Subj : Current events To : BOB KLAHN From : Richard Webb Date : Fri Feb 18 2011 13:49:35 HEllo Bob, On Thu 2039-Feb-17 23:51, BOB KLAHN (1:123/140) wrote to RICHARD WEBB: BK> Well... yeah. And we should pull the 5th fleet out of Bahrain. BK> They have the same sort of protests, and are killing the BK> protestors. We don't need to be getting tied to that. INdeed we should, but probably won't. RW>> EH? 1979-80 didn't look like a friendly democratic regime RW>> to me. I grant they were growing that direction. IN fact, BK>> By 2001 they were supporting the US in the WOT. However, Bush BK>> needed enemies more than he needed allies. RW> MIght be, but still imho appeared to be another despotic RW> state, iow a theocracy. BK> So is Israel, but that doesn't stop us from supporting them. Iran BK> was on the way to democracy. Who knows how much of the detour is BK> due to Bush trashing them. WHO can tell, but as for ISrael, I haven't been an ISrael supporter for a long time. BK>>> Since mid Dec of last year, Tunisia and Egypt have had BK>>> successful rebellions. Jordan, Algeria, Yemen and Bahrain have BK>>> been subject to enough protests to force the governments to make BK>>> changes. RW>> RIght, and that one could still blow up even though the RW>> vote is in. There's still some pretty bad blood in Sudan. BK> True. The US needs to talk to the leaders there, and let them BK> know, if they go for democracy they get full support. BK>> Yep. It could. Which is why the US needs to get out of Iraq and BK>> Afghanisan, so we can have a credible military to support BK>> democratic govts when the locals establish them. RW> wHole region is still a powderkeg, and likely to get worse RW> as climate conditions change. BK> Yeah, but climate change is a fraud don't you know. Ask the BK> Australians swimming in their streets, or the Chinese enjoying BK> their extended dry spell, or the African nations now getting ready BK> to fight over the Nile water. I'm supposed to buy into the assertion this is a fraud made by the same scamsters who ripped off the American taxpayer to the tune of millions for this tarp horse hockey. BK>>> democracy. Supporting a country on the basis of how it suits our BK>>> needs is how we lose countries. It's how we are losing in Iraq and BK>>> Afghanistan. It's how Iran and Venezuala turned against us. It's BK>>> how we lost in Vietnam. RW> Agreed, to a point. Local self determination is always RW> preferrable, but i have the same objections to a RW> "christian" theocracy, or any other theocracy for that RW> matter. BK> I agree. As I said, mix government and religion and it's bad for BK> both. OF course it is, but we still have plenty of that mixture, and the religionists want more. BK>>> We need to look at one thing only, what is best for the people BK>>> there. RW>> Indeed, that should be the biggest factor in our decision. RW> But it rarely is, it's usually commercial interests that RW> carry the day. BK> Need to also declare any corporate involvement in suppressing BK> human rights won't be tolerated, and we don't care what country BK> that corporation is from. But then we'd be severely punishing our own, and punishing the biggest ISrael boosters from their NEw York City board rooms. BK>> Which takes us back to the Wahabi, and the Saudis, being the prime BK>> source of anti-US terror. RW> OF course it does, and the ease with which they can coopt RW> democracy movements over there. BK> Just today reading the reason Al Qaeda has been totally silent on BK> Egypt, it's a denial of everything Al Qaeda stands for. Seems Al BK> Qaeda hates the Muslim Brotherhood. The MB renounced BK> violence, and this revolution was pulled off peacefully. Al Qaeda BK> stands for violent revolution, and this shows them up badly. COol! BK>>> Isn't it interesting that the biggest claim of superiority we can BK>>> make against a related religion is that we *IGNORE* our own BK>>> religious teachings and traditions. Regards, Richard --- timEd 1.10.y2k+ * Origin: (1:116/901) .