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Senator Cheese
Master of Cheese
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football5680
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- Feb 6, 2013
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Funding the rebels in Syria was incredibly stupid and the outcome was very predictable. We should have either supported Assad or just stayed out of the conflict completely and let Assad defeat the rebels quickly. The rebels were never moderates fighting for freedom and democracy like politicians wanted us to believe. Assad is a secular leader so at best he would be replaced with another secular leader so there was never anything to gain.
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dgiharris
Old Crusty Vet
I think historically, the US has about the worst track record with our Foreign policy of this sort.
What I don't think people understand is that there is a group people who have significant influence in deciding foreign policy and this group is essentially immune from administration changes. That is, they were there during Clinton, Bush, and Obama. It's the same people.
What is ironic is that quite often, these people have no real education in regards to the Middle East or region they are advising about. They don't speak any languages of the region, they couldn't tell you the history or cultural nuances of the people in the region.
Yet, it is these people who will significantly influence foreign policy.
I think in the US, we take hubris to a whole 'nother level. We just assume that everyone else acts and believes and thinks as we do. That we are just so smart and can engineer the solution we want without even understanding the underlying problems...
And then, when it blows up in our faces we just throw up our arms and say, "Well, who could have predicted this would happen."
When I was in the military I ran across the ambassador for Israel and got a chance to talk with her. She was awesome, she spoke 6 languages, had advanced degrees in history and political science and philosophy. This women knew more about the Middle East and it's problems than any other 10 people I've ever met combined.
Then I ran into an Arab-American guy who was rejected for ambassador for one of the Middle Eat Countries. He was similar to her, degrees in political science and history, author of several books and many college papers on the Middle East. He was passed up in favor for an older blue blood type guy I met at the same venue. This blue blood only spoke English, had never been to the country he was responsible for prior to his appointment, and I think his degree was in Accounting or Business Management. When I talked to him for a minute I was seriously underwhelmed (think Rick Perry but no twang).
I went away from the venue amazed that anyone in their right mind would pass on the Arab guy in favor of the blue blood. It actually scared me and was a frightening look into the inner workings of our government.
I can just picture a room full of blue bloods like that guy, sitting around a table smoking cigars making recommendations for various foreign policy decisions and it literally makes me break out in a cold sweat from fear...
What I don't think people understand is that there is a group people who have significant influence in deciding foreign policy and this group is essentially immune from administration changes. That is, they were there during Clinton, Bush, and Obama. It's the same people.
What is ironic is that quite often, these people have no real education in regards to the Middle East or region they are advising about. They don't speak any languages of the region, they couldn't tell you the history or cultural nuances of the people in the region.
Yet, it is these people who will significantly influence foreign policy.
I think in the US, we take hubris to a whole 'nother level. We just assume that everyone else acts and believes and thinks as we do. That we are just so smart and can engineer the solution we want without even understanding the underlying problems...
And then, when it blows up in our faces we just throw up our arms and say, "Well, who could have predicted this would happen."
When I was in the military I ran across the ambassador for Israel and got a chance to talk with her. She was awesome, she spoke 6 languages, had advanced degrees in history and political science and philosophy. This women knew more about the Middle East and it's problems than any other 10 people I've ever met combined.
Then I ran into an Arab-American guy who was rejected for ambassador for one of the Middle Eat Countries. He was similar to her, degrees in political science and history, author of several books and many college papers on the Middle East. He was passed up in favor for an older blue blood type guy I met at the same venue. This blue blood only spoke English, had never been to the country he was responsible for prior to his appointment, and I think his degree was in Accounting or Business Management. When I talked to him for a minute I was seriously underwhelmed (think Rick Perry but no twang).
I went away from the venue amazed that anyone in their right mind would pass on the Arab guy in favor of the blue blood. It actually scared me and was a frightening look into the inner workings of our government.
I can just picture a room full of blue bloods like that guy, sitting around a table smoking cigars making recommendations for various foreign policy decisions and it literally makes me break out in a cold sweat from fear...
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dgiharris
Old Crusty Vet
I'm not normally one for conspiracy theories but I just had a thought.
Either the people crafting our foreign policy are incredibly stupid or incredibly smart.
That is, we seem to have a brilliant track record of solving one problem only to lead to a future one that will require a military solution.
So are we purposefully planting seeds of military conflict so that we have a future war we know we will need to fight? Do we purposefully do this so we can keep our military industrial complex well feed and happy by shoveling 100s of billions of dollars to them in the way of future conflicts?
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ManFromUncle
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I'm not normally one for conspiracy theories but I just had a thought.
Either the people crafting our foreign policy are incredibly stupid or incredibly smart.
That is, we seem to have a brilliant track record of solving one problem only to lead to a future one that will require a military solution.
So are we purposefully planting seeds of military conflict so that we have a future war we know we will need to fight? Do we purposefully do this so we can keep our military industrial complex well feed and happy by shoveling 100s of billions of dollars to them in the way of future conflicts?
Looks like President Eisenhower was a conspiracy theorist, when he warned of just what you are talking about, a self-perpetuating military-industrial complex.
[youtube]8y06NSBBRtY[/youtube]
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ManFromUncle
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That blueblood sounds like the redneck officer in Full Metal Jacket, "Inside every [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse], is an American trying to get out."
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Interplanner
Newbie
The ideal of an Islamic caliphate was around 1000 years before the US or the CIA.
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They have to keep the wars going.
Ben Swann is the only investigative reporter I know of who doesn't pull punches and doesn't push an agenda other than simply reporting what is going on.
Ben Swann is the only investigative reporter I know of who doesn't pull punches and doesn't push an agenda other than simply reporting what is going on.
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ManFromUncle
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Yes but the Christian conquest was about 500 years after that, and far more successful. It was the Cross which forcibly converted Indigenous tribes in the New World by the millions, or exterminated them, not Islam. It wasn't just an idea. They actually did it.
The ignorance of world history is appalling, and it is amazing to me that anyone is buying into the Cosmic Caliphate. May I ask what radio/news shows you listen too, and what your level of education is? I am serious and not trying to be condescending.
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