[Clemenza]

Foreign policy in general not related to national interest bores me. I am more interested in reducing the size of government at home than "crusading" to protect our "allies," whoever they may be. Hell, I am with Jeanne Kirkpatrick since she reportedly advised Reagan to let Argentina keep the Malvinas.

[Cian]

I should have clarified. I'm Irish. US politics interests me a bit because it's the world leader in most things. But as for this Israel thing... How you say in your country? "Enough already?"

[LenS]

Kirkpatrick was wrong that time. The people of the Falklands were free subjects of the UK. They spoke English. They didn't want to be citizens of Argentina, a military dictatorship where the people spoke another language. To allow the invasion to stand would have sent the wrong message. From a Realpolitik point of view, the UK and Thatcher were much more important to the US than Argentina -- still are.

[Stultis]

Foreign policy in general not related to national interest bores me.

Whether it "bores" you or not, Saudi Arabia is responsible for about a quarter of the world's oil supply, and is the only country with sufficient production overcapacity to stabilize oil prices in the case of a sudden supply deficit.

Whether it "bores" you or not, Israel has somewhere between 100 and 400 nuclear warheads, and is surround by 50 million screaming Arabs that want to destroy her. (It probably won't interest you, either, that the president of Iran several months ago publicly mooted the possibility of nuking Israel, suggesting it may be acceptable for the more populous Arab world to accept the counter-strikes in exchange for the elimination of Israel.)

If, God forbid, Israel's nukes ever fall on or near the Arabs' oil fields, I suspect the results of that (a killing global depression) will grab your attention.