaty that they get to outvote the Netherlands and impose
that Treaty on the Netherlands too.
If you truly believe in democracy, Jeroen, then you should be willing to
persuade the United States of the benefits of your Treaty. If you cannot
persuade us of this, then you should accept that it is our RIGHT not to
agree to it.
You are certainly more than free to rail against us for being short-sighted
in our disagreements - but when you rail, as you did above, against the
United States for not agreeing to a Treaty that it honestly disagrees with,
then, IMHO, you have gone too far. You have crossed the river from
accepting the principles of relations between democracies, into wistfully
wishing that the Europeans could be made powerful enough to impose their
ideas on the United States, even if we disagree with them anyways.
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
