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So how is that "Smart Power" working out?

How is "Smart Power" working out for the United States?


  • Total voters
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I would NOT be surprised if one day he slapped him, just to prove he could get away with it.
Dude
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Get over it. It's an online forum and often people (I know this sometimes happens to me) type something that looks a bit off but it isn't worth the effort to correct it as long as the point is clear. For instance I may have about 2 minutes to read here before my parts show up and then it's back to work. This isn't some classic literary tome. I suspect many are unable to spell or conjugate properly anymore anyway considering the shorthand that comes with speed texting.

He made the point about how practical knowledge and not intelligence is supposedly important to getting a job. What's also important to getting a job is being able to have basic spelling and grammar skills, particularly on a resume.

I tend to judge people by the standard that they use judge others.
 
I'm a woman with children, and it angers me to think that those Syrian women and children who happen to be caught in the crossfire will be the ones who will suffer. :thumbdown: Since the boys want to play at one-upping each other on the world stage, then they, not me, will have to answer for what they're doing. :peace:

And Russia's veto was not a surprise to anyone. :shrug:
This was not a case of "cross fire", this was a case of Assad firing Sarin gas weapons into a heavily civilian populated error, in violation of long standing international human rights agreements.

Your argument that we should not stand up to tyrants that use indiscriminate chemical weapon against their own civilian populations is a cop-out, the choice by you to let this pass is something you will have to answer to.

Syria+chemical+weapons+victims.jpg
 
This was not a case of "cross fire", this was a case of Assad firing Sarin gas weapons into a heavily civilian populated error, in violation of long standing international human rights agreements.

Your argument that we should not stand up to tyrants that use indiscriminate chemical weapon against their own civilian populations is a cop-out, the choice by you to let this pass is something you will have to answer to.

Syria+chemical+weapons+victims.jpg

Good evening, Gimmesometruth. :2wave:

And if it is proven that the rebels were the ones using chemical weapons, would you feel the same? Would you justify their use by stating that they are fighting the regime, so it's okay? :peace: Killing innocent children is never okay in my world!
 
Good evening, Gimmesometruth. :2wave:

And if it is proven that the rebels were the ones using chemical weapons, would you feel the same? Would you justify their use by stating that they are fighting the regime, so it's okay? :peace: Killing innocent children is never okay in my world!

personally i think the rebels are more likely to set off chemical weapons by accident and kill their own people. chemical weapons are not like rocket propelled grenades, to use chemical weapons effectively against the enemy requires specialist training.
 
personally i think the rebels are more likely to set off chemical weapons by accident and kill their own people. chemical weapons are not like rocket propelled grenades, to use chemical weapons effectively against the enemy requires specialist training.

Could this have been an accident? Is that maybe why no one has claimed credit, which they usually do? I never thought of that possibility! :shock:
 
Why? None of the parties involved are aligned with US interests...

no but this war has to be stopped because the syrian people are suffering.

there are thousands of Syrian refugees who have been displaced by this distructive war. were are they supposed to go? what countries in the region has the ability to accommodate all those refugees? When will the killing stop?

this is not about U.S interests, this is about Syria. i say we should bomb the Assad regimes military capability, not to help the rebels but to force Assad to come to the negotiating table. the only way this war can end is if all sides are willing to negotiate, if Assad would be willing to step down as leader of syrian as long as he is given safe passage out of the country, and if the rebel forces and factions are willing to create a transition government and allow the people of Syria to decide their own future. if the extremists refuse to play ball, then we will support the moderates who are willing to negotiate.
 
no but this war has to be stopped because the syrian people are suffering.

there are thousands of Syrian refugees who have been displaced by this distructive war. were are they supposed to go? what countries in the region has the ability to accommodate all those refugees? When will the killing stop?

this is not about U.S interests, this is about Syria. i say we should bomb the Assad regimes military capability, not to help the rebels but to force Assad to come to the negotiating table. the only way this war can end is if all sides are willing to negotiate, if Assad would be willing to step down as leader of syrian as long as he is given safe passage out of the country, and if the rebel forces and factions are willing to create a transition government and allow the people of Syria to decide their own future. if the extremists refuse to play ball, then we will support the moderates who are willing to negotiate.

We should not be involved. Did anybody care when close to a million Rwandans were killed? We have no dog in this fight. It's just some of those that hate the US having a population correction...
 
We should not be involved. Did anybody care when close to a million Rwandans were killed? We have no dog in this fight. It's just some of those that hate the US having a population correction...

are you content to stand by and do nothing while people die?
 
are you content to stand by and do nothing while people die?

we have given the insurgents 800 million bucks
you can get a lot of folks killed with that kinda money Sonny
 
are you content to stand by and do nothing while people die?

The President has been content to do so for awhile now. If we were going to get involved, it should have been two years ago when the secularists were actually a force...
 
The President has been content to do so for awhile now. If we were going to get involved, it should have been two years ago when the secularists were actually a force...

yes i would have preferred if we had got involved in syria earlier, but china and russia would have vetoed any proposal for UN military action in syria because of their position on the Security console. that problem still exists for us now, so that has not changed the situation.

The use of chemical weapons however changes the whole game. there are international laws and treaty's banning the use of chemical weapons because of the horrors they inflicted in world war one. i don't know how much Russia is willing to overlook the Assad regimes crimes in order to make a profit selling weapons to them, But we as a nation cannot allow Syria to get away with using chemical weapons on its people.

if this civil war has devolved to such a state that one side used chemical weapons to gain victory, then this war must be stopped. i am not arguing for supporting the rebels, only for ending the conflict and force both sides to the negotiating table.
 
He may be educated but he is not smart.

I tend to agree.
I had really high hopes for Obama. And he may be very well educated but he is failing in many areas where he simply should not be.

He sat back and allowed Republicans to lie and slander him relentlessly without standing up for himself, his policy, or his party. His thoughts were that it was beneath him to respond. As a result we had 2010. There should be almost zero Republicans winning except in the deep South.

Now when it comes to Syria... Syria is merely a distraction and nothing more. All that matters is preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
There are only 3 ways to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
#1 A full out invasion with much more intensity than Iraq.
#2 Bribe them in such a way that Iran is allowed to back down while saving face.
#3 Get Russia on board as a 100% complete ally and partner.

#1 will not happen because the American people will never support it.
#2 will not happen because the opposite political party would ridicule and rip apart anyone attempting it. Plus it could always fail later.
#3 is the only thing that remains.

If the only path that truly exists to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is through Russia, Obama is doing about the worst job possible.

And there is just no other way. We can bomb them to hell and back and they'd just pursue it harder.
No amount of sanctions have ever worked before and it is just pure silliness to think it will work now.

While we are playing Russian Roulette with the American economy and playing with Syrians, Iran is working on the bomb. They will have it soon.
And they will have the ability to deliver it soon.

Obama or Kerry saying that we have to make good on our threats to Syria so that Iran will take us seriously... is utter BS.
Iran does not give a rats ass about our threats and they never have.
 
All that matters is preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
stop and tell me WHY?
The funny thing about a 3rd rate country getting a few nukes, it is worthless to them. If they used them they'd be vaporized.
Since we dropped them two on Japan no one has ever used one (yet). I'm gonna go out onna limb and guess your knowledge
of nuclear weaponry is a tad limited?
 
Then stop degrading education. Being intelligent isn't a bad thing.

As for resumes, we might start asking what is the requirements for the job? There really isn't that type of process in our political system where we lay out qualifications and read resumes. besides, it's also true that any person can meet a resume and still not be able to the job, and someone else can not meet a state requirement and be excellent at the job. This is not an exact science.

I never degraded education, I'm just saying it takes more than education to round out a person and if education is all you have you have nothing.
 
I suppose if one completely forgets 2001-2008, where having "dumb" people execute "dumb" policies which has caused directly and indirectly much of the instability in the Middle East today.....then one could incorrectly define "Smart Power" and whine about the situation in the ME.

What depth of understanding and vision!

Those, "dumb people", didn't put us in a scenario where we're staring down the Russian navy, over a stupid comment that was designed to make Obama look tough.
 
Then stop degrading education. Being intelligent isn't a bad thing.

As for resumes, we might start asking what is the requirements for the job? There really isn't that type of process in our political system where we lay out qualifications and read resumes. besides, it's also true that any person can meet a resume and still not be able to the job, and someone else can not meet a state requirement and be excellent at the job. This is not an exact science.

Intelligence and education aren't the same thing, neither.
 
I never degraded education, I'm just saying it takes more than education to round out a person and if education is all you have you have nothing.

You should read you comments. You really should. The message sent to young people is clear, education is bad.
 
stop and tell me WHY?
The funny thing about a 3rd rate country getting a few nukes, it is worthless to them. If they used them they'd be vaporized.
Since we dropped them two on Japan no one has ever used one (yet). I'm gonna go out onna limb and guess your knowledge
of nuclear weaponry is a tad limited?

I know quite a bit about nuclear and atomic weapons compared to the average laymen. It is actually the number 1 thing I consider each and every time I vote.
Obama's deception that he would strengthen ties with Russia and work to reign in loose Soviet era nukes as well as reduce overall arsenals was what bought my vote.
As a child who grew up in Mississippi hiding under his desk during "Nuclear War" drills, I grew up to be quite fascinated with the subject. But that is hardly the point.

The point here is the psychology of those who poses them. North Korea for example, could potentially use them. But they are merely "chest puffers", and are more likely to just keep on puffing their chests forever without incident. They are controlled by little men with giant egos who happen to care very deeply about self preservation.
Iran however, is controlled by men who also have very strong egos and do a little chest puffing, but their primary motivator is religion. They are not controlled by the President, they are controlled by a "Supreme Leader" who is representative of an entire group of religious leaders, all of which have more power than the Iranian Government. Their primary motivation is religion. And they do not view death in the same way as you or I.
It would only take a few nuclear weapons to devastate the tiny Nation of Israel. I am not one of these Israel freaks. I honestly think Israel is more in the wrong and tend to side more with the Palestinian refuges. But I also do not want to see Israel get nuked.

Clearly you and I are at extreme odds on what Iran would do with their nuclear weapons. But that is only the start of the problem. The possibility of material slipping into the wrong hands that can be used to make dirty bombs or even make shift nuclear bombs would increase.
The possibility of them selling the technology to others would increase dramatically.
The desire for all Middle Eastern Countries to have nuclear weapons would increase dramatically.
Once Iran has it established that they poses nuclear weapons with the ability to deliver them, within 20 years most all Middle Eastern Nations will have nuclear programs in various stages of development ranging from low end to high end.

If you think stopping Iran is not the biggest crisis facing human kind since the peak of the Cold War, then you have simply not thought it through, because that is the best case scenario. The only other possibility is that it is the largest crisis our species has encountered.
 
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