Alright so I am watching bits of speechs from congress

[Azwed]

and one republican rep., didn't catch what state he was from, is giving a speech about how we should deny Turkey any aid since they would not let us send troops through their country.

The analogy he used to justify his position was that if his daughter had gone against him he would not raise her allowance.

And people wonder why the US does not have the best international reputation.

 

[breakwall]

i was watching that too...but HEY!! Family Ties reruns on channel 8!!

 

[Linedrive]

Was that money they were promised or just part of our regular aide package to them...?

On a positive note from their perspective, they haven't had the floods of refugees and the Kurds haven't messed with them, so I think the war is having a minimal effect on Turkey...I might be wrong.

 

[Azwed]

Was that money they were promised or just part of our regular aide package to them...?

On a positive note from their perspective, they haven't had the floods of refugees and the Kurds haven't messed with them, so I think the war is having a minimal effect on Turkey...I might be wrong.

It was only one billion dollars so it was part of their regular aid package.

The special one was like four billion i think.

 

[Bob_Bytchin]

What an ass that Congressman was to say that. His analogy of the situation makes it seem like the US is the parent and other nations on our payroll are our kids...which certainly doesn't play well in the current international light.

 

[Azwed]

What an ass that Congressman was to say that. His analogy of the situation makes it seem like the US is the parent and other nations on our payroll are our kids...which certainly doesn't play well in the current international light.

Exactly.

I really wish I had seen what state he was from. I will poke around and see if I can figure it out.

The rep. from Nevada was bad too but not nearly as bad as the other congressman.

 

[Bob_Bytchin]

Exactly.

I really wish I had seen what state he was from. I will poke around and see if I can figure it out.

The rep. from Nevada was bad too but not nearly as bad as the other congressman.

The term "aid" has always bothered me. We give foreign governments money in exchange for favors. That's not aid. That's a salary.

 

[Azwed]

The term "aid" has always bothered me. We give foreign governments money in exchange for favors. That's not aid. That's a salary.

FDI(Foreign Direct Investment) Is probably a better term for much of the Aid we give out.

Most of the aid we give out is militarily related anyway. I want to see less then a third is non-military aid but I don't know for sure.

 

[Azwed]

Bumping in case anyone else caught the worthless congressman's name.

 

[Olivianna]

Patriarchy. Look at the US's r-ship with the Caribbean over the last 150 years.

 

[patient1]

I didn't see it.

I can't say that he's causing any more grief than Rumsfelds' old Europe remarks, or Bush's remarks about Mexico being our oldest & closest alli, etc. There seem to be a lot of undiplomatic remarks made by members of the government.

I have to admit that Turkey's recent behavior has changed my opinion of them.

I understand that Turkey is a secular democracy, and the war is unpopular there. I understand that they make a $billion or 2 per year smuggling under UN sanctions, & a war will end that, & hurt tourism.

They were offered 30-odd billion $ in assistance for their cooperation , & refused. I can respect that.

That should have been the end of it, but in the process of jerking the US around with various subsequent agreements & refusals during the actual war, they succeded in tying up the 4th army, and I'm particularly upset that they denied special forces US air support when they called for it on one occaision.

I think they did more to support Saddam than any other nation.