Thread: Honor killing and the difference in cultures.

Originally Posted by jnich67

But...when is it "meddling" and when is it defending your national interests? If the Taliban is harboring people or groups who have attacked you, is going after them meddling? Is supporting an ally (say, Israel or South Korea) meddling? Is maintaining reasonable access to oil for us and our allies meddling? I'm not saying what our specific policies should be on such issues. I'm just trying to say it's a fine line between meddling and defending your interests.

Nah; what I meant was: because we "butted in" with Kosovo, we more or less paved the way for its “Islamization” and very well could have emboldened the movement.

Because we took out Hussein Iraq is a mess and all the sects (my new phrase) are at war. It would have happened sooner or later as is the "natural" course; but, we did egg it on. I agree that we killed an evil man and saved, perhaps, millions of innocent people from horrific deaths; but, it was a war for the Iraqis to fight, I think. What will their freedoms mean to them! We're telling them what they want and need; but it will never be truly theirs until they "want" it for themselves. It's just like your doctor telling you to exercise, eat well, and take care of yourself! You'll say ok and you might give it an earnest attempt, but, until you really want it or need it (generally by a heart attack) you'll never really work to make it happen and you won't appreciate it! Guess where I was last weekend to cause such an epiphany!

It would be comparable to France fighting our American independence from Britain and then dictating the outcome of the Civil War based on fairness. Perhaps; America would not be the great nation that it is today had we not fought, worked, and earned our own independence!

Israel and South Korea have formed their governments and therefore need help protecting themselves which I wholeheartedly support! I'm not saying that unformed or developing governments are not good enough; however, we should let the "people" decide.

Originally Posted by jnich67

It's increasingly difficult to be "isolationist" (not saying anyone here is advocating isolationism-but as an extreme course,etc) in today's world (for the last century, really). Sometimes, not meddling gets us into a bigger, more destructive war down the road. We have interests all over the world - some are more legit than others, and this is what brings us into conflict with "them" It gets tricky.

Jordan

I agree with you on this aspect.
Jeff

Originally Posted by jmueller8

Nah; what I meant was: because we "butted in" with Kosovo, we more or less paved the way for its “Islamization” and very well could have emboldened the movement.

Because we took out Hussein Iraq is a mess and all the sects (my new phrase) are at war. It would have happened sooner or later as is the "natural" course; but, we did egg it on. I agree that we killed an evil man and saved, perhaps, millions of innocent people from horrific deaths; but, it was a war for the Iraqis to fight, I think. What will their freedoms mean to them! We're telling them what they want and need; but it will never be truly theirs until they "want" it for themselves. It's just like your doctor telling you to exercise, eat well, and take care of yourself! You'll say ok and you might give it an earnest attempt, but, until you really want it or need it (generally by a heart attack) you'll never really work to make it happen and you won't appreciate it! Guess where I was last weekend to cause such an epiphany!

It would be comparable to France fighting our American independence from Britain and then dictating the outcome of the Civil War based on fairness. Perhaps; America would not be the great nation that it is today had we not fought, worked, and earned our own independence!

Israel and South Korea have formed their governments and therefore need help protecting themselves which I wholeheartedly support! I'm not saying that unformed or developing governments are not good enough; however, we should let the "people" decide.

I agree with you on this aspect.
Jeff

I agree with everything you've said here. The fact that they don't "want" it makes the Machiavellian in me want to support one side in their civil war (probably the Sunnis to counter Iran) and let them fight it out, with our side winning and forming a dictator government that is friendly to the US (ah, you have to miss the simplicity of the cold war). FDR is often credited with the quote: "He may be a sonofbitch, but he's our sonofabitch". I know this brings its own set of problems - including ethical, but international relations is one of the few areas where - at the end of the day - all's fair, it would seem. Again, this is just the Machiavellian view. I don't know if it would really be best in the long run.

Jordan