#I'm back
5 messages in this thread
Jack,
1815-1914 certainly had some horrible civil wars. Somalia and Yugoslavia are
civilian wars. These civilian wars are in a sense becoming World Wars because
of the involvement of the United Nations. Human rights and perhaps even
environmental issues may force nations to intervene in the internal affairs of
other countries. If the Japanese can influence U. S. economic policy, what else
is possible? I'm sure that the U. S. has involved itself in the internal
affairs of Grenada, Panama, Iran, Vietnam etc. and probably other countries in
less obvious ways.
Paul
Involving ourselves in the affairs of other nations is a constant, not
something new, that's all I'm saying. And a good examination of the wars and
revolutions around 1848 and 1871 will show you that civilian wars aren't that
unusual, either.
The most instructive thing about the Serbs and their ethnic clensing
campaign is how eerily similar the political reaction is to that of German
activities in that area in the Thirties. Europe could have stopped it when it
first started but they said "Tsk tsk!" instead. Now that things are out of hand
and beyond any real help, they are wringing their hands and saying "Oh, my! We
wish we could do something for those poor wretches! More sanctions!" And since
it is basically a European problem, we really couldn't do a thing without their
support. It's over. The west failed again, as usual.
I can only find amusement that it is the left, the very folks who were so
against Vietnam and all the rest, even anti-Gulf War, who are crying the
loudest for us to intervene militarily there, led by columnist Anthony Lewis,
who always considered any intervention evil, while all the right wing
institutions and politicians they always decried for this sort of thing are
saying "No way."
Anecdote about U.S. involvement abroad (while living in Ecuador in '63):
The President, Carlos Julio Arosemana Monroy, besides being anti-Yanqui, was a
drunk, showed up in his cups at a diplomatic community reception. After more
consumption, he said he would show his disdain, and climbed on the table,
walked up it, stopped before the U.S. Ambassador and relieved himself.
The U.S. financed and trained military overthrew the government in about 48
hours.
This never appeared in the press in the U.S. In fact, Slime reported it in such
a manner that one would have thought they were talking about an entirely
different country.
That was when I quit going to the U.S. Ambassador's monthly briefings for the
U.S. business community. (Not because I was afraid he had not bathed; because
we did not get the truth.)
I keep looking for the word "Zenophobia" below the Great Seal on dollar
bills…
You actually expect the truth from government briefings? How naive….
I grew up in close proximity to Washington, D.C. I know better.
And I _learned_ better. My only excuse for going to the briefings is that I was
18 at the time, which also caused me some problems. They did not believe I was
real, and I returned the sentiments intact.