My father has said at various times that the US usually chooses the wrong sides. I can't say for sure since I don't know the history well enough and the history of the regions.
I've heard it said that Ho Chi Mihn requested American help and when he failed to get that, he got help from the Communists. Should we have been involved at all? Probably not. But since we were, we were on the wrong side and we were not even clear on what we were doing there. A total catastrophe.
Is the US on the right side of Israel vs Palestine? There are definitely who don't think so. At least, at how the Palestinians seem to be treated. But then, I've read a website where the author was attesting that there are no such thing as Palestinians as a nation but that these were Arabs who wanted to obliterate Israel.
And look at how heavy handed the creation and maintenance of that state has been and is!
Concerning your nation, my understanding was the Nazi Germans treated most of their neighbors to the west with some amount of care. As long as you didn't piss them off, you seemed to be alright. But if you did, there didn't seem to be a lot of patience. I don't know why they had it in for the slavs, for example. But even they were treated much better than the Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, etc.
It helps to label people, to dehumanize them. It was probably easier for the Nazis to commit genocide on those they considered vermin. Undoubtedly, the terrorists on Tuesday are being labelled in similar manners.
As far as the US taking over the world in an economic sense, again this is a viewpoint that it's rather hard for me to understand. Here in the US, we're totally addicted to cars which require a lot of imports. We're addicted to cheap Chinese made things. You name it, we import it from China. Many of the things I can see from where I am sitting came from another country. My Microsoft mouse was made in China. My "Dell" keyboard was made in Malaysia. The only thing I can see that I know for sure was made in the US is my Nalgene (backpacker's) bottle.
I think the problem with the US's influence in the world is it's not clear why we care that much. Having neighborly relations is a good thing. Having trade is a good thing. These improve the life of the common man.
But there also seem to be a lot of situations where people at a much higher status than the average gal on the street are manipulating things for their gain.
This is my issue with the UN. It doesn't seem possible for six billion people to be well represented by such a small body. For one thing, I should like to see each country elect its UN rep. But how well would that work?
And even on things like Kyoto Protocol. I am an engineer and work with people who are fairly sharp individuals. I don't know what to think when they criticize the provisions as being based on junk science. A physicist friend of mine probably would have strident arguments against what my coworkers think. But here you have decisions that probably are good for the planet but you have people who disagree greatly on whether the basis of those decisions is right. Or whether it's seeing the whole picture.
Perhaps the conspicuousness of the UN keeps them honest and from pushing the interest of the few really rich people.
But then, what's the deal with the WTO? Why the protests? Some people like these bodies and some people don't and I can't keep straight what their interests are. We Americans though are suckers for protests -- we take them seriously and they seem to get our attention like a traffic accident does. If you as a wealthy individual don't like something, what's better, to complain yourself or to fund a group to protest? It goes from "your" will to the "will of the people".
Yes, in an ideal world, this and many more topics would be academic and only discussed by drunk undergraduates.
Life is crazy and complicated and chaotic and non-linear though!
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Date: 2001-09-14 12:31 pm (UTC)I've heard it said that Ho Chi Mihn requested American help and when he failed to get that, he got help from the Communists. Should we have been involved at all? Probably not. But since we were, we were on the wrong side and we were not even clear on what we were doing there. A total catastrophe.
Is the US on the right side of Israel vs Palestine? There are definitely who don't think so. At least, at how the Palestinians seem to be treated. But then, I've read a website where the author was attesting that there are no such thing as Palestinians as a nation but that these were Arabs who wanted to obliterate Israel.
And look at how heavy handed the creation and maintenance of that state has been and is!
Concerning your nation, my understanding was the Nazi Germans treated most of their neighbors to the west with some amount of care. As long as you didn't piss them off, you seemed to be alright. But if you did, there didn't seem to be a lot of patience. I don't know why they had it in for the slavs, for example. But even they were treated much better than the Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, etc.
It helps to label people, to dehumanize them. It was probably easier for the Nazis to commit genocide on those they considered vermin. Undoubtedly, the terrorists on Tuesday are being labelled in similar manners.
As far as the US taking over the world in an economic sense, again this is a viewpoint that it's rather hard for me to understand. Here in the US, we're totally addicted to cars which require a lot of imports. We're addicted to cheap Chinese made things. You name it, we import it from China. Many of the things I can see from where I am sitting came from another country. My Microsoft mouse was made in China. My "Dell" keyboard was made in Malaysia. The only thing I can see that I know for sure was made in the US is my Nalgene (backpacker's) bottle.
I think the problem with the US's influence in the world is it's not clear why we care that much. Having neighborly relations is a good thing. Having trade is a good thing. These improve the life of the common man.
But there also seem to be a lot of situations where people at a much higher status than the average gal on the street are manipulating things for their gain.
This is my issue with the UN. It doesn't seem possible for six billion people to be well represented by such a small body. For one thing, I should like to see each country elect its UN rep. But how well would that work?
And even on things like Kyoto Protocol. I am an engineer and work with people who are fairly sharp individuals. I don't know what to think when they criticize the provisions as being based on junk science. A physicist friend of mine probably would have strident arguments against what my coworkers think. But here you have decisions that probably are good for the planet but you have people who disagree greatly on whether the basis of those decisions is right. Or whether it's seeing the whole picture.
Perhaps the conspicuousness of the UN keeps them honest and from pushing the interest of the few really rich people.
But then, what's the deal with the WTO? Why the protests? Some people like these bodies and some people don't and I can't keep straight what their interests are. We Americans though are suckers for protests -- we take them seriously and they seem to get our attention like a traffic accident does. If you as a wealthy individual don't like something, what's better, to complain yourself or to fund a group to protest? It goes from "your" will to the "will of the people".
Yes, in an ideal world, this and many more topics would be academic and only discussed by drunk undergraduates.
Life is crazy and complicated and chaotic and non-linear though!