From: Van oost Kenneth (kennethvanoost@belgacom.net)
Date: Tue 03 Dec 2002 - 20:45:40 GMT
> Kenneth,
> > > Where is your trust !? Your commitment !? You place upon yourself
> a hard burden you can 't no longer bear. Everywhere you see enemies and
> possible threats, that's no life man !
> Joe,
> > We are bearing not only our own burdens, but yours as well, which we
> > would not feel compelled to do if you would just bear them yourself.
> > And the threat is to the entire Dar al Harb, that is, any government not
> > submitting its entire populace to shari'a law. You will realize that
soon
> > enough through the actions of Radical Islamofascists; it has been
> > already widely advetized through their words.
>
> But that ain 't something I asked you to do ! You think you are in the
right
> place to do it out of yourself, be my guest !
> Kaplan mentioned this in the essay you provided us, I understand that the
> US uses its military power to settle conflicts if their own interests are
at
> stake or if a country asks for it, but you never gonna hear me say that
the
> US
> does this out of a kind of idealism... that is altruistic behavior and
that
> ain 't
> gonna work on such a massive scale ! I mentioned this before, I believe,
if
> this is so, than it is something thicker than your blood, than I would/
> could
> understand it, but not out the notion of " we have the power lets use it "
!
> The US never allowed Russia to " use its power ", you always obstructed
> it where you could and IMO still does, that ain 't idealism, that is
> enforce-
> ment, these are blind ideological moves.
>
> And by the way, Kaplan is biased, there ain 't objectivity, he is walking
> the
> American walk. His point of origin in the ways he thinks is
selfpreservation
> of a country, " and the country that must be preserved, is America " he
> writes.
> If you don 't hear that within that notion the preservation of the US
> implies
> that possible others countries have to go, well than I don 't really
> undestand.
> I am sorry, but I always thought that novels and stories about chivalry
were
> out of date, but when Kaplan begins to say ( in the interview I got) that
he
> bases himself upon the thoughts of Machiavelli where ' virtue ' means '
> courage ',
> energy, knowledge, bravery and sharpwittness or in other words, manly
power,
> than I see again the US as Don Quichot in the Man of the la Mancha,
fighting
> windmills.
>
> Kenneth
> > > Again Joe, I detect something of a disapproval for European ways of
> > > handling things, again you seem to indicate you 're right and we 're
> > > wrong ! I don 't know who said this but eventually this will tear us
> > > apart, the isolation where the US holds itself in, will fall down on
> > > itself.
> Joe,
> > Actually, that is because you are as wrong to ignore or dismiss this
> > threat as Chamberlain was to ignore another less religious fascist
threat
> > 60+ years ago. Your very lack of resolve in demanding that all citizens
> > of a country respect its laws, including those that demand tolerance for
> > others, is perceived by such people as a weakness to be exploited, and
> > exploit it they will.
>
> If this is so, than it can means only two things, in Europe we're all
> memetical
> blind and I wonder how that came about_ in what way we' re rocked to sleep
> !?
> On the other hand than ' knows ' the US something more, something we
suppo-
> singly ignore_ and in the same token I wonder !
> In a sense, what America does can be again that religious fact where I
keep
> har-
> ping about, the notion that the US wants to clear up what can be defined
as
> the
> " irrationality of man "_ again, the notion of the Lamarckian creation is
> not far away....
> And, Kaplan writes, " in politics we deal with people who lack rationality
> ".
>
> Joe,
> > I have given a good deal of thought to Europe's reluctance to face up to
> > their own problems, and instead dump them in the US's lap by default,
> > all the while dissing, downing and deploring the US while the US is
> > busy dealing with those very problems for a Europe reticent about
> > taking care of what by all rights should be their own business. It is a
> > sad situation, and Europe needs to take responsibility for themselves
> > more and criticize the US less when it feels obligated, by it's sense of
> > responsibility for an ally, Europe, that continuously demonstrates a
lack
> > of will to recognize and deal with its own problems, to deal with them
for
> > it. If you won't or can't deal with your own problems, and they
> > nevertheless must be dealt with for the global good, it would be nice
not
> > to be raked over the coals for our blood-and-treasure-expensive loyalty,
> > magnanimity, largesse and noblesse oblige.
>
> Again why is it than so important to the US to stick around !?
> I don 't believe that it is out the kind of idealism that Kaplan talks
about
> !
> There has to be a catch somewhere, if not self- interest, what can it be
!?
> Kaplan writes in that regard, " By the way, democracies can become
> dictotarial too. The possibility to move armed forces around the globe
> scoops out American politics. "
>
> What it means IMO is that the US always will return to its military
> power, necessary or not, you got it, you will use, even when the force don
> 't
> stand in proportion to what really happened. There ain 't room for de-
> mocratic discours something where the US is so proud of... strange, again
!
> > >
> Kenneth
>
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