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From: gjk@talcott.UUCP (Greg Kuperberg)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: It Can Happen Here
Message-ID: <252@talcott.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 22-Jan-85 17:26:38 EST
Article-I.D.: talcott.252
Posted: Tue Jan 22 17:26:38 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 25-Jan-85 21:36:37 EST
References: <665@ihopb.UUCP>
Organization: Harvard
Lines: 58

> In a rather odd attempt to justify the inhumane policies of the Reagan
> Administration, Greg Kuperberg drags up a few popular myths.

Justify what?  I wasn't trying to justify anything that Reagan has done. I
was merely replying to your implicit comparison between the Soviet Union
and "Ronald Reagan land".  Here, again, is an excerpt from your article:   

> We get enough self-righteous mouthings on this net about
> the "evil empire," so here's some cheerful news about the
> respect for religion and human beings in Ronald Reagan Land:

I am still offended by your calling my postings self-righteous mouthings.
The Soviet Union *is* an evil empire.  This point is stressed too often by
fundamentalists with respect to the nuclear arms race, where it is not as
relevant, and not often enough with respect to other foreign policy.

> First he casts the old "holier than thou"phoney patriotism by implying that
> criticism of the Reagan regime is a comdemnation of the United States 
> itself.

With or without Reagan, I much prefer the American Government to that of
the Soviet Union.  I appreciate your attempts at constructive criticism of
the U.S. Government, but I think that discussions of the "evil empire" are
also worthwhile.

> How many times must we go through this cheap shot Greg?  The fact is that
> the policies of the Reagan administration in Central America as well as
> domestically betray the best interests of the people of the United States.
> Patriotism is cheapened when it's used to justify the current regime.

Again, I'm not trying to justify the Reagan Administration.  Please don't
call my postings "cheap shots".

> The insanities in Cambodia in the post 1975 years can be directly traced to
> the massive destruction wrought upon that society by 7 Billion dollars worth
> of Bombardment of that country by the Nixon regime.  The killing ended when
> Vietnam moved in and helped throw out the Khmer Rouge. However history
> judges Vietnam's move in Kampuchea, it cannot ignore fact that the killing
> ended.  The exception is the area along the Thai border where remenents
> of the Khmer Rouge along with rightist elements continue skirmishes based
> on arms supplies from the CIA and China.
> 
>                   Andy Berman

I fail to understand your position.  It is beyond me how you can condone
the wholesale burning of Cambodian crops by the Vietnamese.  Moreover, the
killing has not stopped, it has slacked off.  Cambodia has the second-fastest
shrinking population in the world after Lebanon.   Finally, I fail to see
your causal connection between bombing Cambodia in 1970 and genocide and
mass-famine in 1975-1978.  Vietnam was bombed much more than Cambodia, and
with less of the above effects.  You do have one small point, though:
China is indeed another terrible country, and my manners prevent me from
saying what I really think of their backing of the Khmer Rouge.
---
			Greg Kuperberg
		     harvard!talcott!gjk

"Nice boy, but about as sharp as a sack of wet mice." - Foghorn Leghorn