Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site houxu.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxi!mhuxa!houxm!houxu!welsch From: welsch@houxu.UUCP Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: U.S. foreign policy - a reply to rabbit!jj Message-ID: <194@houxu.UUCP> Date: Mon, 29-Aug-83 23:26:26 EDT Article-I.D.: houxu.194 Posted: Mon Aug 29 23:26:26 1983 Date-Received: Tue, 30-Aug-83 23:05:57 EDT Organization: Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ Lines: 91 This is another reply to jj. His comments are indented and a most of his article is omitted. Well, yes, I am being sarcastic. Why stop there. Why not start assuming that at the beginning of the whole series of notes? A problem with sarcasm, satire, humor, etc. when it is used continuously, is to determine when the writer is making a serious point. If you are being sarcastic, through out, your notes then why should I or any other reader of the net take any of them seriously? Do you want any of your opinions taken seriously by the net audience? If not then why are you expressing them? I think your fall back position of stating your remarks are just sarcastic is nothing more than a shield that allows you to make outrageous statements without having to back them up. you've still managed to maintain the veneer that it's the US who's the active party, and the rest of the world reacting, when the opposite is closer (somewhat) to the truth. I am upset by this statement of yours. Is it sarcastic and to be ignored? How can I tell? I believe the that the USA is by far the most powerful nation in the world and the world is more affected by our policies than by any other nations. We by our actions and reactions can determine the fate of the world. No other country has as many soldiers scattered in as many different locations as the USA. No other country can affect another country by simply not buying or supplying a particular product. When a foreign country chooses to be communist, it is not due so much to a communist success, but rather due to a failure in US foreign policy. To use draw an analogy to sports often one team does not win a contest so much as the other team loses it. The USA by its foreign policies is losing when it should be winning. I mean this seriously, what does Russia or China have to offer a foreign country in comparison to the US. Think about it and ask the question, why are do we seem to be losing in Africa, Far East, and in our own hemisphere. The foreign policies of Russia and China are much more despicable to me than the foreign policies of the USA. I believe that when a country aligns itself with Russia or China, then that country does not understand the mess that it is getting into. The real question is how to get the USA out of the business of pushing countries into the Russian or Chinese sphere of influence. Let us consider Nicaragua. Some really nasty leaders were thrown out of power, and Nicaragua nationalized holdings of some US companies. What is the US response? Does the US recognize that some real bad leaders were deposed and that there is a potential for the new regime to introduce some meaningful reforms? No!! The US gets upset about the nationalization of some companies. The new leaders are called communist (yes there were some communist leaders, but not all the leaders were communist). We declare the new leaders to be our enemies. While they weren't our friends, neither were they our enemies. We made them our enemies. Now those leaders who were moderate are being forced either to become communist or are being thrown into jail. Why? Well what support did they have from the USA. NONE! This is a real coup for the communists and the people of Nicaragua will surely suffer for it. Nicaragua was pushed into becoming communist, by the USA. No, the US was not the "active" party, it was the "reactive" party. Our reaction stunk! The "active" parties were the moderates and the communists in Nicaragua who deposed the fascist leaders of Nicaragua. By not providing the moderates with a viable alternative to communism the country went communist. Nicaragua will therefore be a much poorer country to live in and the people of Nicaragua will suffer. More importantly the US has another enemy in our own hemisphere. To prevent the scenario from recurring the USA must change its foreign policy from one of being a knee jerk reaction that any revolution overthrowing a friendly fascist leader is necessarily a communist revolution. It is this rather simplistic reaction that keeps us from dealing with the dynamics of revolution. Revolutions are not by definition complex, but they are dynamic, and US is in a better position to take advantage of these dynamics than the Russians or Chinese. I would like to see the US take a more active role in world politics and the politics of revolution. Lets get rid of fascist and communist dictatorships and build strong competitive allies. Larry Welsch houxu!welsch