Date: Wed, 25 Feb 98 7:08:02 EST From: boddhisatva <kbevans-AT-panix.com> Subject: Re: M-TH: Re: Iraq -- putting out fires with gasoline C. Heartfield, As for US hegemony, I think Annan had a nice, honest moment today when he ended his press conference by saying that the UN will do its job and then "render unto Caesar". While it's true that the West uses "humanitarian" concerns to justify plain old imperialism, that does not mean that poor people should be left to the tyranny of dictators against whom they are hopelessly out-gunned - thanks to the industrial nations (and I think the Soviet Union, Russia, and China should be included in the rogues' gallery of armers). People can be tyrannized and beaten down by small groups of people with masses of arms. One can't assume that people like Suharto and Hussein are just going to go away - or that they should be left to wither on the vine even if they would. The question is how to reduce net tyranny in the world. I don't think that leaving highly tyrannical, super-exploitative third world regimes in place in the name of anti-imperialism does that. Obviously the western powers hardly care about the Iraqi people. That doesn't mean that getting rid of Sadaam Hussein, even through the force of arms, is wrong in and of itself. It's a question of intent. If the intent is to deliver the Iraqi people into democracy, it's good. If the intent is to further US hegemony, it is a dramatically qualified good, even to the point of being bad. It's a world of unpleasant alternatives. peace --- from list marxism-thaxis-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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