Quote:My view is that France and Germany are acting in accord with their perceptions of their national interest in the post Cold War era - nothing else.
george
Is it your conviction that groups such as states, or individuals, are motivated solely and only by self-interest? Would this apply to the Vatican?
Quote:The absence or presence of popular sentiment has little to do with it either way.
Popular will has little or nothing to do with what policies a government advances? Well, that puts a lie to the whole notion of representative government and democracy.
Quote:European horror at the supposed vulgarity and belligerence in Bush's statements and actions provided a convenient cover for their actions, but it was not and is not the reason.
And Canada? New Zealand etc? Recall what Blair said to his party, as justification for why he was going along with America on the Iraq issue...to temper US unilateralism.
You argue, AGAIN, that everyone is selfish so the US is no different, thus justified. And of course, this argument serves as justification for US arbitrary withdrawl from any and all previous international agreements at any time it serves US interests. Co-operative action, co-operative values, all a temporary facade. Though Cretien, Villipin, Mandela and thousands of other leaders or foreign policy people or thoughtful political commentators - not to mention many millions of world citizens - said that unilateralism was the problem, they are deluded. It's a jungle. All that makes right is might. OK. Principle is irrelevant, it's the 'resolute' which wins the day. But that Strauss piece heading up this thread is bunkum?
Then you continue with a nice little history of the break up of the Ottoman Empire and the consequences for the present situation. You note European control of the area as a function of empire. OK. Dollars to donuts, however, you'll conclude here either that 1) this provides justification for US actions (two wrongs may not make a right, but they sure prove there is no wrong at all), or 2) the US is uniquely jam-packed with goodiosity such that it almost drips off the boots of American soldiers in Iraq.
Quote:Now we are holding the bag and find ourselves criticized by France for a lack of worldly sophistication.
Now that is an interesting sentence! Cultural inferiority complex...you guys have been suffering this FOREVER. It is so juvenile. You get the big guns and you huff and you puff as you swagger about the world - "I can beat the tar out of anybody in this place!" Meanwhile, your artists and your cultural people and your tecnical people have been producing - all along - incredible works! But there is something in your group psyche which doesn't believe that...doesn't think that Whitman matches Colleridge, nor that Louis Armstrong is the equal of Bach, nor that movies are an art form on par with the novel.
George...I love your country, but it is nuts.