Guest guest Posted October 11, 2001 Report Share Posted October 11, 2001 Dan wrote: > This is why our democracy has traditionally, > over and over, supported dictatorships > " outside of our borders " that supported > our control of their nations resources. Japan and Germany may not see us as traditionally supporting dictatorships. The best thing that ever happened to them was our conquering their Fascist governments and then setting them up as democracies. The dictatorships that we have supported have generally been within the 50-year-old " tradition " of the Cold War, where there was (or seemed to be) only a choice between a dictatorship that was on our side or a communist-totalitarian regime. I am unaware, but open to being informed, of a single case where there was a clearly viable democracy that we undermined primarily to control resources. My impression, again open to correction, is that when we moved to protect American corporate interests, we were siding with one thug over another. Exceptions are surely possible, but web should understand them within the context of American overall policy. As to being disillusioned with nationalism (I don't recall if Dan or someone else introduced that thread), that is like being disillusioned with family because of the notorious Hatfield-McCoy family feuds. Gary Schouborg Performance Consulting Walnut Creek, CA garyscho Publications and professional services: http://home.att.net/~garyscho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 11, 2001 Report Share Posted October 11, 2001 Dear Gary, Not on-line here to get into extended debate about politics. The central point being made was about identification and history being involved in nation-forming. Please note, I didn't say that the U.S. undermined democracy, but that the conditions that allow democracy to flourish, particularly a strong, wealthy, and educated middle-class, were undermined by flow of resources out of an area. The deeper one looks into the corporate nature of the power structures governing world politics, the more clear the picture is concerning how governments are supported, wars determined, and outcomes used for further expansion of corporate wealth and control, including the corporate weapons-producers who end up arming both sides in many conflicts. Studying the flow of resources clarifies what is going on; it's not about democracy vs. dictatorship (although that's a useful tool for rhetoric that inspires nationalism), and the rebuilding of Japanese and German industries was totally consistent with the expanding power of corporations that operated in those countries as well as the U.S. Allowing self-determination has not been big on the " political priorities " list of the U.S. when self-determination interfered with corporate interests, in spite of the avowed belief in democracy. Cheerio, Dan --- Gary Schouborg <garyscho wrote: > Dan wrote: > > > This is why our democracy has traditionally, > > over and over, supported dictatorships > > " outside of our borders " that supported > > our control of their nations resources. > > Japan and Germany may not see us as traditionally > supporting dictatorships. > The best thing that ever happened to them was our > conquering their Fascist > governments and then setting them up as democracies. > > The dictatorships that we have supported have > generally been within the > 50-year-old " tradition " of the Cold War, where there > was (or seemed to be) > only a choice between a dictatorship that was on our > side or a > communist-totalitarian regime. I am unaware, but > open to being informed, of > a single case where there was a clearly viable > democracy that we undermined > primarily to control resources. My impression, again > open to correction, is > that when we moved to protect American corporate > interests, we were siding > with one thug over another. Exceptions are surely > possible, but web should > understand them within the context of American > overall policy. > > As to being disillusioned with nationalism (I don't > recall if Dan or someone > else introduced that thread), that is like being > disillusioned with family > because of the notorious Hatfield-McCoy family > feuds. > > Gary Schouborg > Performance Consulting > Walnut Creek, CA > garyscho > > Publications and professional services: > http://home.att.net/~garyscho > > Make a great connection at Personals. http://personals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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