I hope I'm not beating a dead horse with this, but recent events in Lebanon serve as another example of showing how foreign policy cannot be privatized to independent parties.
In times past, libertarians have often argued for what might be called separation of foreign affairs and state. That is, they have argued that the gov't of whatever country those libertarians are in should leave hands off the regimes of other countries, but that those who want to intervene in the affairs of foreign countries should be allowed to do so even if that requires the use of force; hopefully the force would only be used on the side of justice, as wielded by libertarians and their hirelings. But could anyone trust that actions of persons from a foreign country in projecting or even resisting force would not be viewed by those affected as a policy of that foreign country's gov't? That is, that allowing a private group to operate is not effectively the same as that gov't's operating to the same end? To take the example at hand, can the gov't of Lebanon possibly dissociate itself from the actions of Hizbolla members residing there? As long as Lebanon has the ability to take action against Hizbolla, even if it might not be able to overcome Hizbolla without help, can anyone take seriously a claim that it is not itself to blame? Certainly Israel doesn't think so. So it would be with the USA or any other country from which a private group took military action, including aid to the offensive or defensive actions of others. Therefore a gov't must make foreign policy choices for the whole country. As long as that gov't CAN suppress, or even ATTEMPT to suppress, a private corps of freedom fighters or whatever, then effectively it MUST -- unless it chooses to FAVOR the actions of that corps, in which case it must actively oppose any who act contrary to that corps. Unless the entire world become anarchic, you're stuck with collectivism there. In Your Sly Tribe, Robert _______________________________________________ Libnw mailing list Libnw@immosys.com List info and subscriber options: http://immosys.com/mailman/listinfo/libnw Archives: http://immosys.com/mailman//pipermail/libnw
