Le mardi, 16 mars 2004, =E0 21:39 Europe/Paris, Phil Enns a =E9crit : > David Savory wrote: > > "Spain's foreign policy is now where people wanted it all along." > > Not quite. As David himself pointed out, the incumbent government, > which supported the U.S./U.K. coalition in Iraq, was headed towards > re-election. This suggests that while the vast majority of people in > Spain disagreed with the government's foreign policy, they were = willing > to keep the government and by extension its foreign policy. That > Spain's foreign policy has changed is an immediate result of the = terror > attacks and not because the 'people wanted it all along'. More > accurately, Spain's foreign policy is now where the terrorists wanted=20= > it > all along. M.C. One wonder's how P. Enn's reasoning could be universalized: (i) if x (for instance Spain) is involved in hostilities with y = (for=20 instance al-Qaida), then x should never carry out an action or=20 institute a policy that is pleasing to y, otherwise it will appear that=20= y has unduly influenced x. It would seem, on the face of it, that such a rule would = eliminate the=20 possibility of any voluntary cessation of hostilities. For when the=20 French withdrew from Vietnam after dien Bien Phu, or from Algeria after=20= de Gaulle's referendum, the decision to withdraw was, one need hardly=20 point out, welcomed with considerable favor in Hanoi and Algiers. On=20 these occasions, then , the French overrode Phil's principle, and I for=20= one am glad they did, otherwise the French would still be killing and=20= dying in Vietnam and Algeria. Speaking of Vietnam, how does Phil's rule fare with regard to = American=20 involvement in that unfortunate land? Would Phil have argued with=20 messers Johnson and Nixon that American troops should by no means=20 withdraw from Vietnam, since by so doing they would appear to be giving=20= in to the despicable methods of the Viet Cong? Such arguments were=20 indeed put forth, and they held sway long enough for hundreds of=20 thousands to die. I, for one, am glad their reign is over. > Best, Mike > Michael Chase=09 (goya@xxxxxxxxxxx) CNRS UPR 76/ l'Annee Philologique Villejuif-Paris France ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html