Blood for oil, better?

Honest, at least. The only people in the world who think otherwise about us is about half of us...the rest of the world knows we're full of $hit.

Fish on...

Todd

Looks like crap is going down in Yemen now.

This discussion reminds me of the phrase, "Nations don't have friends; nations have interests." And it's pretty clear that interests trump honesty, consistency, values or ethics like freedom and democracy.

Since this means the U.S. doesn't give a rat's patooty about Egypt, Jordan, or Yemen, or the rest of the middle east, I have to assume we're only interested in protecting our oil supply. And maybe some emotional interest in Israel; that always twists a few beaks.

Sg

Bizzar relationship for sure.

I'm feeling the love.

We have been shipping somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 billion dollars a year to Mubarak as pay off for keeping peace with Israel. Most of the money goes to the army, who really controls the country.

Not too likely the same thing will happen in Saudia Arabia, as the King manages to give everyone just enough money to keep them from getting too unhappy.

There is very little chance that anything resembling a democracy can exist in the middle east. Unlike the U.S., where religion and politics are separate, in the Muslim world, they are very much the same.

Al Jazeera English

Be careful not to underestimate the influence of the church in our fair republic, Mike. While I generally believe that the separation between church and state in the US has increased over the years, one need look no further than the inscription on our currency and the battle cry used to spur on our military to find evidence that they were once very much married. When one considers the influence of money and the military on everything that gets done by our government, those are two particularly prominent locations for religious doctrine.

That said, I agree that attempting to establish democracies in the Middle East is futile, and that doesn't upset me in the least (save for the huge amounts of money we have already squandered on that pursuit). Contrary to what many seem to believe, I don't think turning the rest of the world's governments into democracies would fix anything. Besides that, the brand of democracy we practice in our country is more than a little watered down.

This exchange would have made some great IM's.

...only if IM stands for Interminable Menstration.

JFC! People are dying in the street in Cairo, and this thread turns into IFD and KK's interpersonal relationship.

Truly this is the Dark Side.

Ain't our BB SG

A Gyn friend tells me when old women go thru menopause their snappers dry up. One remedy for dry chaffing labia is to rub petroleum jelly between the minora and the majora so your snapper lips do not stick together and chafe and get sore I hear it makes them cranky. Just and FYI for KK and IFD

Gweed-

Your avatar sucks.

Yeah, it sucks monkey dick.

Fish on...

Todd

P.S. No, really...it does.

ditto on that SG.

I know Israel want's Mubarak to stay,and we sure did until a week ago.