HEllo Bob,

On Thu 2039-Feb-17 23:51, BOB KLAHN (1:123/140) wrote to RICHARD WEBB:

BK>  Well... yeah. And we should pull the 5th fleet out of Bahrain. 
BK> They have the same sort of protests, and are killing the
BK>  protestors. We don't need to be getting tied to that.

INdeed we should, but probably won't.

 RW>> EH?  1979-80 didn't look like a friendly democratic regime
 RW>> to me.  I grant they were growing that direction.  IN fact,

BK>>  By 2001 they were supporting the US in the WOT. However, Bush
BK>> needed enemies more than he needed allies.

 RW> MIght be, but still imho appeared to be another despotic
 RW> state, iow a theocracy.

BK>  So is Israel, but that doesn't stop us from supporting them.  Iran
BK> was on the way to democracy. Who knows how much of the  detour is
BK> due to Bush trashing them.

WHO can tell, but as for ISrael, I haven't been an ISrael
supporter for a long time.



BK>>> Since mid Dec of last year, Tunisia and Egypt have had
BK>>>  successful rebellions. Jordan, Algeria, Yemen and Bahrain have
BK>>> been subject to enough protests to force the governments to make
BK>>> changes.

 RW>> RIght, and that one could still blow up even though the
 RW>> vote is in.  There's still some pretty bad blood in Sudan.

BK>  True. The US needs to talk to the leaders there, and let them 
BK> know, if they go for democracy they get full support.

BK>>  Yep. It could. Which is why the US needs to get out of Iraq and
BK>> Afghanisan, so we can have a credible military to support
BK>>  democratic govts when the locals establish them.

 RW> wHole region is still a powderkeg, and likely to get worse
 RW> as climate conditions change.

BK>  Yeah, but climate change is a fraud don't you know. Ask the 
BK> Australians swimming in their streets, or the Chinese enjoying 
BK> their extended dry spell, or the African nations now getting  ready
BK> to fight over the Nile water.

I'm supposed to buy into the assertion this is a fraud made
by the same scamsters who ripped off the American taxpayer
to the tune of millions for this tarp horse hockey.  

BK>>> democracy. Supporting a country on the basis of how it suits our
BK>>> needs is how we lose countries. It's how we are losing in Iraq  and
BK>>> Afghanistan. It's how Iran and Venezuala turned against us.  It's
BK>>> how we lost in Vietnam.

 RW> Agreed, to a point.  Local self determination is always
 RW> preferrable, but i have the same objections to a
 RW> "christian" theocracy, or any other theocracy for that
 RW> matter. 

BK>  I agree. As I said, mix government and religion and it's bad for 
BK> both.

OF course it is, but we still have plenty of that mixture,
and the religionists want more.

BK>>>  We need to look at one thing only, what is best for the people
BK>>> there.

 RW>> Indeed, that should be the biggest factor in our decision.

 RW> But it rarely is, it's usually commercial interests that
 RW> carry the day.

BK>  Need to also declare any corporate involvement in suppressing 
BK> human rights won't be tolerated, and we don't care what country 
BK> that corporation is from.

But then we'd be severely punishing our own, and punishing
the biggest ISrael boosters from their NEw York City board
rooms.

BK>>  Which takes us back to the Wahabi, and the Saudis, being the  prime
BK>> source of anti-US terror.

 RW> OF course it does, and the ease with which they can coopt
 RW> democracy movements over there.

BK>  Just today reading the reason Al Qaeda has been totally silent  on
BK> Egypt, it's a denial of everything Al Qaeda stands for. Seems  Al
BK> Qaeda hates the Muslim Brotherhood. The MB renounced
BK>  violence, and this revolution was pulled off peacefully. Al  Qaeda
BK> stands for violent revolution, and this shows them up  badly.

COol!

BK>>>  Isn't it interesting that the biggest claim of superiority we  can
BK>>> make against a related religion is that we *IGNORE* our own
BK>>> religious teachings and traditions.



Regards,
           Richard
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin:  (1:116/901)