Reply #47: The main charge is that you assert constantly, even when you assert you aren't asserting. [View All]

[arendt]

The strawman was your charge that

> I'm agreeing with the vast majority of people across the political spectrum
> except a few mad people on DU who think that anything Bush is against must
> be good, then yes.

This is a) an assertion; b) unprovable. Their are dozens of polls, most of them biased. To my knowledge, none of them has ever asked the question you posed. Show me a poll that says only "a few mad people on DU" think that Bush belongs in the Hague, and if Russia put him there, they wouldn't complain.

----

The constant use of cutouts, proxies, and black propaganda (up to and including false flag operations) by the neocons and their corporate media makes it difficult to be nuanced about a war thousands of miles away - because the nuances of the dirty tricks in play here would fill a phone book. Nevertheless, you manage to boil the nuance down to fit your idee fixe:

> You will find dozens of posters who, again and again, bring up in context that makes it clear that they think
> it's one of the most important and relevant facts when deciding who is right and who is wrong,Bush is pro-
> Georgia, and hence Russia is not doing anything wrong.

I am not responsible for what other people say. I am responsible for what I say. (And yes, I said "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". ) Tell me the U.S. government has not operated that way for the last sixty years, backing every dictator in sight to oppose communism and labor movements. Since I'm not a goverment, but an individual, this is just a saying - akin to "don't throw the baby out with the bathwater". Its not a policy statement or a blank check of support to everyone in the world who hates Bush.

I have said that the Russians are as brutal as the Georgians. But, in this particular case, the Georgians struck first, the neocons and the media, and Bush are lying for them and supporting them. I'm also factoring 15 years of pushing NATO up to the Russian border, and constant diplomatic insults, like Kosovar independence (which is directly analogous to S. Ossetia). The Russians have been pushed, and had the patience to wait until the provocation was obvious before they struck back. I'm not deciding based on my dislike of Bush; I'm deciding based on who struck first and then lied about it.

arendt