American
International Justice and War (or Why Every Country Should Invade the United States)
11/05/07 10:41 Categories: Politics
I have a hard time with the Iraq war. I know that many people do. The cost alone scares me. The claims that we are making those folks lives better, or saving them from an evil regime seem preposterous. Reports that Hussein had offered to leave the country into exile are scary. These things seem to iterate the United States’ supremacist view of itself as the holy protector of the world. We consider our way the best way, the only way (we do allow countries with a parliamentary system to be our friends too). This sort of pride is alarming and cannot be easily fixed. In a minor plug, I feel like Obama would be the best next leader of our country, with a proper amount of humility and compassion for others to counter our current trend.
My real point here, though, is this fellow and the international actions against him:
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Ahmadinejad is the leader of Iran, and a fairly foolish man. He hates the Jewish people, as many conservative Muslims do, and he is currently trying to get nuclear power, and probably nukes, for his country. The International community is doing everything possible to stop him. It is interesting that the international community consists of countries who all have nukes, and who all can very easily wipe out ahmadinejad’s country without a second thought. The United States have about 7500 active nuclear weapons - ranged all over the world on subs, in the United States, and in a few select bases overseas.
Moreover, we have recently attacked a country on the suspicion of weapons of mass destruction. I do not support Ahmadinejad’s ideology, but the injustice of his situation is interesting. My solution is not to enable him to get nukes. My suggestion is that we get rid of more of ours, both as a sign of good will to all of life and also as a means of reducing our inherent threat to countries without nukes. Lastly, in order to gain respect on the world stage and close attention from the United States and other economic superpowers like the EU and China, a country needs to get nukes or move in that direction. We would be completely ignoring Iran right now if not for the nuclear situation.
However, to contradict myself, I am not sure what gives us, the United States, the right to nuclear technology and knowledge and not others. It seems that part of the inalienable rights that we give to ourselves (or claim to give to ourselves) we deny to others. It is also interesting that in the midst of global warming, etc., we should probably be helping others attain the cleaner resource of nuclear power. (On the subject of its disposal, I continue to suggest sending it to the sun, where ‘nuclear waste’ is constantly being generated and destroyed. There is about 148,000,000 kg of nuclear waste on earth.)
So, what is my point? That our hypocrisy is reaching new and disturbing levels. Instead of setting the example, both internationally and for the common good, we are attempting to mandate actiions by others and rely upon our ever weakening economy.
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The American Dream
11/13/07 08:12 Categories: Politics
There is a study recently completed which suggests that the American Dream is not so easily come by as thought. More importantly, it reveals some of the lingering racism in our country. I don’t mean to simplify such a complex issue, but at the same time thee is some truth in the claim: we still suffer from racial divide.