--- Doug Pensinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I have strong opinions on many subjects, but > expressing an opinion doesn't > equal certianty.
It rather depends on the opinion, doesn't it? > What are the long term effects of pissing everyone > in the world off, > Gautam? > It's not really about getting > France/Germany/whomever on board as much as > it is doing the _right_thing_ and inviting the rest > of the world to help > if they wanted to do the right thing as well. And > IMO, Iraq was never the > right thing. See, Doug, this is where we disagree. You have somehow managed to convince yourself that the rest of the world is interested in the "right thing". Large portions of the European commentariat are opposed to the democratic protests in the Ukraine (for example) - largely because the US supports them - and you believe that. I don't get it, but obviously I can't persuade you otherwise. Was Iraq wrong because it was the wrong thing to do (in which case why, exactly, was overthrowing Saddam Hussein morally - as opposed to practically - wrong?) or was it wrong because it was unpopular? So far as I can tell you've consistently made the second argument, but that won't really wash. A simple example is the obvious one. The most unpopular thing that the US does - and the easiest way for us to improve our relations with the rest of the world - would be to turn on Israel. We could line up with the French and say that we prefer Arab tyrannies to Jewish democracies. If popularity is a key criterion for you, why not advocate that? That's an easy win for us. ===== Gautam Mukunda [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Freedom is not free" http://www.mukunda.blogspot.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page � Try My Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
