In Saudi Arabia there is more bad news for the
American military planners. It seems that a Shia protester and two teenagers
were killed. The killings have sparked an uprising of the oppressed minority.
The killing of
Mr. Labad and the two teenagers marks an escalation in Saudi Arabia's worst
civil unrest in years. The sectarian uprising in the kingdom's oil heartland
has been an often overlooked front in the wave of revolts remaking the Middle
East. But it has become increasingly violent, and the implications for the
region are vast at a time when Saudi Arabia and Iran are jockeying hard for
supremacy. Independent
02 Feb 2013
The Saudi Government is blaming the protests on instigation
coming from Iran. The protesters vehemently deny any connection to that nation.
One must wonder what the result would be if Saudi Arabia exploded with sectarian
protests? With each passing month it seems that the partnership between the
Saudi's and the U.S. is getting closer. The situation that is occurring in
Syria today is being played out with many of the same players that were
involved in the Libyan fiasco. What kind of blow-back can we expect to see if we
were to wake one morning to find Saudi Arabia awash in rebellion?
I could go on. The situation in Afghanistan is a
dismal quagmire. One thing is certain however, it will be many years after we
leave before we will ever be welcome there. Venezuela is another diplomatic
fiasco. It seems that America has done everything possible to alienate that
nation.
Why is it that the United States believes that the
only way to gain allies is by military power? With all of the technological
knowledge we possess and the huge economy we still have, why must diplomacy emanate
from the barrel of a gun? The State Department has to be one of the most
dysfunctional elements of our government. Don't they realize that even with all
of the information gathering services at their employ, their track record is horrendous?
Maybe the time is right to resort to one of the most effective diplomatic tools
ever conceived"goodwill.
Instead of demonizing Iran, what if we befriended
them? After all, it was the United States that used Iraq to fight a proxy war
with them leading to hundreds of thousands of dead on both sides. Do Americans
even realize that Tehran has 11 functioning
synagogues, many of them with Hebrew schools? It has two kosher restaurants,
and a Jewish hospital, an old-age home and a cemetery. There is a Jewish
representative in the Iranian parliament. There is a Jewish library with 20,000
titles, its reading room decorated with a photograph of the Ayatollah Khomeini.
Why demonize a nation that hasn't fought an offensive war in long time? The
Iranian people according to many visitors, still have a high regard for the
American people, our government however" not so much. With so much to gain by
having an ally in the area where Iran is located, we have so much to gain and
not much to lose. Why don't we pursue better relations?
We seem to be hell-bent on alienating the rest of
the planet. When Obama went to Europe before he was elected for his first term,
thousands came out in Germany to hear him speak. They thought that the United
States would turn its back on the warlike policies of the Bush Administration
and become an honest broker for peace. They must be sorely disappointed by now.
Obama may speak in a kinder, gentler way, but he carries the American military
as his basic bargaining chip. If anything, he has delved even deeper in to the
darker side of the human psyche. What's the pay off?
Why are we just accepting the blunders our foreign policies
bring? Is there a reason behind the seeming madness that has crept into our
government? The American people have not benefited from a hostile America. We
have almost become inured to endless war. Our government lies to us and the
media swears to it, even though most of us can see for ourselves that what they
are telling us just doesn't add up. We have lost many of our civil liberties in
the name of this "war on terror". We're going broke paying for our military. We
have alienated Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, Egypt, and Syria along with half
of the world. We have so-called "allies" that would stab us in the back if it benefited them. Why?
I could go on but I won't. The things I mentioned,
the questions I have asked should make people wonder where we are heading. It's
time that the media threw off the self-imposed shackles it wears and to start
asking the hard questions that need answers. It's time for Americans to demand
some kind of accountability from the government. Many Americans believe that
the government knows best" it doesn't . Their plans are flawed and that puts us
all at risk.
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