Posted on 05/09/2002 6:19:16 AM PDT by xvb
What we had to do was convince the people of Germany and Japan that their leaders' ambitions were hopeless, that they had no choice but to accept our peace terms. That required massive bombing only because Germany and Japan were industrial powers: Until we demonstrated that they could not hope to continue to produce war materiel, they could still cling to belief in eventual victory. The PLO, on the other hand, is not an industrial power. Arafat's aspirations can be crushed without indiscriminately killing his subjects.
The PLO gets its materiel from Iraq, Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia. To defeat the PLO, we need to cut off that support permanently, which will require a variety of diplomatic, military and covert initiatives, starting with regime change in Iraq. Then we have to convince the Palestinians that the world will never rise up against Israel on their behalf, which will require a constant media campaign condemning terrorism. Finally, we have to eliminate the PLO mafiocracy's ability to suppress dissent and kill moderates ("collaborators").
These are all major challenges, but we won't have to do anything similar to Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Quite the contrary, in fact: The scenario most likely to result in nuclear destruction in the Middle East is a "hands off" approach. Sooner or later the Arab nations, unless forcibly dissuaded from their never-ending quest to destroy Israel, will box the IDF into a corner from which nuclear launch is the only option.
Many things I think ought to be done won't come to pass, at least not soon. That doesn't make my position wrong, it doesn't make my thinking simple-minded, and it doesn't make me insane. That sort of vicious name-calling is employed almost exclusively by people who have no substantiation for their own positions. So put up or shut up.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com
What his article does show is strong culturalism, a culturalism to which I heartily subscribe. Western culture is superior, and is worth defending against a culture that is attacking it and is demonstrably inferior.
Perhaps you've bought into the multiculturalists' "all cultures are equal, and all values are subjective" mindset. In any case, your lack of willingness to engage Mr. Poretto in reasoned debate, while name-calling all the while, is underwhelming. If your position on the subjects at hand is that well articulated elsewhere, you could at least provide a link cut'n'paste it (highlight, ctrl-c, point, ctrl-v) here.
I happen to agree with him and others who have come to the same conclusion. I don't think stating the obvious is necessarily racist. However, my mind is open on the issue and I could be convinced otherwise if someone can present facts that support that position. I would be interested in your post of equal length which would point out the errors in his analysis.
Thanks.
You are correct. Sorry to be so unclear. It's isn't the Arabs, per se, that are causing the world-wide upheavals. It's the Muslims (or Islamics).
Why wish 'em on the Russians? What have they done to us lately? Just let them all stay together in the middle east so the rest of the world won't have to deal with them....
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