Gautam Mukunda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
You need simply ask - how much did the US use that "unsinkable
aircraft carrier" in any of its numberless conflicts in the Gulf?
Well, the Israelis won three wars against the Arab countries in its
first 25 years. During most of that time, the US did not need to
fight much (it did send troops to the Lebanon in 1958). The US was
allied, more or less, with the then top dog in the region. It let
Isreal be a proxy, and received some rewards. Later, after Iraq and
other countries got more for their oil, Israeli influence waned.
Put another way, this story is that US used its "unsinkable aircraft
carrier" during Israel's first first 25 years by being in somewhat of
an alliance with it.
As for the present, as I said before, a reason for the US to ally with
Israel is that people in the US might figure that Israelis will have
no choice but to fight or threaten to fight, but that the results will
help the US at a lower cost to the US.
In the case of Taiwan .... We would need some scenario in which
we wished to actively attack China, ....
Why do you think a conflict must involve war? Except when two
countries disagree over their relative power, `negotiation under
coercion' is much more common.
What if the Chinese offer to pay for some of the natural gas they
expect to buy from Iran in Euros rather than dollars? This is a big
contemporary issue. That action would make mainland China an enemy of
the US as it currently operates.
(Some Americans do not think it would make China an enemy because they
want the US to change the way it operates. They think that a shift in
international payments to the Euro would increase US borrowing costs
and that that in turn would force a `borrow and spend' administration
either to raise taxes or cut spending or both, and that the US
government would do this in ways that they like. I, too, think such a
shift in international payments would raise US borrowing costs, but I
fear the result. I also do not think the Chinese government wants to
shift to Euros right now, since the current situation suits it
better.)
By supporting Taiwan, the US gains some leverage over an island that
is currently putting much money into mainland China.
Personally I prefer to support democratic governments over
dictatorships. But I see these as plausible, non-ideological
reasons for which defending Israel and Taiwan was and is in the US
national interest.
--
Robert J. Chassell
[EMAIL PROTECTED] GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
http://www.rattlesnake.com http://www.teak.cc
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