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Dear Betty
My opinion about US foreign policy: America is the leading consumer nation
>in the age of addictive consumption. In addition, its military spending
>is greater than in all other nations combined. So it comes as no surprise
>that the US military complex is stationed in the Middle East to keep
>the flow of oil going. And to fuel the illusion of perpetual growth.
>Just as people in many Western nations are living off debt, our whole
>industrial civilization is living off energy debt. We just burn resources
>that took millions of years to create. We're stuck and most won't admit
>this is unsustainable, it would mean giving up lots of luxuries we're
>so used to.
>Yet the time will come when we all realize that, and that time may come
>pretty soon. So, the U.S. policy is just a symptom of a greater problem.
>And the case of Iran in particular: the regime there is bad and unpopular.
>There is no doubt about that, although I have met some people who actually
>supported their current president. Some told me there "I pray to God
>to topple this government". It only abuses
>the cause of religion and exploits the traditional religiosity of the
>people. That said, Iran is probably not worse, actually much more "liberal"
>than a long-term U.S. ally - Saudi Arabia, where women can't even drive
>and would probably get flogged if they dared to. The only difference
>is that Saudi Arabia chose not to stand in the way of U.S. interests
>in the region, whereas Iran did so. Iran's Islamic revolution aimed
>to topple the U.S.-backed Shah and one of the many reasons included
>Shah's bowing too much to the U.S. That the new Islamic republic actually
>turned out to be worse than Shah's rule is another matter. Iranians
>now say the Shah was better. The fact that they dislike their government
>does not make them big fans of the U.S. If they had to choose between
>a U.S.-organized violent regime change or defending the government,
>they would defend the government, they would not see it as help from
>outside, but as a criminal attack on their country. They wish to change
>the regime, but not for a puppet government directed by any foreign
>power.
>I think the best solution would be for the U.S. to pull out from the
>region altogether and work really really hard at home to conserve energy
>so they don't have to import it. The prospects for this to happen are,
>however, bleak, no matter who takes office after Bush. There needs to
>be some serious conservation effort here in Europe, too, we shouldn't
>just content ourselves with better gas mileages and a better public
>transport than in the U.S.
>Here in Czech the government is still supportive of U.S. policy, but
>that stance is increasingly unpopular. The reason to lean towards the
>support is because of history, most recently in the 80s when Reagan's
>pressure contributed to the fall of "communism". Or the WW2, when the
>U.S. and the Allies defeated Hitler, who wanted to annihilate our nation.
>But now people see what's going on in Iraq. Most think we shouldn't
>just blindly follow the U.S. in whatever it is doing out of gratitude.
>Some even go on to say that the government is servile to the U.S. as
>it once was to the U.S.S.R.
>I hope I didn't tire you with this long text, but at least you have an
>idea of what I think.