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Originally Posted by Samurai You are equating human friendship with strategic/political friendship between governments. They are entirely different things. |
Samurai
annavaru, what are governments other than a collection of humans who got themselves into that position and stay there either by good or bad or evil means?
Humans get the governments they deserve (whether democratic or not). By extension, the friendship between governments also tends to reflect on the general character of their peoples (according to "Show me who ... ").
It is no wonder then, that most progressive countries with a high HDI, freedom index, peacefulness index etc. all tend to be friendly towards each other at a governmental level (and at a human level, too), for birds of a feather flock together. And governments of many Third World countries, rogue regimes, tyrannies, dictatorships etc. try to be friends and flock together under the leadership of the big rogues like Russia and China (just like gangsters - the leader of the gang turns out to be the one who has committed the most murders/crimes).
Of course, exceptions are always there, but they only serve to strengthen the rule.
It is up to Indians to choose whom to associate with, for it will influence our destiny in very many ways, as it surely has in the past (from 1950 to 1991).
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Originally Posted by Samurai Why has US been always friendly to despotic regimes like Iran's Shah (they installed him), Iraq's Saddam, Pakistan's back-to-back dictators, Saudi Arabia, South Vietnam, etc? |
That's true indeed but as I mentioned, the government of the USA is no angel by any means.
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Originally Posted by Samurai Our relationship with Russia/USSR is similar, we know Russia won't hold back military supplies quoting silly reasons, unlike USA. |
Why then, did the Soviet commies hold back their "flying coffin" supplies to India at the time of the India-China war? Was it because the Indian government was merely a pseudo-commie one (in their eyes) as opposed to the PRC (the real commies)?
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Originally Posted by Samurai Explain why USA is friendly to Saudi Arabia, the country that supplied and funded most of the 9/11 terrorists. |
I hate the mediæval Saudi despots for many reasons, but those 9/11 fellows being Saudi by nationality does not necessarily equate to the Saudi regime sponsoring them. Just like we have a few Indian nationals (and those from other countries too) fighting both for and against ISIL/ISIS (now just "Islamic State") in both Iraq and Syria.
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Originally Posted by Samurai Simple answer, people choose friendship differently than governments. Saudi Arabia is a close friend of USA, as far as governments are concerned. |
This can be considered as one of the exceptions to the rule. The regressive Saudi regime and Uncle Sam do make for very strange bedfellows indeed.
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Originally Posted by Samurai Meanwhile, a typical American citizen doesn't share that sentiment. |
This is very telling. It means the typical ordinary American is perfectly happy with the friendship between the American government and those of the UK, France, Germany, other EU countries, non-EU Western European countries, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand etc. for they belong to his/her natural flock of like minded people.
But he/she hates the un-natural, wholly artificial, superficial and unholy friendship between Uncle Sam and Saudi Arabia because their values (as peoples) are diametrically opposite in many areas.
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Originally Posted by Samurai Shooting down an innocent airliner is not in any country's best interest. Whoever did it will become an international pariah now. |
Sadly, Samurai-san, power and money speak much louder than ethics and righteousness in this world. What is the worth of a mere 295 human lives to regimes? When they can butcher hundreds of thousands in cold blood (as has happened in the past and is happening right now) to hold on to or expand their power, and can not only get away with it but also get hailed as "heroes" (opposing the "hegemony" of the "West", "containing communism" and the like), murdering 295 innocents is nothing to them.
It has happened more than once before, and it has happened again today. Nothing will change, no one will be held responsible, nobody will become a pariah. And therein lies the biggest human tragedy, of letting governments (of any kind) become unaccountable to humans.