@georgeob1,
George, this is what I said:
Quote:Quote:I believe people can self govern themselves and don't need big brother to tell them how to do it.
Yes, I do too.
Especially when the "benefits" of our interventions have caused such misery & hardships for the ordinary people of the countries we've intervened in. What exactly are the benefits for most Afghan people of our propping up Karzai's corrupt government, how have their lives improved? How can so many of Egypt's people be so desperately poor when their president is a millionaire, many times over? I remember, during the Vietnam war, there was much talk about ways to win "the hearts & minds of the people". (As opposed to bombing & napalming them into submission.
) You'd think our leaders would have learned from that experience, but apparently not. I just think it's completely misguided to believe we can "bring democracy" to various impoverished middle eastern countries by our recent interventions, while leaving the ordinary people out of the equation.
Those comments of mine, which you quoted, were in the context of a discussion were were having in response to this article:
The west's itch to meddle is no help. Leave Egypt alone:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/01/west-itch-meddle-leave-egypt-alone
I was talking about the
recent “interventions” in the middle east. My point was that I believe democracy cannot be
imposed (from the top down) on countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, etc, by via “regime change”, imposed by outside forces. In which the US and its allies support convenient & corrupt dictators (like Karzai) while leaving the
impact of that support on ordinary people) out of the equation.
In other words, I believe outside interventions (like wars & invasions, or funding the military in Egypt for years) are misguided. Because they
have left the ordinary people of those countries out of the equation.
Or worse, have caused them enormous harm, as in Iraq.
That was what my reference to Vietnam & the “hearts & minds” of the people was about. If anything, the US & allies war intervention had the exact opposite effect at the time. It certainly did not win their support. Has the US & its allies not learned something from that disastrous experience of intervention?
I was not commenting on Haiti, Cuba, Japan, the south pacific, or US & allies wars anywhere else. I don’t think it would be particularly useful to side-track this thread into a discussion of the rights & wrongs, wisdom or otherwise, of
those US interventions. However, for the record, JTT’s assessments of those events are closer to mine than yours are.
Apologies for this sidetrack to the flow on the thread.
Back recent developments in Egypt & the middle east now ...
