Quote:
Originally Posted by Sigaba
You are presenting a model of international relations that rejects the Westphalian system, that largely ignores the thrust of American diplomatic history, and that accepts as "common sense" a POV embraced by Western civilization's greatest enemies.
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Sigaba - Sorry, You're going to have to defend that one. My understanding of the Wesphalian model has plenty of room for a nation state making decisions WRT defending against threats to sovereignty and self-determination - including the use of stereotypes to discriminate against members of a nation/culture whose base philosophy is inimical to the preservation of our own way of life.
As a practical point, respect for "the thrust of American diplomatic history" should not equate to shackling us to a "suicide pact" wherein we adjudge all cultures equally meritorious. Times and threats change; the wise person adapts to meet the new challenges. If that means re-looking previous practices, so be it. I'm confident that route (in today's America) does not lead to National Socialism.
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A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero (42B.C)
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