Are we going to war again?

Radicals killing unimportant people for their own political needs?

You just summed that up better than I could have, thanks.

 

Ignore the facts. If we exercised a scorched earth policy, like what the radicals wished they could do, this thing would've been finished long ago, with about 2 Iraqis left standing after all is said and done. To say that we are the equal of Islamic radicals........I reserve my opinion.

We do not see, what we do not WANT to see.

 

Well, so you seem to be leaving out the part about there needing to be some imminent threat to the US.

The power and preemption of differing laws gets very muddy once you start dealing with the UN, as well. Treaties, ratified by congress, have incredible binding power over many internal laws/statutes and are on par with constitutional amendments (!!!). Diplomatic agreements and resolutions made by the executive branch (President), not ratified by congress, are also given heavy weight.

Its tricky because the US's participation in the UN security council came from a formal treaty (I believe, at the root) and that power and participation in the terms of that treaty might not require any additional congressional approval. Remember, the action is technically being taken as part of a UN initiative, not some "coalition of the willing" (ie: the Bush wars).

I'll have to look into these details more when I have the time. An interesting topic.

 

was iraq an imminent threat (not even close)?

was bosnia?

was granada?

how 'bout haiti? panama? etc., etc., ad nauseum.

we're an (economic, political, cultural, and/or military) imperialistic superpower. it's just what we do.

 

And where exactly are our colonies?

If you should venture to call Iraq and Afghanistan colonies, it is patently obvious that we pour more money in there that we extract Rather than an imperialist conqueror, sounds more like a sugar daddy to me

 

Right. Where we disagree with the rationale and justifications made for trying to fit that square peg into the round hole... that doesnt mean they didnt try to spin the issue as such.

 

So, we could have won if only we had the political will to carry out a mass extermination instead of doing a haphazard job?

That's not exactly comforting.

And yes, we are an empire. Count up the number of countries the US has a military installation in.

 

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/empire

Out of all 7 noun descriptions there, I fail to see one that fits.

I'm not going to debate this, but my feeling is, wth are we doing in Libya? Talk about a lose-lose situation.

 

Number 4.

We are spreading freedom with bombs again. It's what we do. We're also distracting the world from what our buddies in places like Bahrain are doing...

 

Without counting the countries we keep military bases handy on, or the people in nations that under that fall under the umbrella of our economic control, there are these:

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=US+Outlying+Territories&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

 

"1.79 million bbl/day (2009 est.)" per Cia Website, more than welcome to do the math.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ly.html

or other sites


http://www.iags.org/n0524041.htm

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_oil_does_the_US_import_from_Libya

 

Without counting the countries we keep military bases handy on, or the people in nations that fall under the umbrella of our economic control, there are these:

http://www.google.com/search?client=...UTF-8&oe=UTF-8--ManinaShed

^^^

"We only see what we WANT to see."

Most of the world sees us as imperialists; it's just hard for us to see it from inside the bubble. I'd like to think that we're at least a benevolent empire. And we do have dog on our side--or in liz's case about 7 dogs. : )

I think I'm done with this subject. How 'bout starting a new one, Liz: Are we going to ride again? (and if so, where/when)

 

"Supreme power in governing"? We don't govern the countries we have bases in. Try again.

 

No we don't, but what a great strategy. Forward deployment on others soverign soil. That is how GB, DER, FRA, get away without having much of a standing army. You as an American taxpayer do it for them. And they love us for it, while pissing down our back, and spitting in our face. Its a love-hate relationship, they love your money and would hate defending themselves.

 

Blah blah blah and on and on it goes... Democratus knew his method would fail beyond a given population density, as education can't possibly keep up. Democracy was mob rule, and our Federal Republic is the chatter of mob rule ignored. The idealists Christos (christs, the biblican ones, unified) and the Dalai Llamas (all of them too) were wrong. Rationalism and compassion is for suckers. Greed, competiveness and aggression win, so long as slug-brained arseholes have equal say and are lazy enough to slip above your ethically superior restraint with a good bash on the head. What can you do, ignore them? Kill whom you have to, enslave the rest if you can. That is civilization. Profit. Enjoy. Or don't. They're all dead & gone soon enough. Doesn't matter either way. I almost hate to misuse Alexanders favorite saying, "Fortune favors the bold" but in its modern meaning it applies as well, even if the bold have been on a steadily regressive ethical track since his time. The pendulum swings wider with each passing.

The great, infuriatingly neutral culdesac of human progress, circles the drain.

Ride yer bike. Smile.

Dance a little in the sunshine.

It's all you've got.

 

Military Industrial complex FTW. :-\ I hate to push the isolationist agenda, but almost the entire world hates us regardless of what we do. So what's the point of trying to help? Let the world deal with their own problems and see how far that gets them.

I get what you say about democracies. That's why the U.S. is a republic. Democracies invariably oppress the minorities because the majority has more votes.

 

lookup Glencor IPO and Mark Rich, very interesting. Might help explain oil prices

LoL..... those Clintons are all over this.

 

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Who are they? :lol: