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Originally Posted by MaDalton
well, as long as the US was supplying the Taliban with weapons to fight the Russians or Iraq to fight Iran they were not attacking the US - didn't they?
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Of course not, we had common enemies at the time. Keep in mind it's not like the USA had to twist the Taliban's arms to fight the Russians. Far from it. Remember too, this was during the Cold War and war by proxy was standard operating procedure at the time. The Taliban doesn't hate us for that.
As for the Iran Iraq war, Saddam started that one on his own and for his own reasons. The USA only came to his aid when an Iranian victory seemed likely and no one welcomed that decision more than the rest of the Arab world.
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Originally Posted by MaDalton
Actually this goes way back, also involves the support for Israel to oppress the whole middle east and this led to the constant feeling in the arabian countries that they always got the short end of the stick which supported nationalistic and radical fundamentalistic tendencies. In a nutshell.
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Let us not forget that Israel was created in the wake of the Holocaust. The Jews by 1945 had, shall we say, gotten the hint that they weren't exactly welcome in Europe. They were by then insisting on their own state and, except for the Arabs, the whole world - including even Stalinist Russia - supported them in this.
And, yes, the Israelis have been ruthless in protecting their statehood ever since, but given their history this should come as no great surprise.
Moreover up until 9-11 the USA frequently acted as a moderating influence on Israel. For instance, the USA on two occasions put pressure on Israel not to kill Arafat when they had him cornered first in Beirut and later in Gaza.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MaDalton
go 50 or 100 years back and you will see that many of those countries which are shitholes today were actually better developed and culturally higher standing than many western countries. We, the western world, screwed this up and now we get the result.
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More like 500 years ago if I remember my history correctly. By the time British and French colonizers arrived, those states had long since passed their peak years and, in many cases, had already been colonized by the Ottoman Turks.
Contrary to popular thinking, not everything that is wrong in this world can be blamed on the west.