1. Elections in Iraq, the recent resignation of Syrian-sympathizer Prime Minister Omar Karami, and President Hosni Mubarak's announcement that elections would take place this fall all appear to be positive signs of progress for democracy in the Middle East. These are welcome and promising developments. However, the Bush administration cannot take credit for these events.
2. Be careful before crediting the Bush Administration with causing this week's movements toward democracy in the Middle East.
Update: This Scream from the Wilderness indicates that all is not as it seems in the middle east. The article includes this great line:
The claims that recent democratic developments in Arab countries prove that the Bush doctrine has succeeded are as premature as the "Mission Accomplished" banner on the USS Lincoln.Bush? Propaganda? Who knew?
6 comments:
So Reagan didn't singlehandedly win the Cold War. Thatcher and others played vital roles also. That is true. However, do you think that the Soviet Union would have crumbled by the end of the eighties had Jimmy Carter won in 1980 and someone like Mondale had followed him? Or how about if George H.W. Bush had beaten Reagan in the Rep. primary and held the presidency for eight years? It wouldn't have been much different because Reagan was the only one in either party who wanted to defeat the Soviets and bring down their empire. Surely you agree with that.
Of course not. The idea that he was is an ingredient in the Reagan-Deification brand revisionist history kool-aid...
"Reagan revisitionist history koolaid". What are you talking about? So you disagree and believe that the policies of Jimmy Carter would have brought down the Soviet Union and caused the Berlin Wall to fall? You might as well be saying that the sky is green. You can deny truth all you want to, but you can't change reality with denial. You have said some crazy things but this is by far the craziest statement you have ever made. Unbelievable!
There you go again, jumping to conclusions. Stop trying to put words in my mouth.
You may have missed it in history class, but there was this thing called "the cold war." It was big news. Lots of people involved. Two other wars (non-covert) fought as a result, one of which never officially ended. Lots of people had a desire to defeat the Soviets.
If you think Reagan was the only one in either party who wanted to do that, then you have been duped by the Limbaugh/Faux news bullshit rewrite of American history.
You are the one who is denying the truth, although you probably don't realize it because I expect you have never been told the truth, you've just been spoon-fed the invigorating, inspiring messages of neocon talking heads who want to make you think Reagan was the Alpha and Omega of geopolitical heroism. You want your hero to be superhuman - "the only one who wanted to defeat the Sovets" - and you call me crazy? That statement is lifted right out of the brainwashing 101 textbook.
I've got news for you: Ronald Reagan did a lot of really horrible things, some of which are downright fucking treasonous. He was also a liar, and frequently delusional. You can have him.
I lived through the Reagan years. I remember what the state of our nation was in 1980. We were a mess and we were losing the Cold War. Ten years later, the Soviet Union was gone and the Berlin Wall had fallen. Sure Reagan did bad things. I did bad things. You did bad things. Bottom line is, Reagan was the greatest world leader of out time. The world is better because of him.
I lived through the Reagan years too. If you define "the cold war" as the ideological war of ideas between the US and the USSR, then we weren't "losing" anything.
Soviet government would most likely have fallen or transformed eventually regardless of outside influence. The sutdent uprising at Tianenmin square in China occurred before the fall of the Berlin wall, and I believe it had more influence on that than anything the Americans had done.
Lastly, you do a great disservice to those people who suffered and died as a result of Reagan's actions by simply stating he "did bad things," and don't you dare compare anything he did to any bad thing I did - I am not guilty of mass murder, I did not trade arms to Iran or sell cocaine in the US to fund illegal covert wars abroad. Reagan sucked.
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