posted on October 7, 2002 05:38:27 PM new
Beyond Pluto,approximately 4 billion miles from earth, there exists the Kuiper Belt. It is made up of remnants from the formation of our solar system's 9 planets. A 10th planet, about half the size of Pluto, has been discovered. It has been named Quaoar. It is thought to be just one of as many as 900 small "planets". As I listen to Bush talking about war with Iraq, I am struck by the now small importance such a discovery commands. On the little speck of the universe we call Earth, so much conflict exists that we are consumed by its ramifications. I think about some of the Star Trek episodes dealing with madmen of the universe, and I can't help but feel that Hussein would fit right in, alongside Khan. No concern for life. An all-consuming megalomania. No, I haven't lost touch with reality, but the universe is so vast and war is so ominous that they both have a humbling and rationalizing effect. Sometimes when you are dealing with an irrational enemy you just have to take a preemptive strike. The losses are a lesser evil. This is such a time.
posted on October 7, 2002 07:10:49 PM new
Stusi, I just do not get your rationale.They discover a new planet and so ,based on old Star Trek episodes,it is time to bomb Iraq?
posted on October 7, 2002 07:36:10 PM new "Sometimes when you are dealing with an irrational enemy you just have to take a preemptive strike. The losses are a lesser evil. This is such a time."
That's exactly what I was thinking tonight as I watched him.
posted on October 7, 2002 08:38:33 PM new
rawbunzel- No,it is not time to bomb Iraq because of an old Star Trek episode. It is time to bomb Iraq because this guy is a megalomaniac with no respect for life. I just happened to read about the planet while watching Bush and there were some parallels and perspectives.
posted on October 7, 2002 11:52:51 PM new
It's funny how our government has always been willing to support megalomaniac dictators and oppressive governments which prey on their own people as long as they are useful to us. Why, we even supported Saddam Hussein as long as he was useful to us....
Now, all of a sudden, Bush has decided that Hussein must be destroyed immediately. Because of what he might do in the future. How convenient that his sudden hard-on to go to war with Hussein coincides with his faltering "War on Terror." And when Hussein is history, who will Bush cast his eye on next? And you know there will be a next because the only thing that has ever given Bush popularity is 9/11 and the turmoil that followed it. The only way he stays on top is to have us at war.
Hell, in February of 2001 he and Rumsfield were targeting China:
More than 50 years after the struggle to deter the Soviet Union in Europe became the centrepiece of US military strategy in the aftermath of the second world war, the Rumsfeld review has concluded that the Pacific Ocean should now become the most important focus of US military deployments, with China now perceived as the principal threat to American global dominance.
Bush has had a war in mind from the minute he got into office. Now it looks like he'll get his wish, one way or another. It could just as easily have been China right now instead of Iraq. Threats to the US? Hell, any other country possessing the nuclear capablities could be that. So I wouldn't be surprised in the future to see Bush looking suspiciously at Great Britain, France, Russia, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea (the last has all the ingredients, just hasn't put 'em all together yet). How about Souther Africa? They say they dismantled their nuclear weapons programs in the 90s, but... And ya know, there are about 29 other countries that are believed to be trying for nucear weapons. Hey--all this is more than enough to keep Bush busy.
War is Bush's way to keep us all from noticing that the Emperor has no clothes, because as long a we are focused on that he hopes no one notices all the other stuff he's up to. Or at least keep folks so frightened, nervous & suspicious that they willingly give up one right after another until Bush has what he wants--a dictatorship of his own. Of course, then we'll have to worry about other countries targeting *us* because we are led by a megalomaniac...
posted on October 8, 2002 07:19:26 AM new
Morning Bunnicula - who will Bush cast his eye on next? And you know there will be a next....
Bush has stated the other countries he also sees as threats to the US. There's a list. And yes, sadly, there probably will be 'a next' if the other states that harbor, support terrorists or are a threat to our country [in any way] aren't detoured by our actions with Iraq.
Even if Bush is not re-elected in 2004 our country will countinue to deal with terrorism and a democratic president will then have to make decisions about how to deal with the issue. Just like when, under the clinton administration, the decision to oust Saddam was put into law. Saddam hasn't become less of a threat to us since then.
posted on October 8, 2002 09:47:36 AM new
I think that the odds are good that the next targets for imperialism will be African. The resources are sufficient to make invasions worthwhile, less global political complexity, residual anti-Islam prejudice and with more potential rewards for the militant Christian right. It would just be a matter of creating a crisis from which a moral imperative and/or irrational fear can be used to sufficiently propagandize a justification. And those skills are being finely honed. It might be more cost effective than Iraq, unless we are lucky enough to avoid long-term commitments to Iraq and implement a puppet government fairly quickly. But the Iraqi crises has to continue long enough to help maintain the state of perpetual confusion in our country in order that people's attitudes about their abilities to question government or even the value of doing so is further diminished. This is the chief domestic policy of the administration, but its essential to the success of an imperialistic foreign policy. But so far it's moving along swimmingly.
posted on October 8, 2002 10:38:49 AM new
Nigeria has tasty oil reserves and political instability. You have the right to an informed opinion -Harlan Ellison
