>
> I realize that the Chinese are our "friends" these days, but I would not be so quick to say that they merely have an "oppressive government." Might I remind you that they have a bit of a history of doing things like using tanks to run people over that speak out against the government. A bit of a tangent, but I find it interesting how quickly the US is to overlook the many crimes committed by the People's Republic (I *love* that title) simply because the country is of particular economic interests to us these days. Tell me again why we have a total embargo against Cuba, but not China?

Because embargoing Cuba doesn't hurt American business. I'm all for big business, but I think I know where to draw the line. If you read over China's military strategy, it is based around the U.S. and what the U.S. would do. Not Taiwan. Not Russia. And yet, people still think we can be "friends" with somebody who hates us. They are the biggest threat to America today, and we keep trying to be friendly, lest we start another Cold War. Heaven forbid. If I recall correctly, we did eventually win the Cold War. Although China would probably be smart enough to realzie that a strictly communist economy cannot grow to support a growing military.

>
> > > What about all the people *still* in Afghanistan? Shouldn't the world community do something about that? I would suggest perhaps an international "crimes against humanity" tribunal.
> >
> > Absolutely. I suspect that if it would not spark an immediate global religious war, this would have already been done.
>
> Sam, since you seem to be of the belief that the people in Afghanistan are being oppressed extremely, I am curious if you feel it would be correct for the US to simply remove the Taliban by force (something which we could have done by the end of the month were we so inclined). You seem to indicate that there would be ramifications, but I find the US is in the unique position of being able to pretty much deal with any country in the world how we choose, save the nuclear super powers.
>
> It is my understanding that the Taliban took control of the government by force and is in no way representative of the people there. Certainly this makes it more than a religious matter. Would the United States be justified in bringing swift military action against the government? If so, would we be justified in doing so against the countless other oppressive dictatorships in the world.
>
> Stephen

Because there would be people out there somewhere calling us hypocrites for having the Monroe Doctrine, and all related doctrines, and then going and messing with the governments of sovereign countries ourselves. I agree. We could have them out of power at the drop of a hat. WE SHOULD get them out of power. And probably have a good deal of support. But again, countries like Iraq, China, etc. would be saying "See, there goes the big bad U.S. messing with other countries again." Not that we should care what they think. But we do anyways.

The Other "Reads too much Tom Clancy" Matthew