finally!

[hermit22]

Understand, UT, that I agree with you on the context side of things. But I think you also have to view the world through the prism of consequence. And we are now paying the consequences for the actions of our fathers and grandfathers in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s - in the Middle East, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe. (Africa seems to still be the forgotten step-child.)

I'm not about to admit that I know of a better overall position; I know that succumbing to communism definately isn't one of them. On a case by case basis, though, I think we turned a blind eye to the failings and massacres and repression of a hell of a lot of people simply because they weren't communist. (Our strategy was dubbed Anything But Communist, after all, with an emphasis on the Anything.) And when they fell out of their artificially propped power, the world found one more insecure state.

[rant]To add contemporary relevance, I think the decisions of Bush, Jr. are going to have an incredibly lasting impact. The whole foreign policy attitude of the administration is a reflection of some of the worst aspects of Cold War foreign policy - the most glaring and disgusting of which is arrogance. Bush seems to believe that throwing America's weight around should be sufficient to compel the world to follow his path. This worked during the Cold War, but that was because there was a polar opposite doing the same thing - and in a more menacing manner. I don't know where it will be, (think China) but I think another USSR is slowly building itself into a superpower. And Cheney's Pax Americana approach will have facilitated this.[/rant]