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jpn of Seattle
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« on: November 04, 2007, 08:30:11 PM » |
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Undebated Challenges Sherle R. Schwenninger The most damaging part of the Bush foreign policy legacy is not the precipitous decline in American power and influence brought about by the disastrous Iraq occupation. It is the way the Administration's "war on terror" and its neoimperial project in the Middle East have distorted our vision of the world. They magnify out of all proportion what should at worst be minor threats to our national security and ignore much larger developments, such as the extraordinary economic rise of China and India, which are having a much more profound effect on the American way of life. Just how distorted our vision of the world has become has been on constant display during the primary campaign leading up to the 2008 elections. The major candidates from both parties have followed a foreign policy narrative dominated by Iraq, Iran and Islamic extremism. Promising to see the Iraq War through to a successful conclusion, the Republicans want to extend Bush's policies into a generational war against Islamic extremism, which they see as a new totalitarian threat. Democratic candidates have committed themselves to getting out of Iraq--or at least vastly reducing America's presence there--and to fighting a smarter war against terrorism while restoring America's global leadership. But they, too, seem intent on proving their toughness, even to the point of pursuing many of the same goals that led to the loss of America's standing in the first place. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071119/schwenninger================================= I agree with this article that the threat of terrorist acts will always be a part of modern life, and should be taken seriously. But let's keep our perspectives; far more Americans have died for lack of healthcare or from hard drugs. Our obsession with it is skewing our priorities.
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« Last Edit: November 04, 2007, 08:36:08 PM by jpn of Seattle »
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What you got is everything-and I mean everything—run by the political arm. It’s the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis. --John DiIulio, former White House official
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jpn of Seattle
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« Reply #1 on: November 04, 2007, 08:39:21 PM » |
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On a related note, we need to get over this anti-Muslim obsession, too. The Republican candidates have taken their cues from Bush and his Administration. They have continued to vastly exaggerate the threat from terror attacks (far more Americans have died for lack of healthcare or from hard drugs) and have demonized Muslims. India's Hindu-extremist RSS, the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, the Lord's Resistance Army of Uganda and Colombia's FARC (a hard-drug smuggler) are seldom referred to by Republican politicians worried about terrorists, even though all these movements have been extremely violent and have threatened US interests.
Advocates of the "war on terror" fantasize about the Muslim world as a Soviet Union-type challenge to the United States. In fact, the dozens of countries with majority Muslim populations are mostly strong allies of the United States. One, Turkey, is a NATO ally, and six (Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Pakistan) are non-NATO allies. Only fourteen countries have this status, so Muslim states make up nearly half. The United States counts many other friends in the region, having significant frictions only with Sudan, Syria and Iran, and those are mixed pictures (Syria and Sudan helped against Al Qaeda, and Iran sought a strategic alliance with the United States against Saddam Hussein in early 2003).
The Republicans are playing Russian roulette with America's future with their bigoted anti-Muslim rhetoric. Muslims may constitute as much as a third of humankind by 2050, forming a vast market and a crucial labor pool. They will be sitting on the lion's share of the world's energy resources. The United States will increasingly have to compete with emerging rivals such as China and India for access to those Muslim resources and markets, and if its elites go on denigrating Muslims, America will be at a profound disadvantage during the next century. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071119/cole |
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What you got is everything-and I mean everything—run by the political arm. It’s the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis. --John DiIulio, former White House official
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cat_fta
Full Member
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Posts: 101
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« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2007, 06:13:06 PM » |
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On a happier note need not to wary about all the "Wars of terror" and the American foreign policy.
If you follow history, all empires come and go, none of them can stay forever. So, the happy thing I'm talking about is that the anglo-saxon empire's time is approaching the end of it's climax. From now on there is only one way down and this trend will get accelerated with the end of cheap energy resources.
As you remarkably noticed, the next empire is coming from Asia, where they have waste human resources as opposed to American and European continent combined.
When the energy resources will end, the human resources will be valuable. China and India are the next power players.
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Freedom just for us, not for all.
Democracy is OK as long as is my way.
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neue regel
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« Reply #3 on: November 05, 2007, 06:33:19 PM » |
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Ignoring the lessons of 9/11 is not a winning strategy. We will have to be more than a few years removed from the collapse of those buildings to view it in the light of the author. They magnify out of all proportion what should at worst be minor threats to our national security He can say that ONLY because of the undeniably remarkable job done by this administration in quashing terrorism in this country. Bush has done it without the help of the Democrats. He has done it at the expense of his worthless poll numbers. He couldn't care less because he has a job to do and he's doing it. I can only imagine how small people like Cindy Sheehan, Michael Moore, etc...will look through the prism of history. |
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-And Justice For All-
Jr. Member
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Posts: 65
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« Reply #4 on: November 05, 2007, 07:08:50 PM » |
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There will always be terrorism in some form or another. The "war on terror" is like the "war on drugs". These things will always be around. It's impossible to stop, as long as there's human beings being born there's always going to be one or two who are going to snap, maybe even form a little crazy group of people. I'm not saying we shouldn't try to prevent terrorism but we shouldn't live in daily fear and attack every country in the world like George W wants us to do. Terrorism has been happening long before 9/11 too, everyone these days acts like it's a new thing. Anyone remember the uni-bomber, the first Trade Center bombing, the Oklahoma bombing by Timothy McVeigh? I agree with this article though it takes perspective off of everything else going on in the world including the atrocities going on in Africa.
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jpn of Seattle
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« Reply #5 on: November 05, 2007, 07:24:27 PM » |
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Ignoring the lessons of 9/11 is not a winning strategy. We will have to be more than a few years removed from the collapse of those buildings to view it in the light of the author. They magnify out of all proportion what should at worst be minor threats to our national security He can say that ONLY because of the undeniably remarkable job done by this administration in quashing terrorism in this country. Bush has done it without the help of the Democrats. He has done it at the expense of his worthless poll numbers. He couldn't care less because he has a job to do and he's doing it. I can only imagine how small people like Cindy Sheehan, Michael Moore, etc...will look through the prism of history. What are the lessons to be learned from 9/11? What are the lessons to be learned from 47 million Americans without health insurance? Quashing terrorism isn this country? Man, talk about resolutely determined to miss the point... Bush has a job to do? What is that job? Turning the entire globe against America? Letting bin Laden enjoy his retirement while we chase phantom WMDs in a country that had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11 but serves as a great recruiting and training ground for terrorists? Slashing taxes for him and his rich friends so we have few resources to take expensive measures such as securing our ports and hazardous industrial sites and cyber networks? Bush is unpopular not because he's dedicated to securing our nation at the cost of his popularity. Bus is unpopular because most Americans recognize how utterly inept and counterproductive his efforts have been. |
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What you got is everything-and I mean everything—run by the political arm. It’s the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis. --John DiIulio, former White House official
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neue regel
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« Reply #6 on: November 05, 2007, 07:48:17 PM » |
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Bush has a job to do? What is that job? To protect this country. Turning the entire globe against America? Entire globe? You have a flare for the dramatic. Letting bin Laden enjoy his retirement while we chase phantom WMDs in a country that had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11 but serves as a great recruiting and training ground for terrorists? OBL is pinned in the mountains of Pakistan...neutralized. Do you suggest we invade them? What are the political consequences of that move? Slashing taxes for him and his rich friends so we have few resources to take expensive measures such as securing our ports and hazardous industrial sites and cyber networks? We are taking in record receipts. I expect you already knew this but thought, perhaps, I didn't. Bush is unpopular not because he's dedicated to securing our nation at the cost of his popularity. Bus is unpopular because most Americans recognize how utterly inept and counterproductive his efforts have been. Wrong. Bush is unpopular because, on many issues, he hasn't been nearly strong enough...including spending and immigration. Don't be foolish enough to think that miraculously, the nutty politics of the left have some how caught on. Believe me, they haven't. |
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jpn of Seattle
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« Reply #7 on: November 05, 2007, 08:01:22 PM » |
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We are taking in record receipts. I expect you already knew this but thought, perhaps, I didn't. And you know the last time we were taking in record receipts? After the tax hikes of 1993. Tax revenues break records almost every year in which there isn't a recession or massive tax cuts. Finally the economy has grown enough to overcome the lag in reciepts caused by his tax cuts and the 2001 recession. This isn't rocket science. Your man Bush promised that his tax cuts would not endanger the surplus. I guess either he lied or he doesn't understand basic economics. I'm frankly not sure which one it was. Wrong. Bush is unpopular because, on many issues, he hasn't been nearly strong enough...including spending and immigration. Don't be foolish enough to think that miraculously, the nutty politics of the left have some how caught on. Believe me, they haven't. Thus Neue offers a classic example of "whistling past the graveyard." Let's compare notes next November, Neue. If you're still around. By the way, who are you supporting? Rudy? Mitt? |
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« Last Edit: November 05, 2007, 08:03:44 PM by jpn of Seattle »
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What you got is everything-and I mean everything—run by the political arm. It’s the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis. --John DiIulio, former White House official
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Abraxas
Global Moderator
Hero Member
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"You do not speak for the rest"
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« Reply #8 on: November 05, 2007, 08:11:40 PM » |
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We've been ignoring (and subtely pissing off) China for too long. It's ginna nip us in the bud eventually and we will be wholly unprepared and at a GROSS economic disadvantage.
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Either you repeat the same conventional doctrines everybody is saying, or else you say something true, and it will sound like its from Neptune.
- Noam Chomsky
... you can almost see the high water mark - that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.
- Hunter S. Thompson
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jpn of Seattle
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« Reply #9 on: November 05, 2007, 08:18:51 PM » |
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China is the 800-pound (god, how do you spell gerilla?)  However, they have huge domestic problems they are not addressing very well at this point. Their ground water is drying up, their pollution is terrible, they have severe ethnic strife in the western portion of the country, and their infrastructure is haphazzard. Still, they are a huge force to be reckoned with in the future. It would be better to be with them rather than against them. We may want to re-think our attachment to Taiwan. |
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What you got is everything-and I mean everything—run by the political arm. It’s the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis. --John DiIulio, former White House official
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