From: Ramez Naam (mez@apexnano.com)
Date: Wed Feb 19 2003 - 09:36:37 MST
From: Dehede011@aol.com [mailto:Dehede011@aol.com]
> Time, Spudboy100@aol.com writes:
> > We're still propping up corrupt dictators.
Actually that was me (mez) who wrote that we'll still propping up
corrupt dictators.
> Who?
> The Prime Minister of Australia??
Here are two examples:
1) Hosni Mubarak, the so-called "president" of Egypt, is a dictator.
There are no free elections in Egypt. He's stolen at least hundreds
of millions of dollars from the country. He does not allow a free
press. He's grooming his son Gamal to replace him. The US gives his
government $3B a year in direct aid.
2) Pervez Musharaf, the so called "president" of Pakistan, is a
dictators. He's a general who overthrew a democratically elected
government. He uses torture and summary imprisonment and execution to
have his way in his country. We were opposed to his rule until 9/11.
Then we found him useful because his country borders on Afghanistan.
At that point all our principled objections to a military coup went
away. We dropped the military sanctions we'd put in place and
promised billions on loan guarantees and aid.
One thing these two dictators have in common is that they oppress the
devout Muslim populations of their country. The Shah did the same
thing in Iran, and look how that turned out.
mez
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