Anyone else find it a little annoying that we've come to the point where we basically have to pay certain countries to behave? It's like they're extorting us. And how much benefit to do the people of North Korea get from our aid?
How much aid the people get is immaterial; the focus is how much security do we get for the price we pay.
We've been paying other countries to behave in certain ways for decades. How much money did we pay to keep the Shah in power to maintain our political and economic interests viable in that region. That money was used to brutalize and suppress his own people. We bankrolled dictatorships and never worried where our money went as long as the oil kept coming from the Middle East and bananas kept coming from Central America.
We lavishly dropped billions on Mubarak, essentially buying a measure of peace. Can anyone provide an itemization of how the funds were disbursed.
Iran is in a unique position, and presents a threat. If the threat is not real, we don't deal with it. If it is real, we have to evaluate it objectively. But our security isn't free. War is an awful, expensive alternative.
Is it annoying to pay certain countries to behave? You're damn right it is. But it's also annoying to pay for years of war, to pay to rebuild other countries after wars, to pay high energy prices as a result of instability. It's also annoying to see filled body bags coming stateside.
I don't remove war as an option if absolutely necessary and justified, but if every avenue of peace isn't exhausted before we enter into war, we have failed regardless of the outcome.
