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2003-03-13 International

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Posted by FOTSGreg 2003-03-13 02:48 pm|| || Front Page|| [11132 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 America needs to learn a lesson from all of this: We have no friends. None. Not a one
This is the kind of thinking that I hope that doesn't pervade Washington, now and in the future. From the other side, there's nothing worse than helping out a friend, only to be absolutely forgotten later on. The US does have friends (Eastern Europe is an example). Please never forget that.

Posted by RW 2003-03-13 13:55:43|| 2003-03-13 13:55:43|| Front Page Top

#2 Even with Eastern Europe it is their best interest to align with US at this time but to depend on this is in the future is not a good idea. As somebody in the Financial Times pointed out that the US maybe positioning itself like the British did in earlier time as the maritime power and align ourselves with our nations which have the same interest to represent us on said continent with land forces. We would supply the naval and other firepower including land forces to help our allies.

Posted by pj 2003-03-13 14:43:11|| 2003-03-13 14:43:11|| Front Page Top

#3 Phil doesn't get it...

Case in Point:"Why, then, are we not only surprised but also enraged when the government of France decides that backing the U.S. in the case of Iraq is not in the national interest of France? "

France did not step aside and say "sorry, boys, looks like I'm on the sidelines for this one...happy hunting!"

They have actively and strenuously sought to reverse our planned course of action. There's a difference between non-involvement and opposition...

Posted by mjh 2003-03-13 14:46:13|| 2003-03-13 14:46:13|| Front Page Top

#4 Even with Eastern Europe it is their best interest to align with US at this time but to depend on this is in the future is not a good idea. As somebody in the Financial Times pointed out that the US maybe positioning itself like the British did in earlier time as the maritime power and align ourselves with our nations which have the same interest to represent us on said continent with land forces. We would supply the naval and other firepower including land forces to help our allies.

Posted by pj 2003-03-13 14:48:42|| 2003-03-13 14:48:42|| Front Page Top

#5 How freakin' old is this guy to have buddies who rapped with Kemal Attaturk?

Posted by 11A5S 2003-03-13 15:03:25|| 2003-03-13 15:03:25|| Front Page Top

#6 They appeared to be more concerned about doing what they really want to do â do to the Kurds in Northern Iraq what Kemal Ataturk did to the Armenians almost a century ago.

Fact Check - Ataturk came into power well after the Armenian genocide; he had nothing to do with that sickness. What he DID want to do, was forge a national "Turk" identity and bring the Kurds into that fold, thus setting up years of Kurdish conflict.

This guy lost all credibility for me with that sentence ~~falsehood~~.

Posted by Mr.X 2003-03-13 15:11:09|| 2003-03-13 15:11:09|| Front Page Top

#7 As the guy who posted this article this morning I thought I'd chime in a bit.

While I disagree with Brennan's basic contention that the US has no real friends anywhere (Britain, Australia, Japan, and about 18 countries in eastern Europe by last count), I think his main point might be somewhat valid - that being that countries do what is best for them at the moment and not what is "altruistic".

With politics being a game and diplomacy being "the Great Game" the point has some validity it would seem to me.

Case in point - France is being obstructionist because, in the end, Chirac & Co. hate America's power and see it as a root cause for France's decline in the eyes of the West. In the long run this is certainly going to be harmful to France's position vis-a-vis the rest of the world - and Chirac & Co. must certainly see this. I can't believe they're that blind. However, in the short run, Chirac & Co. probably believe that it is in their best interests to block a display of American power - any display of American power because that would further diminish France and their perception of French power in the eyes of the rest of the world and in the EU even further.

That they're stupid cheese-eating surrender monkeys doesn;t enter into it as in Chirac & Co's world view they are the world and anything that gives them an edge over the USA is a good thing.

We see things differently, of course. And rightly so IMO.

Thanks,
Greg

Posted by FOTSGreg 2003-03-13 15:29:50|| 2003-03-13 15:29:50|| Front Page Top

#8 Mr. X:

Here is an account (http://www.armenian-genocide.org/encyclopedia/kemal.htm) of Ataturk's participation in ethnic cleansing of Armenians in the early 20's. Not exactly from an unbiased source, but when it comes to genocide such sources are scarce. All of this happened during the attempted French "mandate" of much of Turkey and the subsequent Greco-Turkish War. This was a bloody, confusing time which is barely documented. There is much we will never know. Nevertheless, the ethnic cleansing of Greeks and Armenians is well attested, including the eyewitness newspaper accounts of Ernest Hemingway.

Posted by 11A5S 2003-03-13 17:06:33|| 2003-03-13 17:06:33|| Front Page Top

#9 11A5S : I've read that account, which wasn't persuasive, as well as biographies of the man and what bits and pieces are available on the web. To be charitable, tieing Ataturk to the genocide with those facts will be a weak case at best.

One important fact IIRC is he was out of the country during the worst period of massacre, serving in Tunisia and Palestine while the CUP directed the killing before its collapse.

Posted by Mr.X 2003-03-13 17:27:38|| 2003-03-13 17:27:38|| Front Page Top

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