nerdgirl

John, Do you realize that what you are describing is humanitarian intervention or Wilsonian foreign policy? Humanitarian intervention is *the* guiding principle of Wilsonian idealism and foreign policy. You are describing the dominant liberal foreign policy of the 20th Century. You are arguing President Clinton’s argument for military intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo. (The counter to Wilsonian idealism is realpolitik, i.e., the dominant foreign policy of Kissinger, Pres Nixon, and Pres Reagan.) As far back as John Stuart Mill conservatives have argued that humanitarian intervention is symptomatic of paternalism, i.e., all the conservative arguments against welfare, and that one gets the government one deserves/earns. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Given that arguably the single most brutal and repressive regime of the 20th century -- measured in estimated lives lost, length, and suppression of civil & human rights and that was a strategic threat to the United States and allies -- fell without military invasion, should the US have invaded the Soviet Union? Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

What do think will emerge or continue as the three most important foreign policy issues the United States will face over the next 10 years? And again, for correlative (rough) demographics, the last 4 options: for US citizens or legal residents, what political party do you find your views most closely align with? Or are you a non-US citizen or legal US resident? VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

What do you consider the three most important foreign policy problems/issues/challenges facing the United States today? And then for correlative (rough) demographics, the last 4 options: for US citizens or legal residents, what political party do you find your views most closely align with? Or are you a non-US citizen or legal US resident? VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

The meta-analysis is kind of curious. Direct comparisons are difficult as the wording has changed. The prior poll from March08 had 31% voting yes and 69% no (39 total votes). Thus far, this poll has 62% voting yes and 38% voting no (29 votes thus far). VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

While I'm sure there are some blacks voting for him solely because he's black, how many do you think switched teams to do so? It seems to me, the Democrats have pulled a pretty substantial majority of that vote with their white candidates too. Maybe, but the number stated is 90%. Did anyone ever see if this played out in more than a few areas? It's been noted previously that in January it was found "In a national survey by CNN/Opinion Research Corp., 59 percent of black Democrats backed Obama, an Illinois Democrat, for their party's presidential nomination, with 31 percent supporting Clinton, the senator from New York." 59% or just over half. One might conclude that when an instance when 70-80% of some definable electrorate goes to Sen Obama occurs you hear about it. When it doesn't, you don't. For example, does anyone have any citable stats on how that distribution is for white Republicans and candidates? It's likely to be 98%+ both because of the racial distribution of the candidates and because it's perceived as a non-issue. "The 28 point lead for Obama is a major reversal from October, when Clinton held a 24 point lead among black Democrats." So at one point more black Democrats supported Sen Clinton -- by 24 points. As Sen Obama's popularity has risen among Democrats, so has his support among black Democrats. Another example of what one doesn't hear about on the blog-o-sphere punditry and another counter-example: in the Democratic Senate candidate run-off in Georgia, Jim Martin (a white man) beat Vernon Jones (a black man). This was the same Democratic electorate that when they voted 66% for Sen Obama versus 31% for Sen Clinton was presented as an example of 'black voters voting for blacks." If the latter assertion was true, one would have expected Jones (the black Democratic candidate) to win the primary run-off, but he didn't. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Classical liberalism, yes. Liberals of the 1800s opposed slavery and were part of the early Republican Party. At the time the Democrats were the conservative party. The Southern rural Democrats of the 1800s supported slavery - they were the (staunch) conservatives (maintaining tradition) of the time. The Northern Democrats tended to support States rights, which was something of a 'cop-out,' as northern States had outlawed slavery by the early 1800s. (I would argue that economics were just as much a motivator as normatives {i.e., “ethics/morals”}. Northern industry was not dependent on slave labor, and workers in the north didn't want competition from the South/competition from freed slaves). When it was founded the Republican Party most strongly resembled a liberalist political philosophy & a fairly radical one at that! Liberalism as tending to be concerned with equality and civil, political, and personal liberties and more willing to challenge traditional assumptions or ways of doing things. (In contrast to being supportive of long-standing institutions and favoring slow, prudent change, if any change at all.) When the Republican Party was founded back in the 1850s, it wasn’t just anti-slavery. The slogan of the first Republican Presidential nominee was “Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men.” Early Republican activists were pro-universal education, pro-technology, supported growth of cities and institutions (federal, i.e., the progenitor of the Federal Reserve & the first income tax; state; and private for progressive growth), supported universal suffrage (i.e., women), also opposed polygamy and alcohol, supported what were early experiments in early rights of workers, e.g., see Lincoln’s Speech on Free Labor vs. Slave Labor (full test available through the "Lincoln Log”) sounds almost ... (& I don my asbestos underwear here) Marxist. Obviously Lincoln was not a Marxist ... and not just because of the whole time dilation issue. He was, however, a radical Republican! (He also was the only US President thus far to have been granted a patent.) Originally the Democratic Party was the party of the anti-federalists (anti-“Big government”), pro-States rights, rural, and strict interpretationalists of the Constitution (constructivists) in opposition to the pro-federalists, pro-interpretationalist, urban, progressives (Federalists). Things change, eh? VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

That’s a legitimate question. It’s been moderately curious that only a couple folks (via PMs) have inquired. Your presumed vector of who is doing the misspelling is in the wrong direction. Hussayn is a more accurate transliteration from the Arabic to Roman alphabet. Another example is al Qa’eda rather than al Qa’ida. The “i” sound as represented in European language in the former brutal dictator of Iraq's name and the global radical Islamist group's name is not found in classical Arabic. It's also an issue with Asian languages, e.g., the former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun (his preference, using one transliteration system) objects to the CIA's use of "No Mu-hyun" (using a different system.) Unless it's a genuine question (as I'm interpreting & responding to the above to be) or emerges as a topical issue, I don't find much value in being pedantic toward other people's grammar or spelling in Speakers Corner, although I do appreciate a high bar for which to aim. --- --- -- --- --- If you had stopped with just the question (putting aside for the moment the less than correct assertion w/r/t vector of inaccuracy) you would have demonstrated earnestness; this, however, demonstrates more specious misdirection. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Guess, it just depends on what you’re looking for, eh? Just watched Rep Patrick Murphy (D-PA, US Army officer retired, and OIF veteran) talk about what he saw as failures of the current administration for the US Army (e.g., the delays in providing body armor) and the failure to find Osama bin Laden. Heard the retired Command Sergeant Major of the US Army Reserves, i.e., the highest ranked enlisted member of the USAR, detail support of Sen Obama. Heard Sen Harry Reid discuss Sen Obama’s energy policy and the failing of Sen McCain’s. Sen Evan Bayh talked about the domestic economy. Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright spoke about first coming to Denver after her family fled Europe to escape the communists, and asserting that Sen Obama recognizes the importance of the past but is not stuck in the past or a Cold War mentality. Now Sen Jack Reed is talking about leadership (a retired US Army Ranger and a paratrooper, who served in the 82nd Airborne Division as an Infantry Platoon Leader) and testifying, in his opinion, to Sen Obama's leadership qualities. Not hearing anyone say anything about race. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Yes, I concur that for many -- but not all -- human rights abuses in China will lose its newsworthiness. One question in my mind is how does one measure the social &/or political impact of the Olympics? The impact of hosting Olympics on US cities w/r/t local economics & economic development has been explored. Or examining the impact (positive) of hostng the winter Olympics on ROK national economic development. What to me seems like an obvious candidate case for comparison: is there any evidence that the 1980 Moscow Olympics had long term impact on the Soviet Union? I don’t know. I suspect one may not be able to disentangle the Olympics-factor from factors like ICT. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Furthermore... It's obvious that everyone can make perfect decisions given perfect hindsight. But that ain't the real world. So this poll is baloney. Additionally, the point in time which you choose to look back at something can also change the perspective. So everyone who is making judgments about this situation today, has not the basis to do so correctly. Only history will determine that. I now return you to your regular programming of partisan bullshit. While thinking about the unintended or unexpected consequences of our or US foreign policy actions may have zero ability to impact the past, one would hope that “lessons learned” might be available sooner than 50 years past. For example, “On Point: The United States Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom” was released in May 2004: “On Point is a study of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF) as soon after the fact as feasible. The Army leadership chartered this effort in a message to the major commands on 30 April 2003. In his guidance, Army Chief of Staff General Eric K. Shinseki directed ‘a quick, thorough review that looks at the US Army’s performance, assesses the role it played in the joint and coalition team, and captures the strategic, operational, and tactical lessons that should be disseminated and applied in future fights.’” The Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL) at Ft Leavenworth released “On Point II, Transition to the New Campaign: The United States Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom May 2003-January 2005” in July. National Defense University (NDU), located at Fort McNair, released INSS Occasional Paper 5, “Choosing War: The Decision to Invade Iraq and Its Aftermath” that criticized planning for OIF: “This study examines how the United States chose to go to war in Iraq, how its decisionmaking process functioned, and what can be done to improve that process. The central finding of this study is that U.S. efforts in Iraq were hobbled by a set of faulty assumptions, a flawed planning effort, and a continuing inability to create security conditions in Iraq that could have fostered meaningful advances in stabilization, reconstruction, and governance. With the best of intentions, the United States toppled a vile, dangerous regime but has been unable to replace it with a stable entity. Even allowing for progress under the Surge, the study insists that mistakes in the Iraq operation cry out in the mid- to long-term for improvements in the U.S. decisionmaking and policy execution systems.” The author, Joseph Collins, is a retired Army colonel who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for stability operations in 2002. Consideration of Lessons Learned from OIF has not been limited to the Army, the USMC did its first critical review in May 2003, "Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) Lessons Learned": "Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) provided a rare opportunity to understand what works and what does not work in real conflict." Link to other DoD written “Lessons Learned” on OIF, OEF, and GWOT. Rather than waiting 10 or 20 years, it is critical to tap and record the memories, impressions, and electrons (email, etc) now, before they fade or meld/morph into reminiscents viewed through colored lens of memory or are deleted. Because one does not like or disagrees with the opinions or the outcomes does not make it irrelevant or partisan or biased or skewed ... unless one is also willing to assert that those products from the US Army CALL to the USMC to UK MOD are to be considered similarly. And yes, the perspective is likely to change as time progresses, whether the image in the rear-view mirror of history is likely to be better (vindicating US foreign policy choices) or worse is less than certain. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

In the US or UK or Australia or France … etc, if one protests something one is liable to be ridiculed on the internet for being too sensitive … in China, even applying for a permit to protest can result in being sent to a “reeducation-through-labor” camp. A few western commercial media sources picked up on the report made public last week by the non governmental organization (NGO) Human Rights in China: Two Beijing Residents Sentenced to Reeducation-Through-Labor After Applying for Permits to Demonstrate in Olympics “Protest Zones” “Human Rights in China has learned that Beijing petitioners Wu Dianyuan (79) and Wang Xiuying (77) have been ordered to serve a one-year term of Reeducation-Through-Labor (RTL) after repeatedly applying for permits to hold demonstrations in the Beijing ‘protest zones’ during the Olympics. Wu and Wang have both been actively petitioning the government since they were forcibly evicted from their homes in Beijing in 2001. On August 17, Wu and Wang each received an RTL decision dated July 30 from the RTL commission of the Beijing Municipal Government.” VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

What a ridiculous question from word one. No one ever said that the purpose of the mission was to execute Saddam Hussein. What an idiotic poll. That’s also not what Dave wrote. Your statement is specious. Removing Saddam Hussayn from power was the purpose of OIF. From the White House Transcripts of President Bush’s address to the nation on 17 March 2003: “President Says Saddam Hussein Must Leave Iraq Within 48 Hours “Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict, commenced at a time of our choosing. … The tyrant will soon be gone.” “If Saddam Hussein attempts to cling to power, he will remain a deadly foe until the end.” VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Does anyone think this is kind of a redundant announcement? They’re *drug cartels*. Their business is illegal. Often violently illegal. Even without going to Lexis-Nexis or before reading Chuck’s reply, I highly doubt that there has never been a death related to illegal Mexican drug cartels in Texas before. What’s the newsworthiness here? (And it’s not just FoxNews that ran the story.) Is this an immigration policy issue (highlighting problems of current policy) or is this an drug policy issue (highlighting problems of current policy)? Is this law enforcement issue? Dealing with armed, non-uniformed foreign nationals perpetuating violence against US citizens w/in the territory of the US? VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

If the invasion itself was immoral, as many argue, then can you hold them to this morality? I still see them as distinct. I can see Dave’s point and find much with which to empathize in his thinking and intentions. I don't see a necessity to force a linkage between pre-OIF strategy/actions and post-OIF strategy/actions. Oppressive dictators tend to be stable. Oppressive but stable ... because dissent and protest is brutally squelched. The US-led OIF removed that stability. It is in the US interest that post-Saddam Husayn Iraq not become a failed state. It was/is in the US interest to execute and implement stability, security, transition, and reconstruction (SSTR) in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Quasi-requisite link to my favorite DoDD. "T" & "R" are still inter-agency hot potatoes. Sigh... VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Are you sure they were not speaking about the Early Warning System or command and control? Otherwise can you point to some of these "reliable observors" because that assertion is just wrong, as well as contrary to DoD, ATSD(NCB) [& NucMatters], & DIA assessments. Russian SSBN [Delta IVs] (w/SLBM) are a much *smaller* number than during the Cold War (generally patrols estimated to have gone from >250 to

One of my favorites is the Lugar-Obama Nonproliferation Legislation, which was signed into Law by President Bush in early 2007. In addition to the US Senate legislation already noted, while in the Illinois Senate, Obama sponsored or co-sponsored over 600 bills. The only time I’ve encountered someone refer to Sen Obama as saying he voted against the decision to go to war against Iraq was on this list. [surprise] or or ? Sen Obama has asserted that he would have voted against the resolution *if* he was in the Senate. One might also ask, what had Pres Reagan accomplished before he became President? And it would be very interesting to compare Sen Obama’s record to Sen McCain’s first session or even a prorated average. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

agreed, but have you noticed lately that a whole lot more native born are "investing" in degrees for law and political science and soft social sciences rather than science and engineering and math? We'll have very few people building and inventing, and a HUGE glut of people trained and qualified to complain about and punish those few. Worth repeating. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Depends on what one is reading, perhaps? The initial incidence of rises in food allergies in the US and Europe were reported in the early 1970s. The hygiene hypothesis is almost 20 years old. To some extent, yes Although it’s not evolution, increased incidence of nut allergies is acquired immunogenic reactivities in most, and Lysenkoism is still not correct (w/r/t traits acquired during life being passed onto future generations.) And, not humanity. Just increased incidence in developed nations. Incidence of allergic diseases is almost close to nonexistent in rural areas of Africa, South America, and Asia. What's causing tha-- Oh, I forgot: Global Warming. That may be a hypothesis, but it’s not one of which I am aware. Do you have a link? VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Most likely there would be little to no need. Prevalence of peanut allergies is extremely rare outside of developed nations. Very interesting. So I am forced to ask, what are we in developing nations doing to make kids allergic to peanuts and how can we not spread this to other people? The specific causal mechanism has not been determined. The most predominant one is the “hygiene hypothesis.” Even tho’ it’s called a “hypothesis” that doesn’t mean it’s just a notional or fanciful idea. The hygiene hypothesis is supported *strongly* by epidemiological evidence and by experimental studies. (Strongly supported and with more evidence than most of the issues accepted as fact in typical discussions.) Marg's distilled version: Let kids get dirty and stop using anti-bacterial soap. It's also indication, im-ever-ho, of the need and importance of systems biology, a (relatively) new field of biology exploring complex interactions of biological systems that heavily leverages discoveries and tools of computer science, mathematics, chemistry, & phsyics. Some references: Secondary popular science account: Science News’ “Modern Hygiene's Dirty Tricks: The clean life may throw off a delicate balance in the immune system New England Journal of Medicine “Eat Dirt — The Hygiene Hypothesis and Allergic Diseases” Chemical Immunology and Allergy “The immunological basis of the hygiene hypothesis” The dramatic increase of allergic disorders in the last decades made their study an imperious demand. The increasing incidence of the development of allergic disorders seems to be associated with the modern westernized lifestyle, but causal reasons and the underlying mechanisms are far from being completely understood. Evidences suggest that priming of the immune responses against allergens happens already in utero. In addition, early life events are essential in shaping the immune answer towards the Th1- or Th2-profile, associated with a nonallergic or allergic phenotype, respectively. The hygiene hypothesis suggests that an early life environment rich in normal microbial flora primes the immune system in the Th1 direction towards clinical balance while a 'sterile' environment rather promotes the development of pathological immune phenotypes. In this review we collect epidemiological evidence for this concept. The data suggest an association between environment, lifestyle and the development of allergic diseases. This is the basis for the development of new hypotheses regarding the underlying pathomechanisms. The current view of cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these phenomena includes fine-balancing between innate immune mechanisms and Th1, Th2 and regulatory T cells. These novel immunoregulatory events may explain the hygiene hypothesis by an interaction of environmental factors with innate immune mechanisms and various subtypes of T-cell responses. Nature Reviews Immunology “ The germless theory of allergic disease: revisiting the hygiene hypothesis” Rising rates of allergic disease accompany the healthier benefits of a contemporary westernized lifestyle, such as low infant mortality. It is likely that these twinned phenomena are causally related. The hygiene hypothesis states that allergy and increased longevity are both consequences of reducing infectious stressors during early childhood. Mechanistic explanations for the hygiene hypothesis have typically invoked the T-helper-type 1/2 (TH1/TH2) model. Here, we discuss why we favour a broader 'counter-regulatory' model — one that might also explain the increasing incidence of autoimmune disease in westernized countries. Review from Science “Allergy, Parasites, and the Hygiene Hypothesis” Abstract:The increase of allergic diseases in the industrialized world has often been explained by a decline in infections during childhood. The immunological explanation has been put into the context of the functional T cell subsets known as T helper 1 (TH1) and T helper 2 (TH2) that display polarized cytokine profiles. It has been argued that bacterial and viral infections during early life direct the maturing immune system toward TH1, which counterbalance proallergic responses of TH2 cells. Thus, a reduction in the overall microbial burden will result in weak TH1 imprinting and unrestrained TH2 responses that allow an increase in allergy. This notion is contradicted by observations that the prevalence of TH1-autoimmune diseases is also increasing and that TH2-skewed parasitic worm (helminth) infections are not associated with allergy. More recently, elevations of anti-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-10, that occur during long-term helminth infections have been shown to be inversely correlated with allergy. The induction of a robust anti-inflammatory regulatory network by persistent immune challenge offers a unifying explanation for the observed inverse association of many infections with allergic disorders. Suspect that may have been in jest and, as far as I am aware, no one has proposed exploiting peanut allergens for offensive purposes. Targeting specific traits or susceptibilities has been proposed, however, for military purposes. Typically the underlying science is too problematic to make such efforts operationally useful. And, unfortunutely , in this case, the most effected targets would likely be us. [not good] VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Most likely there would be little to no need. Prevalence of peanut allergies is extremely rare outside of developed nations. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

No one is going to there aide the US is using them for thier own self intrest of the missle shield. Poland is getting a lot ($$$, materials, technical assistance) out of the deal. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

That's a tremendously wide-ranging and intellectually provocative assertion. Really? How about China's "Great Leap Forward"? Conservatively 20M people died. Or Stalin's "Great Purge"? ... Contravertedly one might be able to argue that those events occurs because of small steps. I'm neither convinced your assertion is right nor that it's wrong; it's not evident to me that it's either that simple nor conclusive either way. ---- -- ---- On the general issue that underlies peanut/nut allergies, I am more concerned and interested in the increased incidence of food and other allergies and understanding the cause (not just correlation). If there are 3 students at a single school of 900 w/such severe, life-threatening reactions to proteins in peanuts, that should be more curious than the letters, imo. There are competing hypotheses. I find more validity in the data and conclusions underlying the "hygiene hypothesis" that infants and young kids need to be exposed to allergens and microbes (bugs, dirt, pollen, etc) in order to develop a more robust innate immune ssytem, i.e., tolerance for those allergens and are therefore less likely to suffer from asthma or allergies. Let kids get dirty and get rid of anti-bacterial soaps! One can not discount -- & I'm not aware of any studies trying to disentangle the two -- that the rise in incidence (2x from 1970s to 1990s for peanut allergies in the US) is due to greater surveillance and better diagnostics. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

No. Maintaining security guarantees and other US committments (including to international bilateral and multilateral agreements/treaties) is very important. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying

Interesting observations. Do you see any (qualitative or quantitative) indication that such perceptions are impacting economic, trade, or military interactions between the two states? Or are the folks with such perceptions not in positions to impact US-Canada relations directly? VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying