Quote:Why do liberals around the world always devote themselves to telling the US to blink first?Right. Like you were losing some childish game. Like cooperation was weakness. Like the cold war just kept on going, the great nuclear staring contest. Do you really think you're going to win some kind of prize by 'not blinking'? By having the courage to maintain the most unproductive and antagonistic policies? Nobody is judging this contest. The results are all we have, and judging so far, the results of this strategy seem to be terrible.
Quote:Where is your righteous anger for Kim Jong Il, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, or the Castro brothers?I have no sympathy whatsoever for Kim Jong Il, and regularly call North Korea "the worst country in the world". (Haiti is the only serious competitor, though Zimbabwe is trying very hard these days.) I have no sympathy for Iranian theocracy, and I despise the populist blowhard of a president they currently have. Cuba is in a slightly different category, but I have no problem assigning the lion's share of the blame for their ruined economy or their repressive government: this is Castro's fault. For all these countries, I eagerly await the day when they have open, free, sensible governance.
However, these countries are not listening. They are dictatorships, except Iran, whose theocracy is close enough. I could protest them until my legs fell off, and it would matter not a whit. The United States is an ally, a country with whom I feel broad sympathy, and whose influence is enormous. And yet, I feel that these policies are mistaken, and not just that, but mistaken in ways which are impeding the progress of things I believe in, like freedom. When the US moves in the wrong direction, the consequences are serious. And so, my criticisms are focused there, at the place where there is the power, and possibly even the will, to change things.
Quote:No, you want us to step up, swallow hard, set aside our principles and bend over.Why is it always sexual? This isn't a muscle beach. You don't win with steroids, by being the man's man, by showing your enemies that they're the one that has to "bend over", "prostrate" themselves, be "humiliated". This is out and out machismo, and as far as I'm concerned, it is the single most useless idea in all history. Neither strength nor principle is measured by how little you are willing to engage, listen, and compromise where appropriate.
-Jester
Edit: Extra negatives to not help get one's point across!