We are all thinking short-term here, fellows, a typical American failing because frequently as individuals and nearly always as a culture we have no patience. No matter the irritant, be it Saddam, or the Palestinians, or anything else the violence is the result of long-standing grievances and sociopolitical differences. A recent phenomenon is the tendency to blame the US for all of this, and I go back to the statement about controlled cultures. Some of these people cannot conceive of a superpower that can't/won't (in their view) simply fix things. After all, in their cultural framework the strongest ALWAYS imposes a solution. The fact that we don't do so infuriates them, and so we are perceived to be weak. In that sense, strength is all they understand. I don't claim to offer solutions, but to simply say "nuke 'em" isn't a solution either. What we need to do is formulate a policy objective for a particular problem, and stick with that objective for about a hundred years. The matters we have been discussion cannot be solved by drawing fresh lines on a map; they will require generations of tedious diplomatic and occasionally military effort to defuse. Unfortunately, our political structure and our cultural background makes us blind to this. We are not suited to tackling issues that require commitment of lives and treasure over the long term--say four generations. Until we can state to the world clear policy goals and pursue them intently for over a decade at least, irrespective of changes to our own government, nobody is going to take us very seriously. Frankly, foreign policy is too important to be left to politicians only interested in the next election cycle. Ahh, I long for those idyllicdays of Plato's Republic: the class of philosopher-kings, born and reared to statecraft and serving no other goal....
Greg

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On a lighter note.....

Maybe this is a subject better taken in smaller bites.

".....give people a chance to live with freedom of choice." I believe someone said. Human mentality is a unique thing. Take for example the case of the 'repeat offender'. In a nut shell, there are some people that cannot properly operate in a free society. Their mental processes require a 'controlled' environment. One where a larger organization makes the choices for them. Decides what they wear, when they eat, where they sit and sleep. It's 'easier' that way, the onus is on someone else. Neat package.
Hard for most of us to rationalize, but, never the less, True.
Why was the lure of Socialism? What is the lure of a Dictatorship?

For the former you could ask the growing number of ex-soviets that are starving in a city full of food. For the latter, you could try asking the citizens of either Somalia or Cuba. Maybe they can answer the question.........
Doubt it.

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Tread...you have just quoted what is the history of civilization,the answers? they would fill
a library,and that is part of what this hobby is about,finding the answers.
ps....you talk a lot of sense.
Arthur.

But Denizen to solely blame the West for starvation in Iraq is wrong

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O.K...............I'll ask the obvious question. Is the general consensus, that the only thing 'these' people respect is Strength?

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Yes, strength, and brutal force, that's what they recognize, they don't have any respect, nor they should be respected.

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Okay your profile says you are from China now if we had China on our side then heck we would not have to worry about what the rest of the world said after we did attack this country. Plus we also need to build up our forces first as we are getting spread pretty thin. Russia is wanting to join in as they suffer these same attacks. Just an opinion
Jeff

For those of you who think that attacking our enimies will solve our problems, ponder this hypothetical situation; You get in an argument with your neighbor over a tree he cut down that you think was on your property. You want to get back at hhim so you plant weeds in his well maintained flower bed. He notices a while later and takes his weed-wacker over to your property and cuts down evrery living thing in sight. You call the cops and tell them what happened. They go to your neighbor's house and talk to him, but they don't take any action. You still hate him. A week later you notice that his dog pooped on your lawn. You want to kill that dog, but if you do, you will only create more problems with your neighbor. He will now want to to harm you even more. The moral is Violence doesn't solve problems, it creates them

I think we are talking here just a bit more serious than the trees, the dogs, and the weeds. It's more like your neighbour bust into your home, kill the kids, cooked the dog, and shovel a tree in you. Then what should we do about it? Sit down and have a cup of tea with the neighbour and pounding on this Zenly?

And yeah, whose side are you on?!!

For those of you who think that attacking our enimies will solve our problems, ponder this hypothetical situation; You get in an argument with your neighbor over a tree he cut down that you think was on your property. You want to get back at hhim so you plant weeds in his well maintained flower bed. He notices a while later and takes his weed-wacker over to your property and cuts down evrery living thing in sight. You call the cops and tell them what happened. They go to your neighbor's house and talk to him, but they don't take any action. You still hate him. A week later you notice that his dog pooped on your lawn. You want to kill that dog, but if you do, you will only create more problems with your neighbor. He will now want to to harm you even more. The moral is Violence doesn't solve problems, it creates them

The terrorists are only willing to "die and go to Allah" because they feel that their enemies are killing them anyway. If you lived an impoverished life in an occupied country you'd feel that way too.

I still say...NUKE 'EM.

Armour, I want to apologise for misinterpreting your post and for reacting in a very stupid way. I'll be more careful next time.

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if that doesn't work................then Nuke Em!

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I've taken some time to read the posts in this forum. To be honest, you guys give me goosepimples.
Jan........then nuke em! was a touch of British irony,in other words taking the p#ss
didn't mean to offend
Arthur
"Iraq and Afghanistan should be smoking craters" ??? "Nuke them" ???

These are human beings, just like me and you. You think they don't hurt when one of their relatives is maimed or killed ? When they loose one of their children ?
The world will NEVER find a solution to problems like this as long as simple people like you and me react in such agressive way ?

I certainly would not defend the way they act or operate. There is NO excuse for terrorism.

Still, I know for sure that nukes won't bring a solution.

I feel very sad about these reactions.... .


Jan