From: Charles Hixson (charleshixsn@earthlink.net)
Date: Fri Aug 23 2002 - 09:54:04 MDT
Brian D Williams wrote:
>>From: "Technotranscendence" <neptune@mars.superlink.net>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>>A much quicker way to lessen Washington's power would be for
>>European nations to get out of NATO and ask US troops to leave.
>>The latter would certainly cut down on the incidence of rapes,
>>injuries, and deaths caused by US military forces in Europe.)
>>
>>
>
>Gee, if you'd have asked us 40 years ago we could have saved
>several fortunes, and you'd all be speaking fluent Russian by now.
>
40 years ago our government wasn't the leading predatory power on the
planet. And the US wasn't in Europe for Europe's benefit, though they
did benefit. So don't get too self-righteous. We were there for our
own benefit. And it worked. We thought that we had more to gain by
building strong economies among our closer allies, and those who felt
even more threatened by our opposition than we did. And it worked. To
the benfit of both parties. But somewhere along the way, we seem to
have misplaced out moral compass. This frequently happens as countries
become more powerful. Now instead of just being one of the strongest
guys around, we're the chief bully on the planet. And don't think that
others haven't noticed.
There are, of course, justifications. There are always justifications.
There have been justifications for each step along the way. And all
they prove is that it's possible to justify nearly anything. All you
need to do is keep changing your grounds. And be vague and emotional
about the logical steps involved.
>I do support withdrawing U.S. troops from Europe as well as Asia or
>anywhere else by the way.
>
Be careful here now. Being the biggest bully sets you up as a target,
but the target sign doesn't go away just as soon as you stop acting like
a bully. The basic idea is correct, but the details need to be worked
out quite carefully. Of course, we don't really need to worry about
this, because our government isn't going to consider anything that would
limit it's power. Grandiose Paranoia, I believe it would be called in a
person. You can't say, exactly, that it's delusional, because we *are*
the biggest bully currently on the planet. And we *are* turning
everyone into our enemies. And there *isn't* any obvious way out of
this. But the grandiose paranoia is present, and the delusions that
justify whatever we do are present, mainly in the upper levels of
government, but to an extent they seem to have become pandemic. In some
people it's more grandiose, and in others it's more protective. This
tends to make rational decision making quite difficult. And it also
tends to make the decisions that need to be made more difficult, at the
same time. Ouch!
When we withdrew from Japan, it was after converting the Japanese into allies. Even then, we used our status as conquerors to insist on some constitutional guidelines restricting their ability to spend money to increase their armies. (Later, during the cold war, they used those same restrictions against us, when we wanted their army to pick up some of the burden. But those were the rules which we had set.) And likewise, this would be a good time for use to withdraw from Europe, in a staged withdrawal. But there are other places where the locals aren't all that friendly, and we have acted in such a way as to increase hostility. Ideally, before withdrawing, we would do something that would cause the people to remember us fondly after we left. In most places this would be possible, but a bit of care is needed, and, to copy an earlier thread, local knowledge would need to be applied to make the gesture effective. Simple bribery is rarely a good answer, though a good public works project will often help.
Preferably with local construction done by local people. The trick is creating a sturcture that will remain intact and durable. This requires that it be maintainable by local people, and that the maintenance not cost them more than the benefit that they get from it. In some places, this could be accomplished by a water and sanitation project, but local knowledge is required.
>Brian
>
>Member:
>Extropy Institute, www.extropy.org
>National Rifle Association, www.nra.org, 1.800.672.3888
>SBC/Ameritech Data Center Chicago, IL, Local 134 I.B.E.W
>
-- -- Charles Hixson Gnu software that is free, The best is yet to be.
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