America says “Goodbye, world!”
Published by Yazad Jal June 4th, 2004 in HumourYou don’t have to be Brit to posses biting wit. The very American P J O’Rourke shows how.
A U.S. withdrawal from the Middle East will cause chaos, of course. Then again, a U.S. intervention in the Middle East has caused chaos already. And, during those periods of history when the U.S. was neither intervening in nor withdrawing from the Middle East, there was . . . chaos. The situation is akin to the famous complaint women have against men: failure to acknowledge that not every problem can be fixed. Sometimes the best thing is just a little sympathy. America had everyone’s sympathy after the World Trade towers were attacked. We can get that sympathy back if we limit our foreign policy objectives to whining.One thing to whine about will be the fate of Israel. Without American safeguards that nation is certain to be militarily attacked. To judge by previous Israeli wars, in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982, the result will be serious headaches for Israelis as the Knesset furiously debates the status of Jewish settlements outside Damascus and on the west bank of the Euphrates.
“We can get that sympathy back if we limit our foreign policy objectives to whining.”
Absolutely. A prime example of that is India - with our erstwhile and current communist (aka whiny) leadership, have we not ridden the crest of some kickass world-sympathy tsunami?
[OffTopic]
ok took the other one.. politopia quiz :)
cheeck out the results on the blog
Hey Yazad,
Have a section called ‘anti-cartel’ or something. I’ll be the founder member. Ha ha
Sathish
Sathish, I’m not in the “free-publicity-for-those-I-disagree-with” business. Create your own anti-whatever! (You might just get visitors. Stranger things have happened ;-)
Sathish, from what I’ve been reading, is possibly more socialist than Chacha Nehru himself (He adores Arundhati Roy, The Verbal Terrorist). Pity he hasn’t attracted more attention. The Cartel would have a field day with him. ;)
PS: Sathish, wrong entry to comment on. The one you want is above this one.
Well he has attracted my attention at any rate.
I think it’s time you resumed the YLASI series. :)
(or aren’t you angry any more?)
Yazad,
I am not asking for free publicity. Just asking you to recognise the existence of counter-points. There is nothing right or wrong in ideology. Whatever succeeds at the grassroots must be welcomed.
BTW, I am not against any person. I am just against ideas.
Madman,
I adore Arundati, just because of her daringness to speak-out and her acceptance of Chomsky. I maynot agree with whatever she says.
The ‘correct entry’ to comment on - was posted AFTER I’d commented. So, can’t help it. :-)
Ravi,
Thanks for the discussion on Pareto.
All,
I would write on what I think about ideologies and where I stand - in my blog, very soon. Please hold your attributions and judgements till then. Thanks.
— Sathish
Sathish, I don’t quite understand what you mean by:
…but i will go ahead and give my opinion on it anyway ;-). I think there are right and wrong ideologies, even if having an ideology in itself maynot be wrong. Also it is not neccessary to jump in and embrace an ideological fallacy just because it has grass-roots success. Evidently AP voted for free-electricity, that does not validate Populism as a legitimate or even honest and ethical policy programme.
You also mention Chomsky (yuck..), I might say about Chomsky and his left leaning ilk, that they might still make noises about equality and fairness, but when it comes to tolerating contesting opinions they seem to shy away when push comes to shove. People who contest their views or beliefs have to pay a heavy price, especially in academia which is the only domain over which they have a degree of control.
Most people like the Verbal Terrorist and the Resident Idiot, believe something with their hearts and try to project the ideas as if they come from their heads. I think everyone who is making statements that will impact the whole nation or the world should consider what they are saying exclusively with their head, with suitable references to their heart and more importantly they should read Road to Serfdom before they say anything at all :-).
Hmm. Thanks for giving me a chance to hit at the dangers of having an ideology. Will keep it simple, though.
1. Ideological solutions are always simple to arrive at. But not necessarily correct. World is more complex than an ideologist would like it to be.
2. By being ideological we intentionally blind ourselves from looking at other viewpoints. My request for Yazad was not to do exactly this. Issues merit independent look and unbiased evaluation. Not ideologically biased solutions.
3. Grassroots success is the only measure of economic development. If a policy suceeds on the ground, it must be welcomed, FULLSTOP. I strongly believe discussing issues with an ideology and taking such discussions to the extremes of ethics is going to help none. We need action, not ideas. We already have enough ideas.
– Sathish
A US withdrawal from world politics may not be such a bad idea. Many reasons:
a) their foreign policy has always been incredibly naive. rather than let communism implode,they made it an issue of nationalism. Same with radical Islam. Neither system would have lasted very long - but for the Americans.
b) For over a 100 years they have given their businesses a competitive advantage that the rest of us didn’t have. There is nothing quite like business backed up by an army
c) in the absence of them in the middle east - the Arabs and the Israelis’ might actually end up making peace.