Reply #9: Time to shun USA says a Canuckistanian commentator [View All]

[JohnyCanuck]

Shunning

by Paul Harris

<snip>

In modern times, occasions arise when one or several countries choose to ‘shun’ another nation as a way of trying to influence a change in that nation’s behaviour. Think of the United States’ embargo on Cuba, sanctions levied against bad actors by the United Nations (like Libya, Iraq), Canadian sanctions against South Africa, eventually adopted by most of the British Commonwealth. That last example is a model of what can be accomplished with international condemnation; although the world’s sanctions against Apartheid cannot claim full credit for the turnaround in South Africa, it was a powerful incentive to those who sought to bring about changes there.

This is an article about the United States of America. From the outset, let me state clearly that there is tremendous credit due to the US for a wide variety of social, humanitarian, artistic, scientific, intellectual accomplishments. But this small group of people, ruled by an even smaller group of thugs (a kleptocracy), is truly the epitome of the ‘tail-wagging-the-dog’ syndrome. The US comprises a small fraction of the world but it sees all the rest of the world – and, for emphasis, ALL the rest of the world – as its servant, its supplier of cheap goods and labour, its warehouse, its flea market, the place to play with its guns.

<snip>

At this point, thanks to George W. Bush’s September 2002 document entitled ‘The National Security Strategy of the United States of America’ (NSS), we know with certainty that the United States intends to rule the world. They will act unilaterally to attack wherever and whenever they wish and they have already demonstrated that they mean it. Given their propensity for field-testing their high-tech weaponry, should they really be surprised that most other nations fear them? And is it rational for them to think that those who fear them are going to like them?

But it isn’t quite as simple as worrying about American bombs because they don’t drop them everywhere. There are actually some places that the US considers to be alright. Canada for one, although they often think we are cheeky buggers who they’re one day going to have to squash. Britain for another, although one wonders if the US only thinks well of them because of the recent lapses of British common sense in supporting Bush’s military adventures.


http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20050918204323413