pegkerr | (no subject)

(no subject)

A couple of interesting political articles on Arts & Letters Daily today: The book The Right Nation: How Conservatism Won is reviewed at Mother Jones. And in the Chroncle of Higher Education Sasha Abramsky ponders the American Dream and considers the roots of anti-Americanism.

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Thanks for the links.

B

That article gives a very simplistic and inaccurate (or at best imcomplete) basis for anti-Americanism.

What I like about these articles, especially as concerns the opinion of Europe, is that somehow the outsiders are viewed as seing us from a vantage point of moral superiority.

Europe is like the spoiled teenager, living in a false sense of security, trying to triangulate their interests vis a vis their relationship with us and their growing Islamic populations. They have not had to provide for their own security for 1/2 century, so they can take the so called "high road" when it comes to international politics. Moreover, their lack of courage is certainly evidenced by their tendency towards appeasement. They are in decline.

The real story for the future of civilization will be America and the East. India, Pakistan, China and perhaps Russia. Europe is living off the legacy of the past.

Not to deny that we have some serious decadence here.

Thank you. :)

And, as for the Middle East, they have largely themselves to blame for their situation. Completely failed and despotic governments (which at times we helped support) have left their people in poverty. When modernity came, they had a choice: Soviet Style totaltarianism or liberal democracy of some sort. They chose the former. Is that our fault? Our Iraq policy is a good one....a way way long shot, but a good one. Motivated by self-interest? Yes. But, their people will be a heck of a lot better off in the process. A true empire would not do what we are doing. A true imperialist empire would simply take over and enslave the people, not send in hundreds and humdreds of billions of dollars to help them create a decent life.

So much of the anti-Americanism is the result of two things: Bad marketing from an inarticulate President and just plain envy.

BTW, I rarely get political on lj. Please forgive me.

Yeah, I figured you'd like them.

Feel free to swipe the icon anytime, if you like, by the way. It's from the Lord of the Rings icon set that I made, but you might find it apropos, too.

Come to think, a number of these icons seem to touch on you and your advice and analysis on security concerns as well:

on passwords:

on the need for humans intuition to assess security:

and

This one, somehow, always reminds me of Dick Cheney:

and if we're talking about consultants in general, there's always these three:

and, of course:

Cheers,
Peg

Monolithic opinions such as "Europe is like" are of necessity simplistic. The reality is far more complex.

K.

Touche'.

Guess I should have qualified with "in many ways" or "there are many among the Europeans who."

That being said, I will admit, my knowledge base is by no means that of an expert. But, I have read quite extensively on this very subject. Consider, for example Robert Kagan's ideas: http://www.policyreview.org/JUN02/kagan.html

(Should you find this interesing, I have others.)

Peace.

Thanks! I have to read that book. Also found a great bumper sticker company on the advertisement, had to post about that and the review myself. I had never been a big fan of bumper stickers, but instead made iron-ons for t-shirts to express myself, but now that I'm no longer a grad student perpetually in t-shirts, and my van is living out limited days, I'm going ahead and plastering it with these great sentiments.

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