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From: cramer@kontron.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: Nicaragua (was: Air raid on Libya)
Message-ID: <747@kontron.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 29-Apr-86 13:30:15 EDT
Article-I.D.: kontron.747
Posted: Tue Apr 29 13:30:15 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 2-May-86 08:06:44 EDT
References: <157@unido.UUCP> <1200001@ztivax.UUCP> <3265@ut-ngp.UUCP> <574@dlvax1.datlog.co.uk> <200@epimass.UUCP>
Organization: Kontron Electronics, Mt. View, CA
Lines: 47

> 
> >In article <3265@ut-ngp.UUCP> osmigo1@ngp.UUCP (PUT YOUR NAME HERE) writes:
> Several points:
> 
> Our European friends should know that opinion polls show that the
> majority of Americans are opposed to Reagan's Nicaraguan policies.
> Don't be misguided by the right-wing flamers on this net.  
> 

Most Americans don't even know which side the U.S. Government is
supporting in El Salvador and Nicaragua.  (At least they didn't two
years ago, when a poll found only 12% of Americans could identify
which side we backed in both countries.)

> This American believes that the opinion of the Nicaraguan populace,
> together with that of their neighbors, is what's really important.
> Although I dislike many features of the Sandanista government, the
> fact remains that they are the freely elected government.  The US has
> the right to oppose aggressive acts by that government, if in fact
> they are engaging in any, but at the moment they have their hands
> full just defending themselves.  
> 

"Freely elected" in the very narrowest sense of the word.  Consider
the mob attacks on opposition parties, abuses of food ration cards 
for political purposes WHICH HAVE BEEN ADMITTED BY OFFICIALS OF THE
NICARAGUAN GOVERNMENT (see the National Geographic article a while back
on Nicaraugua), and the on-and-off press censorship.  "Freely elected"
in the same manner that Mussolini's regieme held free elections.  Yes,
opposition parties were allowed to have representatives in the Italian
Parliament, and elections were held, but the deck was heavily stacked.

> David Crone should know that no net.politics traffic flows across the
> Atlantic unless it is cross-posted (thanks in part to a couple of
> Nazis we have over here whose messages are illegal in Europe) so the
> net.politics he sees is vastly different than the one we see.
> usa.politics is dominated by right-wingers and libertarians.  Thus
> this list is the only place where real international political
> discussion can take place.
> 
> - Joe Buck <ihnp4!pesnta!epimass!jbuck>

Thanks for acknowledging that libertarians and conservatives are
different.  However, usa.politics is dominated by these two groups because
these two groups dominate political opinion in this country.

Clayton E. Cramer