On 1/18/02 12:46 PM, “Tim Hardy”
>
> Don’t forget the 800,000+ Tutsis that died in genocide a year later as the
> gun-shy US passed up on an opportunity to save lives. Maybe the global 911
> was busy.
Gersham mentioned to me the other night that FOIB has a hugely Leftist bent, which I find rather odd because I didn’t think that my leanings were particularly so.
Lest our very Canadian views despoil the American portion of our audience, I don’t think that these are criticisms of America per se or of Americans in general — just American foreign policy.
It is a fact that America makes value judgments on where and when to intervene based on its own best interests. The UN was supposed to be a force to counteract the political will of one nation.
My particular axe to grind has to do with the US Undermining and usurping the UN’s role as an international moderator. For it’s part, the UN has allowed this to happen by becoming bureaucratic, slow-moving, and easily influenced by special interests. Into the vacuum created by the UN and the League of Nations before it slips the American State Department.
It’s commonly thought that the best possible form of government is a benevolent despot. In a capitalist, democratic system, benevolence is hard to come by — and benevolence shouldn’t necessarily be expected of America.
America can and perhaps should (in the Darwinian sense) inflict its will upon the evolution of the world around us and we should not expect that will to be even-handed. America, as would any entity, will continue to make mistakes and commit grievous crimes against humanity.
My intent (as I’m sure is Tim’s) is to point out these crimes and to encourage all of us to look for ways to remedy their effects and prevent them from happening again. There’s no point in bashing America or what she stands for — America is the boss, but the consistent message of FOIB, from my point of view, is that authority (in any form) must always be questioned.
-Ian.