On 5/23/06, Gruss Gott wrote: > > So I find this interesting because I had said that one of the tenants > of Neo-conservatism was democratic imperialism, which is exactly what > you just described, but what you told me earlier was "my fantasy".
Actually I said" "So if the individual nations..." Like I said we didn't go in to Iraq as nation builders that was an unintended consequence. With the success in Iraq it should only be a matter of time before other nations join in. Maybe even Iran will see a coup soon. > Either way, here are the problems with that policy: > > (1.) Who are the "individual nations" that need democratic > imperialism? Iraq and Iran? Or do we include Syria? Libya? We've > got to define that on a global scale and then at least be consistent. > We haven't. Libya is now an ally. > (2.) We haven't because we can't treat all of those nations > consistently because we don't have the resources. This means we've > got to discriminate between nations and prioritize. In this case > we've chosen Iraq for our first Democratic Imperialist campaign. This > makes us look unfair and downright weak and stupid when a country like > Iran comes along and openly taunts us. Yet you're gung-ho to go to war with Iran because of words. If we move in an attack Iran because they claim they want nuclear power we will become the enemy of the world you claim we are now. > (3.) Because we don't have the resources to wage a consistent > democratic imperialist campaign against all nations with dictators, > we'd need ally support. We don't have it. What this has done is > embolden those dictator nations that we didn't invade. They know > we've got one foot in the bear trap. First of all there is no democratic imperialist campaign. Secondly, aren't all our allies working together to pressure Iran? Exactly the thing that you say can't happen is happening. > In a nutshell the problem is that we don't have the resources to > equally apply it and our allies don't support us. This violates the > first law of child psychology: if you're going to punish one kid for > running with scissors, you've got to punish them all. If you don't, > you look unfair, you lose respect, you lose moral authority, and you > become the oppressor rather than the liberator. Ask any child. Iraq invaded Kuwait and then had an agreement they didn't honor. What other country has shot at our planes? > At this point the law of unintended consequences takes over: the > people you intended to win over end up hating you. The countries you > though would fall to your domino gain a stronger hold on their people. > Your diplomatic power plummets as you showcase your weaknesses - both > military and with your allies. And then you lose. Who are our enemies now in the Middle East, Iran and Syria? Wasn't that list much longer a few years ago? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:207343 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
