Printable View
Women CAN vote. They just need more female ballot workers or somesuch. Something about men not being able to deal with women there... the actual reason for it is something like that but the specifics aren't at my disposal.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stone
Jesus people, have you learned nothing here at TNL?
STOP FEEDING THE TROLL!
I refuse to give the U.S. any credibility whatsoever when it comes to "spreading democracy" so long as they continue to sit on a half dozen territories.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Melf
Sit on your little island and be happy. ;)
For those that feel that the move on Iraq was bad even if the information about WMD's had been correct what action(s) if any would you have preferred we make against terrorists and or spreading democracy to the middle east?
More attention should have been brought to Afghanistan. What we're doing in Iraq is what we should have done there. Make sure that Al Qaeda and the warlords are completely taken care of and ensure that the country has a sound government and election process before we leave. Once we have a true "mission accomplished" and assess the lessons learned from that operation, we move on to the next country. Wash, rinse, and repeat.Quote:
Originally Posted by JMET
Also, capturing or killing Osama bin Laden would have been a good idea.
You can't end terrorism through military action. Why? Because terrorism is a tactic not an entity, and is a social dilemma. Ergo, I think the best way to really 'combat terrorism' would be to eliminate the conditions that cause the people to resort to terrorism. In the case of the Middle East, the big issue is solving the Palestinian problem. If a truly workable solution were presented and then supported by the world community until it came to fruition, I think it would strike a much bigger blow to terrorism than any amount of killing.Quote:
Originally Posted by JMET
Also, another jihadist hotspot is Chechnya. We really need to get Putin and the Chechen authorities talking instead of shooting and bombing eachother. The UN (with US support) should get the two sides talking and make them both realize neither is going to get everything they want right away. I can't stress enough the importance of compromise. The Russians need to come to grips with the fact they can't maintain their strangehold on all of the former Soviet territories, and the Chechens need to realize that acts of terrorism only undermines their cause rather than supports it.
As far as 'spreading democracy' in the Middle East. Well, I don't think you can ever really force someone to be free. The call for democracy must come from within and be orchestrated by the people. We could have had this in Iraq in the 90s, they did have it in Iran until we installed the Shah, etc. My point is that we should enable the people to make themselves free, rather than make it our business to force our concept of freedom on them.
We also have less support around that country though don't we? By taking Iraq the goal of doing this to any other country in the middle east slightly more feasible.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cowdisease
Afghanistan has become exactly what it was prior to the Taliban; a loosely organized oligarchy of warlords and drug barons supported by a vibrant and established narco-economy. Our installed government there holds no power outside the capial city, much in the same way of its predecessors.Quote:
Originally Posted by Thief~Silver
I suppose we can only wait and see if the cycle comes full circle and the current government is eventually overthrown by another Muslim theocracy that will brutally oppress the people, but manage to cut the legs out from under the drug trade.
Not if the Commies can help it!Quote:
Originally Posted by g0zen
Afghanistan is threatened by invasion from Cuba on a daily basis.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gohron