The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > America - a world unto itself > Comments

America - a world unto itself : Comments

By Paul Dibb, published 29/1/2007

Part of America's problem is a serious lack of understanding of other cultures (and that occasionally includes Australia).

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. Page 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. All
I think this influence of the U.S is waning and within a decade we will not be able to see the Chinese and Indian influence on our culture. It is a question of scale and the amount of time of exposure.
Posted by West, Monday, 29 January 2007 3:22:05 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Very good article by Dib which looks for the answers to why the Bush government uses old-style power politics mixed with capitalistic reasoning, but not even like trying for a safe bet on the Stock Exchange.

It was Maynard Keynes not long before he died who predicted that sadly the Western world was headed for Casino Capitalism. Keynes was also the one who predicted the rise of a German tyrant - Hitler - after Germany was treated so harshly during the Treaty of Versaille.

The lesson is that if a Keynes had been advising Bush and his Zionistic crew the US might have devised a different way to get rid of Saddam, rather than the China shop job.

Even a first year social science student from one of the lesser US colleges might have warned about the outcome.

Saddam's Sunnis who comprised the bulk of Saddam's military force also had friends and relatives in Sunni Saudi-Arabia, as also bin Laden and most of al Quida are of Sunni heritage. Also Donald Rumsfeld helped organise Saddam's Sunnis to make the attack on Shi-ite Iran back in 1981, with Saddam's Sunnis after 8 years forced to beg for an armistice.

The question now is, with Georg W' going in bravely to bash hell out of Saddam's Sunnis, he was also facing hundreds of thousands of anti-American Shias he had gone into save.

The real complication which came about, however, and which even to any first year year social science student, would be no surprise - Iran by far the biggest state in the Middle East and which bordered Iraq, had been obviously ready to back the Iraqi Shias for years.

And who could blame Iran the way she was attacked by a US-backed Iraq in 1981.

We could also make a safe bet that all the above was predicted by lecturers in British and European universties. But not so sure about the US Uni's, which they say are now dominated more by the ultra-right rather than even the middle-road
Posted by bushbred, Monday, 29 January 2007 4:13:56 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
How the pot does call the kettle black when attacking America and George Bush. A huge percentage of Western do- gooders who themselves have flawed Western ideas about utopian ways to bring peace to the world, point the finger at America for having those same flawed utopian ideas of how to bring peace to the world.
American politicians are a product of their own Western societies and the silly namby pamy ideas that have pervaded western schools and universities for too long.

Bruce Haigh :-“will force (America) to finally refine define and utilize its diplomatic skills".

Translated this means we can stop wars by talking and sucking up to people. Sitting around the peace table and talking love and peace brothers. Another stupid utopian idea that the West grew up believing.

I knew 20years ago that sooner or later the West would be attacked.. You don’t think the world is going to let us sit over here with all we’ve got and say, “aw don’t attack those lovely western people because they talk so nicely to us about love and peace and tolerance." Talk is cheap, it doesn’t give you or your children any hope of a better life, but war does, if you can take a rich country.

George Bush and his politicians should have been taught in Western schools that the point at which democracy will no longer work is when two tribes become so big in numbers that they wage civil war over control of a country. It never fails to happen.
Then they would have known what the result of trying to force democracy on Iraq would have been
Posted by sharkfin, Monday, 29 January 2007 6:20:38 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
If the US pulls out of the Middle East,it won't be long before you lot will be squealing like pigs about to be slaughtered because oil prices have gone through the roof.As if China or India with their burgeoning populations will be the benevolent benefactor like the US has been since WW2.

If China has to invade the Middle East to secure their energy supplies,they won't mess around like the US.They know that the Muslim faith is a virus that stymies progress and will wipe it from the planet and take the oil at will.China could then control the planet.

The American critics need to take heed and stock of what is in their best interests.Remember Tiernamin Square,when their leader alluded to killing a million of his own people if necessary.A million was considered to be a small number.

When a totalitarian state can re-write the history books and control the media,they can do as they damn well please.There will be no world shame or awareness of the general population to curb their excesses.We have taken our democracy for granted and live in a very insular,naieve existence.

Instead of constantly bagging the US,thank God that they are there because nothing will save us as world instability continues to mount due to population pressures,energy/resource scarcity and climate change.Short of developing our own nuclear weapons we have no other options than relying on the US.
Posted by Arjay, Monday, 29 January 2007 8:03:20 PM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
If we want to look at the historical examples of occupying armies locking down hostile countries, we don't have to look far into the past. Russia very successfully occupied Hungary (6 million people in 90,000 sq km) in 1956; and Czechoslovakia(12 million people in 120,000 sq km) in 1967. Iraq had 21 million people in 420,000 sq km in 2003. By considering the different border circumstances ( ie Warsaw Pact countries occupied most of the borders of Hungary and Czechoslovakia)and technological changes, it is possible to make an approximate estimate of the resources required to do the job in Iraq.
My best guess is an army of 600,000 - 1,000,000 troops and 10,000 tanks.
I have to wonder if Rumsfeld, Cheney, etc even gave history a thought.
Posted by Jacks, Monday, 29 January 2007 9:18:54 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Arjay. Without your comments I would not sleep well at night. You are a person of "comfort"!

West. Maybe Arjay could take a few points from you, but I don't hold my breath!
Posted by Kipp, Monday, 29 January 2007 9:35:04 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. Page 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy