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mathiaslg · 12th April 2002, 17:19

Raoul:

1. I never said I wanted the U.S. to act unilaterally, so don't imply such. As I stated before, I want America to work together predominantly with the U.N., but also together with the EU, Russia and the Arab states to work out the Israeli-Palestinian Crisis. Furthermore, to level the playing field, perhaps we should ask the EU to stop funding the Palestinian Authority (since Europe has payed for almost 40% of its budget over the last decade). Honestly, it was you saying that the United States should totally get out of the situation, and I stated it should stay involved in the situation.
2. And where would that oil come from? Well, I even with Iraq cutting off its oil for a month, and problems occuring in Venezuela, a shortage of oil isn't the problem, just the price per se. However, as I recall, the price of oil has been increasing over the last 5 months anyway, and do you actually think having the U.S. pull out of the region (which, IMO, would spark additional violence) would somehow lower oil prices? The best thing the United States can do, as I said, is get the peace-process rolling again, and having the backing of the U.N. will help this a great deal. Your notion of having the U.S. pull out will only detabalize the situations IMO.
3. I wouldn't overstate the tied the Middle Eastern states have with the United States. Perhaps their government, outwardly, is supportive of the United States, but I think the situation with the people themselves is vastly different.
4. Well, if you have failed to remember Europe's activity in Bosnia during the early 1990's, it was a complete disaster. Srebrenica a primary example, and their safe-havens hardly lived up to their billing. The reason peace was kept was because of the 60,000 troops that were initally deployed, a good portion of these were heavily armed American forces. That is what kept the peace, not the people's new found love for each other. American troops would have to get involved in any U.N. force if such a force was deployed (as U.S. forces should get involved in ISAF right now).
5. If we work with the U.N. effectively in this crisis, we will have more support for a broader U.N. mandate regarding smart sanctions and the deployment of weapon's inspectors in Iraq, which is the goal we should be gunning for.

12th April 2002, 17:19	#144 (permalink)
mathiaslg First Team Regular Join Date: Aug 1999 Location: DC, USA Posts: 11,106	Raoul: 1. I never said I wanted the U.S. to act unilaterally, so don't imply such. As I stated before, I want America to work together predominantly with the U.N., but also together with the EU, Russia and the Arab states to work out the Israeli-Palestinian Crisis. Furthermore, to level the playing field, perhaps we should ask the EU to stop funding the Palestinian Authority (since Europe has payed for almost 40% of its budget over the last decade). Honestly, it was you saying that the United States should totally get out of the situation, and I stated it should stay involved in the situation. 2. And where would that oil come from? Well, I even with Iraq cutting off its oil for a month, and problems occuring in Venezuela, a shortage of oil isn't the problem, just the price per se. However, as I recall, the price of oil has been increasing over the last 5 months anyway, and do you actually think having the U.S. pull out of the region (which, IMO, would spark additional violence) would somehow lower oil prices? The best thing the United States can do, as I said, is get the peace-process rolling again, and having the backing of the U.N. will help this a great deal. Your notion of having the U.S. pull out will only detabalize the situations IMO. 3. I wouldn't overstate the tied the Middle Eastern states have with the United States. Perhaps their government, outwardly, is supportive of the United States, but I think the situation with the people themselves is vastly different. 4. Well, if you have failed to remember Europe's activity in Bosnia during the early 1990's, it was a complete disaster. Srebrenica a primary example, and their safe-havens hardly lived up to their billing. The reason peace was kept was because of the 60,000 troops that were initally deployed, a good portion of these were heavily armed American forces. That is what kept the peace, not the people's new found love for each other. American troops would have to get involved in any U.N. force if such a force was deployed (as U.S. forces should get involved in ISAF right now). 5. If we work with the U.N. effectively in this crisis, we will have more support for a broader U.N. mandate regarding smart sanctions and the deployment of weapon's inspectors in Iraq, which is the goal we should be gunning for.