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[tdlfoto]

Technically, THAT guy is long gone and dead. And that was a different time and era - right or wrong in hindsight, there was calculable justification for what was done.

Neither of these two right now are innocent or perfect, but there's still a huge difference between the two.

Right, one of these guys has waged or continued to wage, a number of wars, assassinations and subversions both openly and covertly, and the other has not.

[CanuckSARTech]

Right, one of these guys has waged or continued to wage, a number of wars, assassinations and subversions both openly and covertly, and the other has not.

The other doesn't feed it's own people, and the country as a whole is in despair because all they have is the military.

(True, one could argue similarly with pockets of the U.S., but one could argue the same about it with any country).

And that's over how many years? And in equality, in respects to how many wars / countries / situations? But with Korea, how many equivalent there? Letting your own people starve and police state deaths, etc.? And INTERNALLY, not even as a cause of actions on the international stage?

People can't compare apples and oranges here.

Ahhh yes. But you see - the U.S. is the biggest most powerful democratic country in the world. And when the world's expectation is there for someone to police the rest of the world, as the big guy in town, sometimes things get dirty. People like to quote X number of wars/deaths/assassinations/etc., and bang the anti-U.S. drum when it suits. But those same people would scream to the heavens if the tables were turned. Think of all the situations, right or wrong, that the U.S. has had to intervene in - and usually with NATO or UN consent? How many MORE wars/deaths/assassinations would have happened if the U.S. simply threw it's hands up and said, "Sorry...not my playground. That's outside our borders. Not getting involved...or paying for it."

Granted, I'm one of the last ones here that would be pro-U.S., far from it. There's tons of their policies and actions that I don't like, and waaaaay too many things that have been motivated strictly by non-humanitarian desires, like oil, politics, greed, colonialism, etc., etc. Have they got, and do they still get, things wrong, and seriously eff things up? (Panama, Cuba, Iran contra, Guantanamo, etc., etc.)? ABSOLUTELY.

But, like it or not, with all the omnipotent power that the U.S. has had, as a democratic country, they've done a half decent job in being the ringleader with the UN / NATO / G8 / etc., and ensuring that the world continues to turn in prosperity.

I'd say 99% of the world's population are completely against what North Korea is doing, and how they've been acting the last few years. But, there's still people that then insist on coming out of the woodwork and using it as just another grandstanding opportunity for anti-U.S. behaviour and bashing. Some people just can't resist that - it went from a series of jokes about NK, to anti-US at the easiest opportunity.

Again, like it or not, someone occasionally has to do the dirty work. People don't like to think that there's some poor souls out there who have to wrestle with the probabilities - since other means have failed, if X many people are assassinated, Y many people get to live instead of suffering/dying. And decisions can be made right or wrong in hindsight, granted.

Do I think the U.S. has done all this correctly? Hell no. But I'd hate to see what things would look like today if not for some of the actions of the past.

[tdlfoto]

Keith, with all due respect, that's laughable. I'd love to unpack what you wrote item by item, but house rules would have me scrubbed for it. Maybe over a few mojitos on the back porch of the Nacional.

[CanuckSARTech]

Keith, with all due respect, that's laughable. I'd love to unpack what you wrote item by item, but house rules would have me scrubbed for it. Maybe over a few mojitos on the back porch of the Nacional.

Always, brother!

[CaptainQuintero]

Keith, with all due respect, that's laughable. I'd love to unpack what you wrote item by item, but house rules would have me scrubbed for it.

x2, bowing to the house rules

[Lotusguy]

...and this is why there is a rule against discussion of US politics...

[Tino]

Good work fellas! Reminds me of 10 of the best instances of people with different viewpoints having reasonable, tolerant discussions on Facebook

http://goo.gl/MA6u5