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>> are you mad?
Yes. Mad as hell, actually.
>> I don't see how there is anything tempting about declaring war on Indonesia,
>> and I can only hope that you're just trying to be diplomatic and nice to the
>> poor twit that suggested it...
I must confess that 'diplomacy' wasn't at the top of my list of priorities
when I wrote that. I am not actually seriously suggesting that we declare war
on Indonesia, but that does not mean that we shouldn't recognize that they are
at a low level war with us.
>> it is a long stretch from a very active imagination that considers a terrorist
>> attack _in_ Indonesia to be sufficient provocation for invading a country that
>> we wouldn't have the capacity to rebuild or keep conquered.
I used to have mixed feelings about Indonesia - that we can either.
- Cooperate with them to help them build a democratic capitalist economy,
which will make them more peaceful; or
- Encourage their militant extremism and watch them tear themselves apart
internally so they were no threat.
The Taliban weren't exactly a military threat to the US. And bloodthirsty despots may
take note of their fate before encouraging acts of terrorism against the West.
>> sometimes the right gets so bloody emotional about these things its hard to
>> tell how they differ from the left arguing about education. sense goes out the
>> window and people jump up and down and cry "quick, get the government to do
>> something... anything..."
Dozens of murdered Australians is something I
feel pretty emotional about actually, and I think that most Australians feel
the same way. But I agree that should take a leaf out of Bob Hawke's book
'We must think not only with our hearts but with out heads'. Of course
he said that just before we went into Iraq last time ...
>> what about a cold hard cost-benefit analysis. and then take the action that
>> provides the highest net benefit! revolutionary stuff. I could be shot for
>> suggesting such a thinking pattern to a lefty... and apparently it's not
>> popular among the war-happy right either.
Fundamentally I disagree with the popular model of fundamentalist Islam that they just want to
'live and let live'. They don't. Fundamentalist Islam is about control. Yes,
just like Fundamentalist Christianity, and yes,
just like government. However
fundamentalist Christianity is not murdering Australians right now, and
democratic Government is the lesser of the evils here.
>> who needs cost-benefits analysis when you've got a government anyway...
If your point is that we have outsourced our decision making to the
government, yes. However that is what most people think the government is for.
Do we outsource too much? Yes. Would individuals make better decisions than the
government? Mostly, yes. Always? No.
>> 24601
Thanks for your comments 24601. I will point out that I have never actually
said that going into Baghdad is a good thing - just that it would be
strategically foolish for us not to follow the US. Does it annoy me that we are getting pulled into the coming war? Yes. But
my cost-benefit analysis suggests that it may be the lesser of the two evils. Keep safe. Strawman (feeling both flammable and volatile right now).
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