Re: a dumb query? pls humor me
Ron Johnson wrote:
> On 03/06/07 04:14, Paul Johnson wrote:
>> Roberto C. Sanchez wrote:
>>
>>> On Mon, Mar 05, 2007 at 03:31:40PM -0800, Paul Johnson wrote:
>>>> Roberto C. Sanchez wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Ummm, many of the overseas military bases are in place at
>>>>> the *invitation* of the host governments.
>>>> OK, then the host country should be providing revenue equal
>>>> to expenses incurred on behalf of American taxpayers at the
>>>> base. They want us to fight their fights for them, they can
>>>> pay us.
>>>>
>>> We also go there so that we can fight the bad guys before they
>>> get to us on American soil.
>>
>> That crosses the line from defense to offense. My tax dollars go
>> to
>
> When we were in "defense" mode, the WTC was bombed twice, two
> embassies blown up and a warship almost sunk. (And I'm probably
> forgetting some episodes.)
Welcome to what the rest of the western world has been dealing with for
years. Be glad we didn't get world-class wingnut terrorism on this side of
the Atlantic sooner. Cowering in fear behind the American flag doesn't
stop the fact that sooner or later, no matter who is in charge, how many
countries you invade or how many wars you fight, someone will find new and
creative ways to be massively destructive and/or scare the living daylights
out of people.
The only way you can even make this appear to work is if you rewrite history
a-la Orwellian Oceania.
> *Clearly* defense wasn't working.
Asymmetrical warfare doesn't fix anything, either. See also Korea, Vietnam,
Afghanistan, Iraq...
>>>> term. What the hell do you think is going to happen when you
>>>> provide aid of any sort to a country run by a warlord?
>>>>
>>> The people of Somalia were starving *becuase* of the warlords.
>>
>> Actually, I think it probably had a lot more to do with too much
>> population growth in the middle of a region with next to no
>
> That's just not true. This world, particularly the West, already
> produces enough food to feed *everyone*, even while paying them not
> to grow food.
Quick: Ship perishable food with plenty of time to spare before it expires
halfway around a planet.
> 50 years ago, starvation was "natural". Now it's *only* a political
> weapon.
Famine and starvation is both unfortunate and natural. It's been used as a
political weapon just as often throughout history.
>> farmable land or economic resources. You can't really foreign
>> aid your way around a despot and extreme famine, unfortunately,
>> especially if the despot happens to have popular support with the
>> locals as appeared to be the case in Mogadishu.
>
> You've finally said something sensible!!!
So can we finally stop providing aid to countries primarily controlled by
warlords until after they go through their populist revolution and settle
the situation? You know, someone who we can bill for pulling them from the
brink? If the rest of the world's going to hold us accountable for our
foreign debt, it's time we hire a collection agency and recover what other
people owe us.
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