Text 7873, 91 rader
Skriven 2007-12-11 22:46:05 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
     Kommentar till en text av Jeff Smith (1:14/5)
Ärende: George W. Bush
======================
Hello Jeff,

On Tuesday December 11 2007 00:37, you wrote to me:

 JS>>>      If presented with a situation where you could but were not
 JS>>> obligated to vote for a particular candidate and you were not
 JS>>> happy with either of the candidates. What would you do?

 MV>> I prefer to avoid hypotheticles and stick to the original issue.
 MV>> The situation has no equivalent in Dutch politics, so what I
 MV>> would do in such a situation is a moot point.

 JS>     But it does make it easier for others to understand your reasoning
 JS> process and why you may choose to have a particular point of view.

What I would do or not do in the hypothetical situation you portrayed is
irrelevant for my POV. Therefore discussing it would melrely cloud the issue.

 MV>> I do not want to enter into debate about the flaws or benefits of
 MV>> the US system. And I certainly do not want to go into a "mine is
 MV>> bigger than yours" fight. All I wanted to do is bring some nuance
 MV>> to the "it is not the American people that we have an issue with,
 MV>> it is the American gevernment".

 JS>     And that is fine. The problems/concerns that I have are also with
 JS> the government and not the people.

I think you misread me. I wrote that I condider the people part responsible for
the actions oif the leaders they put into power.

 MV>> You saying: "the problem is the politicians" is not very
 MV>> reassuring for those who fear the USA. I think Bob Bashe got it
 MV>> right: it is note hate, it is fear. After the end of the cold war
 MV>> the balance of power is lost. The US have the weapons, they have
 MV>> he means to deliver them and the man in the White House appears
 MV>> to be the madman that is willing to us them.

 JS>      There are a number of leaders of other countries that are willing
 JS> to use them.

Really? Who? Israel?

 JS> In the post cold ware era the question that arrose is who
 JS> gets to to try to deter others from using their weapons?

Who guards the guardians?

 JS> Was the removing of the Hussain regime in Iraq the right thing
 JS> done for the wrong reason?

It should be blatantly obvious that the anser to that question is "no". The
invasion of Iran was wrong,

 JS> I don't think there is a best solution or answer here Michiel.

The solution to what problem?

 MV>> If it is true what you say that the the problem is the
 MV>> politicians and there is little or nothing that the people can do
 MV>> about it, that is really frightening. Because in that case we not
 MV>> only may have a madman at the helm in Washington, but no one can
 MV>> stop him and there is no one who can prevent it from happening
 MV>> again.

 JS>     People being scared isn't what bothers me.

It does botherthe people that are scared though.

 JS> A change in leadership is the first step toward the taking of a
 JS> differant path. Regardless of what new path if any that is taken it
 JS> will be right for some and wrong for others.

A change in leadership may be the beginning to restore the damaged relationship
between the USA and the rest of the world, but it will get nowhere unless the
US *does* something to show that it can be a partner that can be trusted again.
Such as: signing the Kyoto protocol, recognising the International Criminal
Court, close down the Gitmo Hotelm give everyone detained there a fair trial
and allow inspectors from the Red Ctoss to verify that indeed they do get a fai
trial. And finally allow UN weapons inspectors to inspect nuclear facilities in
the US.

 MV>> Can you understand why that thought scares people?

 JS>     Yes I can Michiel.

Good, then we can end this thread.

Cheers, Michiel

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