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Rteacher
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Western MA, USA
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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 Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 6:40 am Post subject: |
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It's a very delicate, iffy situation.
I suppose we could elect someone like Romney, who is supported and advised by the neo-cons and are heavily sympathetic with Netanyahu and start flinging missiles, bombs, drones, and some bunker-buster bombs toward Iran.
We could elect someone like Santorum who seems more or less of the bring-on-the-apocalypse crowd. Same result as above.
A third alternative is electing someone like Ron Paul who wants to withdraw from the UN, withdraw from NATO, withdraw from any responsibilities of a major power. That went really well in the mid-1930's, didn't it?
Or we could keep a cooler, saner head in the White House and hope he has the wherewithal to not make a mistake. It is not a guarantee, but it does highlight how important it is to use the franchise responsibly to avoid as much as possible putting idiots in control of our country. |
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comm
Joined: 22 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 7:55 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
A third alternative is electing someone like Ron Paul who wants to withdraw from the UN, withdraw from NATO, withdraw from any responsibilities of a major power. That went really well in the mid-1930's, didn't it?
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Actually, it did. By not being constantly involved in the affairs of Europe and the world at large, our economy was strong enough to undertake the efforts required for WWII. Or did you mean that we should have invaded Germany, put boots on the ground in China to push back the Japanese, and conducted a forcible "regime change" in Italy? A more apt comparison for our current military spending (equal to 43% of total world military spending) is the Soviet Union of the 1980's. Too many threats for the Soviets to cut the military, but the U.S. economy made them irrelevant.
Iran may get a weapon that it could never test and would never use, or it would face total and immediate annihilation... but we have to sanction it into lashing out and spend billions on a war there. All the while, China chugs along in peaceful prosperity, becoming the United States to our Soviet Union. By expending ourselves on Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, not only are we depriving our country of badly-needed social programs... we're also making it impossible to respond to the next German invasion of Poland or Japanese invasion of China. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 9:01 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
A third alternative is electing someone like Ron Paul who wants to withdraw from the UN, withdraw from NATO, withdraw from any responsibilities of a major power. That went really well in the mid-1930's, didn't it? |
None of these things will happen under a Paul presidency. |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 9:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Very iffy. Iran is isolated the regime in Syria it's ally is in deep trouble. turkey is expanding it's influence in the region. Iran has deep internal divisions. Really would like to see the Europeans more involved but hey they can hide behind the U.S. fleet. Obama seems to be playing it about right, just enough pressure and time will take care of the problem. |
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crescent
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: yes.
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| Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 4:54 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
A third alternative is electing someone like Ron Paul who wants to withdraw from the UN, withdraw from NATO, withdraw from any responsibilities of a major power. That went really well in the mid-1930's, didn't it? |
This seems to come from all RP bashers. There's a difference between the multitude of wars of aggression started by the US, and those in which allies would ask for protection. I don't believe even an RP government would shy away from the later, especially since the government runs beyond the office of the president.
Why can't relationships between allies can be maintained without the farce that is the UN, and the ties of NATO?
Still, referencing the foreign policies of the 1930's?... as if the US is any better off now, post Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Sure have mastered the art of printing money, though. |
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