And why were you making fun of Yoshie for talking about
>the
> > White Man's Burden ? Your version isn't racist--it's culturalist. The
> > Civilized Democratic World has the right, even the duty, to bring
> > Enlightenment and Freedom to the oppressed masses living in darkness.
>
>Actually, I think the broad point is best phrased as Napoleonic, since that
>was the first wave of invasion backed by the idea of spreading democratic
>enlightenment ideals.
Oh,s o Georgoe Porgie's Napolean nopw,a nd the US Army is the ARmy of the Republic, spreading Enlightenment hither and yon. We ha have another Hitchens in in the making, I fear. I mean, Nathan, this is totally laughable, or would be if it were not so sad.
Without democracy, governments have no legitimate
>sovereignty over their peoples so other governments have as much right to
>displace them as they do to hold that illegitimate power. The issue is not
>the "oppressed masses" since they have no say either way.
So, to be clear, you defend the intrammeled right of the US to overthrow any regime that is not a liberal democracy, as long as the US imposes a liberal democracy in power.
So you'd trust the world's imperialist hyperpower, which dominates
>the globe
> > militarily, and butchers those who dissert, and which just announced,
>lest
> > there be any doubt, that it would nefver tolerate any competitors?
>
>Since Iraq has already invaded two neighboring countries and gassed its own
>population with chemical weapons, the "no threat" argument fails with Iraq.
It's not a threat to _us_. And recall it invaded Iran at our behesta nd with our support, and invaded Kuwait with what at the timed seemed to be our OK. As to gassing its population, that was appalling, but is it really your position that the US is to be global human righst cop? Maybe it should start here at home, overthrwo the puppet regime og Jeb Bush that fixes elections and denies the rught to vote on the basis of race and sexual orientation, or overthrow the Daly regime here taht keeps hundreds of thousands in squalor and misery, terrorized by torturing killer cops.
>As for suspicions of Uncle Sam, any suspicion of untrammeled discretion by
>the most powerful military power in the world is well-warranted.
Glad to hear you say that. Why do you think so?
>
>No I don't trust the US power, but flipping the suspicion into a "anything
>it's for, I'm agin it" political doctrine is too simplistic to be
>convincing. It is merely Kissinger realpolitick flipped on its head and
>has
>the same moral value.
>
No, it's a good rule of thumb, and the moral value it has is to oppose the mightest power in the world on behalf of the poor and the oppressed, as opposed to imposing taht power on behalf of the rich and the oppressors, rather a different moral picture I think.
jks
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