Tunisia has just entered revolution mode, President booted..

Well, you have to be logical about this. Making the locals more moderate is not a core objective.

There is a chain of command in place. IMO the US supports these dictators based on the following deal: you will give us oil, we will let you own everything and defend you as much as possible in case of an attack. We won't give you sufficient weapons to do it yourself, and we will unequivocally support Israel to be an improportionate super power in the region.

Now ofcourse, the dictator's only goal then is to keep the country stable so that he can stay rich forever. If he is unable to do that, then the support is withdrawn because the oil is not secure. Because you see, other than keeping the oil flowing, the only other interest of a Middle Eastern dictator is to show off to neighbouring leaders >> hence the tallest building in the world coupled with skimping on human rights issues, genuine reform, etc. It's the bedouin way, it always has been. The building is a tent, the car is a camel and the construction projects are villages.

Now there are different strategies to keep a population stable. One is to ensure that their pockets are full of cash >> something which we humans are easily handicapped by. The other is to use an ideological tool to make everyone feel 'together' >> in this case, Islam.

So then, the prime objective is oil. That's being achieved easily. If one of the sub-objectives is increased moderation, it is being achieved by what can only be described as bribery (to reduce interest in political reform and increase interest in superficial consumption) and restriction of information movement.

You seem to be indicating that the best way to achieve moderation is by handing the country over to the people. That's true, but it would mean that the #1 objective would be out of reach >> easy oil and a big F YOU to the Russians.

I remember once they asked the king of Saudi about why democracy is not progressing in his country. His response was "this IS democracy."

Thinking back, he's probably right. This is exactly what needs to happen for America to exist in its current state. Because if these countries actually put a fair value on their oil and took ownership of the supply chain, America would be a very very poor country until another energy source becomes practical to use.

I've said many times that I'm pro-America and in fact I believe that Americans are fantastic people due to the diversity in their history. However, I feel that America is being led by the worst of Americans, a sentiment which I've seen discussed on this board many times.

Now I hope Space Ghost doesn't instruct me to leave my country.

(sorry for long post!!)

 

I know, this is one of the things I'm reading about.

Modern colonialism, imperialism, racism, etc.

Too many people believe nowadays that the people who carry these qualities have not evolved, which couldn't be further from the truth.

As our fight against those things has become more dedicated and efficient, the people who continue to believe in those things have become more sophisticated in their ways as well.

So back in the day, when people were still learning about colonialism, it's not until they figured it out that they were able to get rid of it. But we would be fools to think that colonialists don't exist in a sophisticated, modern way today. We need to make sure that we are always on top of developments in their world. Just like the anti-Islam people >> it is the same kind of people doing these things, just that they have found something relatively non-racial to hate on and have a book to point to. It's highly convenient to their true objectives, and they will rarely ever make a mistake and show their sincere feelings in a public forum. Ofcourse, we also have to be careful not to lump in fair criticism with bigotry.