2017-01-31
Gambia
Wow. I've gone for more than a year without posting anything.
Anyway, there has been a significant new event recently - Gambia has been liberated, and as far as I can tell, purely due to the very real threat of force being used. Note that it would have been wonderful to be able to string up Jammeh, but the free world is not yet in a position where we can bring justice everywhere. If we have to bribe Jammeh to leave and promise not to prosecute him, so be it. We can reevaluate this policy after we have worldwide liberal democracy and a habit of quick external military actions whenever a country ceases to be a liberal democracy.
Here were my thoughts (as expressed to an anti-war Finn I had previously debated) prior to knowing the end result of Gambia ...
Senegal is preparing to liberate Gambia. Are you going to oppose freedom the same way that you opposed freedom in Iraq? Are you going to say "what about DR Congo - Senegal shouldn't liberate Gambia unless it first liberates DRC?". Or are you going to say "North Korea is much worse than Gambia" and you won't support a war in Gambia until North Korea is liberated?
Are you going to actively oppose Senegal like you actively opposed the US, or are you just going to keep quiet?
If your position on Senegal is different from the US, does that make you a hypocrite?
Are you going to say nasty things about Senegal, like, "they're only doing it because they want to control the beaches and coconuts"?
Or are Senegalese just VERY NICE PEOPLE?
Also, if Senegal tries to get a UN Security Council resolution allowing it to use force, and the Chinese dictatorship vetoes it for the obvious reason that it is a dictatorship itself, will you say that democratic Senegal is waging an illegal war? Or will you say that any system that allows a dictator (China) to support another dictator (Gambia) is unjust and should be replaced ASAP, and while we're waiting for a replacement we should simply ignore this stupid immoral body?
As you can probably tell, neocon hawks like me do not support wars just because we blindly follow the US. We support any war that extends the free world, within reason (e.g. triggering a nuclear war would not be "within reason"). People like me have been accused of supporting "American imperialism". Am I now supporting "Senegalan imperialism"?
The fact that it is so rare for a country like Senegal to do something great, and it is so common for the US to do something great, is in no way my fault. I would love it if Japan led the way to world freedom. But they're not. It's not my fault, or America's fault, that the burden almost always falls on their shoulders.
Also, if, after liberation, Jammeh-supporting Gambians start committing terrorism against Jammeh-opposing Gambians, that is NOT the fault of Senegal, and even if we know it in advance (which we don't), we should NOT be giving in to the pro-Jammeh terrorists by refusing to liberate.
We also have no way of measuring exactly what percentage of Gambians support the use of external force in order to liberate their country. Whatever that percentage - x%, I support that x% - people who are willing to have a war of liberation instead of living in state slavery for eternity. Even if "x" is less than 50, it doesn't matter. Those x are my ideological allies and if the (100-x) try to stand in the way, I am happy for them to be killed without hesitation. In addition, I consider any deaths on either side to be the fault of Jammeh, not Senegal, and this is basically going to be Jammeh's last crime. If you have any problem with the liberation death toll, take it up with Jammeh, NOT Senegal.
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Anyway, there has been a significant new event recently - Gambia has been liberated, and as far as I can tell, purely due to the very real threat of force being used. Note that it would have been wonderful to be able to string up Jammeh, but the free world is not yet in a position where we can bring justice everywhere. If we have to bribe Jammeh to leave and promise not to prosecute him, so be it. We can reevaluate this policy after we have worldwide liberal democracy and a habit of quick external military actions whenever a country ceases to be a liberal democracy.
Here were my thoughts (as expressed to an anti-war Finn I had previously debated) prior to knowing the end result of Gambia ...
Senegal is preparing to liberate Gambia. Are you going to oppose freedom the same way that you opposed freedom in Iraq? Are you going to say "what about DR Congo - Senegal shouldn't liberate Gambia unless it first liberates DRC?". Or are you going to say "North Korea is much worse than Gambia" and you won't support a war in Gambia until North Korea is liberated?
Are you going to actively oppose Senegal like you actively opposed the US, or are you just going to keep quiet?
If your position on Senegal is different from the US, does that make you a hypocrite?
Are you going to say nasty things about Senegal, like, "they're only doing it because they want to control the beaches and coconuts"?
Or are Senegalese just VERY NICE PEOPLE?
Also, if Senegal tries to get a UN Security Council resolution allowing it to use force, and the Chinese dictatorship vetoes it for the obvious reason that it is a dictatorship itself, will you say that democratic Senegal is waging an illegal war? Or will you say that any system that allows a dictator (China) to support another dictator (Gambia) is unjust and should be replaced ASAP, and while we're waiting for a replacement we should simply ignore this stupid immoral body?
As you can probably tell, neocon hawks like me do not support wars just because we blindly follow the US. We support any war that extends the free world, within reason (e.g. triggering a nuclear war would not be "within reason"). People like me have been accused of supporting "American imperialism". Am I now supporting "Senegalan imperialism"?
The fact that it is so rare for a country like Senegal to do something great, and it is so common for the US to do something great, is in no way my fault. I would love it if Japan led the way to world freedom. But they're not. It's not my fault, or America's fault, that the burden almost always falls on their shoulders.
Also, if, after liberation, Jammeh-supporting Gambians start committing terrorism against Jammeh-opposing Gambians, that is NOT the fault of Senegal, and even if we know it in advance (which we don't), we should NOT be giving in to the pro-Jammeh terrorists by refusing to liberate.
We also have no way of measuring exactly what percentage of Gambians support the use of external force in order to liberate their country. Whatever that percentage - x%, I support that x% - people who are willing to have a war of liberation instead of living in state slavery for eternity. Even if "x" is less than 50, it doesn't matter. Those x are my ideological allies and if the (100-x) try to stand in the way, I am happy for them to be killed without hesitation. In addition, I consider any deaths on either side to be the fault of Jammeh, not Senegal, and this is basically going to be Jammeh's last crime. If you have any problem with the liberation death toll, take it up with Jammeh, NOT Senegal.