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February 11, 2011 at 11:30 pm #715481
dobroParticipantTurns out they were right.
February 12, 2011 at 12:00 am #715482
JiggersMemberYou mean me being mental?
February 12, 2011 at 2:26 am #715483
DPMemberCase Study 2: Countries That Were Once Our Enemies
In contrast to Viet Nam, which, once upon a time tried to be our friend, and paid dearly for it, Germany and Japan engaged in all-out wars of aggression against us and our allies.
But after we had defeated them, we became best of friends and helped them get back on their feet with a timely infusion of cash and consumer goods, aka the “Marshall Plan.”
Granted, there was an angle with the Marshall Plan (there’s always an angle) but in any case, these two countries eventually got back on their feet and rose to become such strong competitors to us that one can only marvel and ask: Why did we we treat these former sworn enemies of ours so generously, while treating another country (a country that had once sought our friendship) so cruelly?
And indeed, it’s a wonderment.
In fact, I don’t know the answer. I’m only trying to describe what happened.
In my next post, I’ll describe, in the same general terms, the role the US has played in the Middle East over time.
Until then . . .
[We now return you to our regularly scheduled discussion of Christina Aguilera.]
February 14, 2011 at 9:01 am #715484
HMC RichParticipantWhat do I think you asked earlier? I just don’t know.
Peace, I hope. Opportunity for the Egyptian people.
February 14, 2011 at 11:44 pm #715485
JiggersMemberI wonder because of this revolution in Egypt, it will start to trigger more of them across the Mid-East? Look at what’s happening in Tehran now.
February 16, 2011 at 6:09 am #715486
JiggersMemberA revolution has really escalated over in Bahrain now. It is spreading world wide.
click,
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41597335/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa
February 16, 2011 at 7:13 pm #715487
JiggersMemberI’m glad Tunisia got rid of their dictator.
February 16, 2011 at 8:41 pm #715488
DPMemberI’ll be doing a separate post on the issue of Egypt soon, but just let me conclude my remarks on the schizophrenic way America acts toward the rest of the world . . .
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☺ America has been a very good friend to some countries — countries like France and England, for example, whose people or cultural institutions resemble our own in some way.
☺ She has also been a friend to some smaller nations, like Kosovo or Taiwan, whom she has tried to protect from the bullying of others.
☺ America has been a “friend” to countries whose dictators we liked or who had something we wanted, like Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
☺ She has even been a friend to some countries that were once our bitterest enemies — countries like Italy, England, Germany, and Japan, and even the USSR.
☺ ☻ America has been a mixed blessing for some countries (like the Phillipines, Iraq, and Afghanistan) whom we’ve tried to help in some ways but have hurt in others.
☻ America has been a cruel enemy to other countries who have done us no harm, or whose only offense against us was trying to assert their independence from us — countries like the Congo, Viet Nam, El Salvador, Iran, Cuba, and Nicaragua, to name but a few.
☻ America has been an enemy-by-default to still other countries, like Rwanda, Poland, and Spain, whom we could have helped, had we done so in a timely way. Instead, we only stood by and watched, while they suffered.
Â
Unfortunately for the rest of the world, there’s just no way to predict how America — so-called “leader of the free world” — will act in any given situation. Sometimes she acts nobly, defending her friends and forgiving her enemies. Other times she acts basely, abetting tyrants or ignoring the pleas of the defenseless.
This is clearly a problem, but there is a solution. We, as Americans, must take government back into our own hands in order to make sure that the actions our country takes abroad reflect the values we profess at home.
—DP ☺
February 19, 2011 at 11:06 am #715489
HMC RichParticipantHere is a conspiracy theory. I think Bush hired Achmidiniwackjob as the Iranian mouthpiece. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4030469,00.html
How ironic that the Iranian President was visiting “Bushehr” and made his stupid statements about our President.
February 21, 2011 at 2:03 am #715490
JiggersMemberThey’re going to get nasty in Libya.
February 21, 2011 at 2:57 am #715491
Genesee HillParticipantI cannot get happy, or sad, about what happens in the Middle East. I do not care.
February 24, 2011 at 3:55 pm #715492
JiggersMemberI hope you don’t drive or eat then Genessee. You’ll care when gas prices exceed past the 2008 high’s. Oil hit over a $100 a barrel yesterday. Inflation has already started and will worsen when fuel prices and shipping costs are affected. There won’t be a happy ending in this movie. Both comng to a theater near you. On the latest news is that Gadhafi is blaming bin Laden for the revolts…lol
February 24, 2011 at 10:25 pm #715493
JiggersMemberReports coming out that Gadhafi was shot.
I don’t think that’s true now since there’s no major stations verifying it.
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