Open Thread

“the U.S. would have cultivated better relationships with other Arab countries, and would probably have had a de-facto client state or two much sooner that Kuwait. ”

I think you missed a huge subtext of the Israeli=Palestinian conflict. None of these other states want the Palestinians (bearing in mind the shifting political boundaries and creation of certain Arab states). They have done nothing for the Palestinians in 60 years but they have used the issue over and over again as a political bullwhip against us. But the reality is they needed the US to buy their oil and help them with their own political agendas, while we wanted their oil. It’s all about the political posturing- not the economic reality- which is- we need them, they need us.

We obviously need a libertarian for President. It seems both liberals and conservatives keep getting us into little adventures that we shouldn’t be getting into.

dibs, did you say the other day Obama was the most liberal president in modern times? hahahahah.

Another $1 billion added to the deficit. Fucking wonderful.

I support Obama, but I do not think he has shown any leadership on Libya.

I also question if it is the role of the U.S. to show leadership.

In fact, I question what is the purpose of the military involvement at all if there is no end-game plan to support a new government that will be friendlier to us.

Scott, you should know better than to touch the Israel topic. Us tribe members get VERY touchy about that (it’s the only Jewish nation so it’ll turn into religious conversation no matter what).

It’s a much more sensitive subject that the whole left wing/right wing battles.

I would steer clear from now on on that.

I broadly agree w/ Scott re Israel, but also agree it would be counter-productive to change horses now, as he said.