use Perl

• "news" (Score:1)

  by pudge (1)

  Perhaps the most important taboo is the longevity of the United States as both a terrorist state and a haven for terrorists. That the US is the only state on record to have been condemned by the World Court for international terrorism (in Nicaragua) and has vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling on governments to observe international law, is unmentionable.
  
  The only reason they are the "only one" is because such a court would never ever go after one of the real terrorist states. That Iraq has not
  • Re:"news" (Score:1)

    by jjohn (22) on 2002.07.18 18:47 (#10829) Homepage Journal

    I was wondering how long it was going to take you to bite. :-D

    The last two links selected can safely be called extreme Left views. It is interesting to note that Noam Chomsky (whose 9-11 book I'm currently reading) and Wallerstein both see the extreme Left as discredited (and presumably consider themselves apart from that crowd).

    It appears that you assume that the UN is anti-American and therefore their condemnation is illegimate. Chomsky and Wallerstein seem to believe that bad US foreign policy is to blame and take the UN debacle as evidence of US guilt.

    I think the truth is somewhere in between.

    I think there have been many instances where US foreign policy has been needlessly brutal and ill-considered. Where's the elegance in that? The US has also been responsible for a lot of good. Where would Europe be without the Marshall Plan or Japan without US reconstruction efforts? Although it is easy too, let's not forget about the Peace Core and the Red Cross.

    It's probably unwise not to acknowledge that anti-American sentiment is rooted in part in US foreign policy. One could also cogently argue that the US is the target of envy by less prosperous countries. The US involvement in training Nicaraguan "freedom fighters" (nee terrorists) in the 1980s is what the UN condemned.

    Look very carefully at the case, because it sends a mixed message about trying to fight terrorism by only legal means as Nicaragua did.

    All things being equal, I'd be happy for the US to turn in its "superpower" badge to become more like Northern Europe. Shorter work hours, better health care, less hate.

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    • Re:"news" (Score:1)

      by pudge (1)

      It appears that you assume that the UN is anti-American and therefore their condemnation is illegimate. Chomsky and Wallerstein seem to believe that bad US foreign policy is to blame and take the UN debacle as evidence of US guilt.
      
      I think the truth is somewhere in between.
      
      The point is that it is nearly self-evident, that by any possible measure what the US did in Nicaragua pales in comparison to what other nations, like Iraq, like Afghanistan, have done. Where's the condemnation? And it is also self-ev