--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > In a message dated 8/19/05 2:42:07 P.M. Central Daylight Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > Well, we certainly seem to have no problems working > closely with other murderous dictators to further > our own interests. > > Geeez, we sound almost as bad as MMY
I learned from Robert Merry's _Sands of Empire_ that this policy of working with thugs when it suits our interests is called conservative interventionism. The idea is to only intervene when and where it serves American interests, and not get hung up on human rights and affairs govered by other sovereign nations, however unsavory they may be. A contrasting approach, liberal interventionism, is what we've attempted to do in Bosnia and Iraq. It's when we impose American standards for pluralism, capitalism and democracy on lands that don't practice them at present. It's the Woodrow Wilson school of making the world safe for democracy. Liberal interventionism is what the neoconservatives have adopted, ironically. It hasn't worked so hot. The remaining philosophies of foreign policy include conservative isolationism and liberal isolationism. In each case, we stay out of foreign affairs altogether. Conservative isolationists pursue that policy because the world is impure and we don't want to sully our affairs with the world's dirt. Liberal isolationists pursue that policy because America is impure and we don't want to sully the world with our dirt. Merry describes a fifth foreign policy, empire, and the problems that go with it, too. When I read about all these policies lined up in a row like that, I had to feel a lot of sympathy for the conservative interventionists. Yes, they treat with reprehensible thugs, but the alternatives suck worse. - patrick gillam ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/JjtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
