tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post114590122315199342..comments2023-09-11T08:58:24.710-06:00Comments on Reach Upward: Realism and IranScott Hinrichshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11831447472339880148noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-1146002652452189882006-04-25T16:04:00.000-06:002006-04-25T16:04:00.000-06:00Thanks for your observations Cameron. The U.S. ac...Thanks for your observations Cameron. The U.S. actually does have limited resources, so we can't put out every fire of inhumanity on the globe. We also have to realize that this kind of horror has been going on since prehistoric times. It's kind of like when Mr. Incredible at the start of the movie the Incredibles says, "No matter how many times you save the world, it always manages to get back into peril. I feel like the maid. Can't you just keep it cleaned up for maybe 10 minutes?" No matter how ofter we clean up, human nature dictates that it will get messed up again.<BR/><BR/>We have to be very careful about involving ourselves militarily. Note that it didn't take us long to initially conquer Iraq, but three years hence we are still committing significant resources there and will continue to do so for a long time.<BR/><BR/>We might be able to temporarily halt atrocities in places like Rwanda, but then we have to deal with the aftermath. If we simply leave, guess what will happen. Do we really want to try to recreate the British Empire? The ultimate result of that hasn't been that wonderful. Maybe India isn't so bad, but the empire also brought us most of the situations in Africa and the Middle East.<BR/><BR/>We have to be careful of the hubris of thinking that we can solve all of these problems. So we pick and choose what we do with regard to foreign meddling. We necessarily focus first on threats to our interests. It's not that we don't care about the rest of the world, but we also understand that this world has a very bad track record of outside parties being able to go to a country and impose peace.<BR/><BR/>People unfortunately have to work these things out largely by themselves, perhaps with foreign help when it is properly negotiated. We have had instances in our history where we had to ask foreign governments to help us out (Revloutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War). But we didn't expect them to do it for nothing and we didn't expect them to hang around and keep taking care of us for the next century.<BR/><BR/>As for the UN, let's get real. Most of the nations represented are in the non-democratic column as well as in the human rights abuser column. What do we expect them to do? The UN was established as a diplomatic body -- that is, it is set up to talk, not to act. And talking is what it does most of the time. Pretty much every time it acts it messes things up in grand fashion. Better to leave it alone to talk.<BR/><BR/>Sorry, no real good answers to the problems here.Scott Hinrichshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11831447472339880148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-1145995773314722542006-04-25T14:09:00.000-06:002006-04-25T14:09:00.000-06:00I'd like to chime in a bit, simply because this ru...I'd like to chime in a bit, simply because this runs parallel to some thinking and discussions I've been having lately, and I would appreciate fresh voices.<BR/><BR/>Last week there were a rash of news articles on the web remembering the atrocities of the Rwandan genocide a decade ago. I was in high school at that time and paid it no real attention. However, I watched "Hotel Rwanda" a couple of years ago and was horrified. I was physically ill. How could people, human beings!, do this? And then, how could the rest of the world let it happen? It seemed to me that that was the point of the movie. How dare the UN and US allow these horrific acts to take place. I don't know of too many people that after watching that movie or others of its ilk would not affirm that it is our duty to help. We should not have let it happen. I am one of those.<BR/><BR/>I just feel that everyone has wiped their tears and gone on and forgotten. Again. The same atrocities are happening NOW. Sudan, Iran, North Korea, and others are committing atrocities against their own people. Sometimes it seems as though the entire continent of Africa is one large refugee camp. Rwanda is allowed to happen over and over again.<BR/><BR/>So who's job is it to intervene? The United States? We certainly have the military strength and funding. The United Nations? That seems a logical choice. They certainly have the resources of the world and would presumably be a joint, world effort. Ok then good, the UN should intervene in these nations.<BR/><BR/>But then I think of what happened in Rwanda. The UN cut and run at the first sign of danger. They left a million people to die.<BR/><BR/>Then I think of Iraq. The UN spent a decade dancing around with Saddam Hussein, taking bribes, issuing meaningless resolutions, etc. He played them for the fools they were, and he killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. He butchered them just as horribly as anything done in Rwanda. And again the UN did nothing. So finally the US did. And now everyone hates us for it. Some of us even hate ourselves for it. What gives? The US is damned if we do, damned if we don't. We can't go invade and "liberate" every nation bent on killing themselves, can we? But we certainly can't sit idly by and let it happen. Of that I am certain.<BR/><BR/>So again I ask, what gives?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-1145976436511125732006-04-25T08:47:00.000-06:002006-04-25T08:47:00.000-06:00also mine, after we get past the "deer in the head...also mine, after we get past the "deer in the headlights" look on their faces.That One Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02733838946095632239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-1145922692226854322006-04-24T17:51:00.000-06:002006-04-24T17:51:00.000-06:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.That One Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02733838946095632239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-1145919439477676382006-04-24T16:57:00.000-06:002006-04-24T16:57:00.000-06:00I find that I sometimes have to 'dumb down' my con...I find that I sometimes have to 'dumb down' my conversational language to get my point across. But I don't feel bad using more educated language at home with my kids. I just have to pick and choose when I do it because when I do so I'm obligated to stop and explain it to them. That can get the whole conversation derailed. My junior high schoolers actually get quite a kick out of it.Scott Hinrichshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11831447472339880148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-1145918544318784582006-04-24T16:42:00.000-06:002006-04-24T16:42:00.000-06:00Love the allusion to "Faustian" arrangements. When...Love the allusion to "Faustian" arrangements. Whenever I use the term in conversation, people think I meant some form of the verb "foist", which could have similar connotations in certain contexts. Maybe I need to hang out with smarter people.... my loss.That One Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02733838946095632239noreply@blogger.com