From: Kai Becker (kmb@kai-m-becker.de)
Date: Sun Dec 16 2001 - 13:48:49 MST
Am Sonntag, 16. Dezember 2001 18:49 schrieb Spike Jones:
> I know of no ways we are acting that are not right. Where would
> we get that information if not thru negotiation? That information
> must come thru legitimate governments. If the taliban have a
> problem with American troops in Saudi, they must take it up with
> the Saudi government. Likewise with the Israeli government. Are
> they afraid to do this? Why?
You have certainly heard about the ongoing war between Israel and the
Palestinians. There is terror from both sides, suicide bombings against
high-tech missiles, hate and fear for fifty years now. An interesting
system of conflicting but self replicating memes, btw.
You may then wonder, why such a small state as Israel still stands and
seems to be the only flourishing country in the region. One of the reasons
are billions of dollars, mostly from people in the US. Without this money,
Israel would have seized to exist thrirty years ago or so. This feeds the
opinion of many people in the middle east, that the USA are the enemy
behind and therefore is a wrong way. (Other reasons have to do with the
natural resources of the Israel/Palestine region, that Israel has occupied.
They use it almost for free for their farms, while palestinian farmers have
to pay for their own water.)
You have probably heard that the U.N. made several initiatives to stop the
killing and promote a peace process. But do you also know the long list of
resolutions of the security council that were stopped because of US veto?
Samantha called it the knee-jerk reflex, and it is just that. The leading
nation of the world ignores international law and only uses it when it
suits its own interests. This is why many people have no faith in
international institutions but only in violence. This is therefor a wrong
way.
There are several militant groups in every country in the middle east, even
in Saudi Arabia. So, there is already war and terror in the middle east.
But it seems that it was very easy to ignore, unless it came right into
your house. Ignoring the problems of others in an interdependend world is,
as we see, a wrong way.
One last example. The US president very easily got 40 billion dollars to
arrange the largest weapon test of the last decades. With these 40 billion
dollars, they could have bought the whole country of Afghanistan several
years ago, when they left the Mudshahed alone, build nice cities with
schools and hospitals and no Taliban would have gained power and no bin
Laden would have had a chance to set up terrorist camps. Leaving former
allies alone is therefore a wrong way.
Kai
P.S. There is still more. You can find a long list of wrong ways in Noam
Chomskys book "Rogue States : The Rule of Force in World Affairs".
-- == Kai M. Becker == kmb@kai-m-becker.de == Bremen, Germany == "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced"
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