Durran Korr wrote:
And why the obsession with Liberia, Ando? There are thousands of people suffering in the Congo, as well. Liberian life worth more than a Congolese life?
If you look back through the archives you'll see that I made a similar argument about the Congo months ago and got similar responses.
Liberia is the topic, so I made a point - and you never answered, is an American life worth so much that you are willing to ignore the problems in Liberia and the Congo in case you hear that there was a casualty on CNN?
Stop harping on a point that no one here believes in. No one here said that African lives are less important than American lives. If you go back and read the post instead of picking something to harp on you would see that I said that there are no vital interest to risk American lives. Quite a fucking difference from African lives aren't as important. We didn't get involved in Rowanda, a situation ten times as worse and desperate (in fact NO NATION did.) so we certainly have precedence for this decision. American forces are currenlty strecthed to the limit, with 3rd ID soldiers desperate for some relief and you would like us to go marching into what looks like will be a long deployment with little or no exit stratgey? The UN was so fucking desperate to go send people into Iraq, where here we have a PERFECT place for them to get involved in....save of course they don't really want them.
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The problem isn't the US, it's the international system. The US is the most powerful military force in the world, yet even it can't play superhero in every arena - just look at the troubles in the two wars we have already. I still think it makes sense to intervene in Liberia, at least briefly, but we really should be making it an even higher priority to find a way to make Africa clean its shit up while quietly diverting the policeman role to someone else. The EU, for example. The newly-formed AU is promising but I'm not holding my breath.
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The real way to make Africa count, of course, would be to find some way to make the First World actively care about what happens to it.
That's the wrong way to tickle Mary, that's the wrong way to kiss!
Don't you know that, over here lad, they like it best like this!
Hooray, pour les français! Farewell, Angleterre!
We didn't know how to tickle Mary, but we learnt how, over there!
Durran Korr wrote:
And why the obsession with Liberia, Ando? There are thousands of people suffering in the Congo, as well. Liberian life worth more than a Congolese life?
If you look back through the archives you'll see that I made a similar argument about the Congo months ago and got similar responses.
Liberia is the topic, so I made a point - and you never answered, is an American life worth so much that you are willing to ignore the problems in Liberia and the Congo in case you hear that there was a casualty on CNN?
The U.S. military is funded by the taxpayers of America, not Liberia. While an American life is not worth more than a Liberian life, that doesn't alter the fact that the job of the U.S. military and U.S. government is to protect and serve Americans, not foreigners.
And if I may be frank, who the fuck are you to make demands of the U.S.? A good portion of your posts here are dedicated to railing about the negative consequences of various U.S. interventions, both real and imaginary. Who the hell do you think you are demanding that we suddenly take place in an intervention that you happen to approve of?
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I'm studying for the CPA exam. Have a nice summer, and if you're down just sit back and realize that Joe is off somewhere, doing much worse than you are.
Bob McDob wrote:The real way to make Africa count, of course, would be to find some way to make the First World actively care about what happens to it.
There was such a thing: Colonialism
The problem is that imposing a solution only works for as long as the authority can be maintained. That's why so many peace keeping missions fail after they leave, the underlying problems weren't solved. No nation at all is going to spend the lives or money to impose their authority over a nation to no benefit at all.
What Africa really needs is for Africans to stop killing each other. The rule of law needs desperately to be established and the cycle of repression and reprisal stopped. That's what needs to be done in order to actually end the countless civil wars all over Africa. With out respect and support for the rule of law it's a hopeless situation.
I'd be more enthused at the prospect of intervention if there was a chance of that. The problem is that at most, we'd be stopping the violence for a while.
