My friends, we have reached a crisis, the first probably serious crisis internationally since the end of the Cold War. This is an act of aggression.Yes, please not that the end of the Cold War was marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Hmm...let's look at what other international crises since then just might have been a little more serious:
The Gulf War (1990-1991), you may remember this one, it actually gets really important later on, see current Iraq war, and 9/11.
The Rwandan Genocide (1990-1993), in which 800,000 to one million people were slaughtered.
The Afghan Civil War (1992-1996), in which up to 125,000 people died, and which also resulted in the Taliban coming to power (this will prove important later Johnny, take notes).
The Bosnian War (1992-1995), in which over 100,000 people died, and which our botched response to would prove to have repercussions later on.
The Kosovo War (1996-1999), in which well over ten thousand died.
The First Congo War (1996-1997), in which around 200,000 people died.
The Ethiopia-Eritrea War (1998-2000), in which 53,000-190,000 are estimated to have died.
The Second Congo War (1998-2003), probably the biggest war you never heard of, in which 3.5 to 4.4 million people were killed, in violence that still hasn't gone away.
September 11th, 2001, while not a war, neither is this conflict in South Ossetia, and I think it had a pretty major impact on international relations, in fact, I'd say it was a bit of an important, and serious, crisis.
Current War in Afghanistan (2001-Present), kind of important, considering al-Qaeda and the Taliban keep getting stronger and stronger while we waste our resources and attention in Iraq.
Darfur Genocide (2003-Present), in which 300,000 to 400,000+ have been slaughtered.
Current War in Iraq (2003-Present), also kind of important, really the biggest foreign policy blunder since Vietnam, which has of today cost the lives of 4,143 American troops, wounded tens of thousands of American troops, killed over a million Iraqis, who knows how many wounded, gave a huge boost to terrorist recruitment, and will, by the time it is over, cost an estimated 3 trillion dollars that could have been used to fix our crumbling infrastructure in the US, or our health care system, or education system, or eliminate HIV/AIDS and malaria world-wide, cure hunger in the world, etc, you get the picture.
In fact there hasn't been a minute since the end of the Cold War in which there hasn't been a war of some sort in some part of the world. Those were just the most notable conflicts. But sure McCain, if you think that this little, multi-day territorial skirmish between Russia and Georgia is really the "first serious international crisis since the end of the Cold War", I think you might want to go consult your history books, or make sure you have your pal Lieberman next to you when you are saying stupid crap so he can correct you. But of course this doesn't have anything to do with facts for you does it? It is all about scaling up your reckless, belligerent anti-Russia rhetoric, which needless to say does NOTHING to help our relations with Russia. Maybe you should leave the international relations to the pros, or at least people who are less hotheaded and more understanding of the situation than you, people like, Bush. I just threw up a little bit as I typed that, but seriously, compared to McCain, Bush is an expert at foreign policy, at least he isn't running around trying to piss off everyone with his macho rhetoric (at least not in this situation).
2 comments:
Nobody likes Mcain! Atleast not if you ask… the rest of the WORLD!
Done some reading and it appears that BBC recently did a survey in 22 countries, asking people who they belive would improve Americas relation with the rest of the world. Well to summon up …
46 percent voted for Obama and
20 percent for Mcain and
34 percent said they where not shure!
AH… In Canada which after all is the neighbouring country 69 percent voted for Obama, Italy 64%, France 62% and Germany 61%…
ONLY in USA… in a new survey it reveals that Obama gets 47 percent of the votes and Mcain 46! How in the world is it that the rest of the planet, people like Obama vastly more than Mr Mcain … while only in The US, it appears to be equal?
No matter the reason, I believe the rest of the planet also should get their say in this election… (or at least the 100 countries America has put under their military control !!) Anybody more affected by an election should be able to vote… otherwise it cant under any circumstances be called a democratic system. We live in a global world where no nation stands excluded from neighbours around. Obviously its hard to have a global election for the president-post in every country, but think about it… don’t you believe a great deal of people in Iraq are more affected by this election than a whole lot of people in the USA… ? I do! If the US e´wants all this global military/financial responsibility, they can atleast hear what the world has to say… jao!
But hey … anywho anyways anywhat, that just me right!?
It is really striking how united the world is behind Obama, and Democrats in general, and how much they hate Bush and Republicans.
I think the reason things are so much closer here is that here public opinion is so easily led by the media, and they boost McCain, let him get away with lying, broadcast his smears, and openly promote the most ridiculous talking points against Obama. They do everything they can to keep us from having a debate about the ISSUES, which is really what this election should, and needs to be, about. So instead of seeing the big picture, we have super short attention spans, super short memories, and we no focus on the issues.
In other countries they don't have these problems. Their information isn't filtered by the US media. They also have a much longer attention span, and they don't forget things nearly as easily as we seem to. So while many Americans don't remember Bush and McCain lying us into an unnecessary war, and showing horrible judgment again and again, the rest of the world remembers clearly.
And it is an interesting point you raise, and I've thought of it before. It does kind of suck for the rest of the world, which is greatly impacted by US policies, some times even more than the US is...just look at Iraq. Of course there will never be any kind of global elections, but your question does highlight the limits of democracy.
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