Comments on: So You’re A Dictator Who Wants to Remain in Power… http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2011/03/22/so-you%e2%80%99re-a-dictator-who-wants-to-remain-in-power%e2%80%a6/ Life. Liberty. Property. Defending individual freedom and liberty, one post at a time. Wed, 22 May 2013 18:26:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Akston http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2011/03/22/so-you%e2%80%99re-a-dictator-who-wants-to-remain-in-power%e2%80%a6/#comment-76912 Akston Wed, 23 Mar 2011 04:51:22 +0000 http://www.thelibertypapers.org/?p=9140#comment-76912 Perhaps these tin pot despots see nuclear weapons as both a defense against erratic U.S. foreign policies, and leverage with high shakedown potential.

Not getting enough international welfare from U.S. taxpayers? Brandish a nuke.

Any of them silly enough to buck this incentive both disarm themselves, and lose their ticket to the feeding trough.

And yes, this will not end well.

]]> By: Brad Warbiany http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2011/03/22/so-you%e2%80%99re-a-dictator-who-wants-to-remain-in-power%e2%80%a6/#comment-76910 Brad Warbiany Wed, 23 Mar 2011 01:10:57 +0000 http://www.thelibertypapers.org/?p=9140#comment-76910 Well I believe the basic principle that nations are aiming to get WMD because it means that the US (and the world community) all of a sudden lose a bargaining chip with them, I’m not entirely buying this one.

Obama didn’t go balls-to-the-wall on this action like Bush. He didn’t really do shit until the UN led the way. And even today, I think we’re letting the Brits and French take most of the actual air sorties, and only offering cruise missile strikes. I think the world can decouple the question of developing WMD vs. the US laying down some ordinance.

This is, quite clearly, a different Arab world than that of 2003. Between Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, etc, we’re talking about a whole different ballgame. What Gadhafi did in 2003 ain’t going to change the tide in 2011. We’re not going to stand up for this tin-pot dictator.

As much as I think we should have stayed out of this in Libya (leaving it to the world community to, for once, do something without us), I think this is a stretch. While WMD proliferation is bad, should we really send the message to Arab dictators that we’ll back you against your own people in an uprising if only you’ll swear off WMD? Will that improve our image on the Arab street?

]]> By: Dr. T http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2011/03/22/so-you%e2%80%99re-a-dictator-who-wants-to-remain-in-power%e2%80%a6/#comment-76909 Dr. T Tue, 22 Mar 2011 22:29:40 +0000 http://www.thelibertypapers.org/?p=9140#comment-76909 “How could the Obama administration not recognize that this could undermine these nonproliferation efforts?”

Pick one or more answers:

Because it didn’t even consider the issue.

Because it lacks concern about nonproliferation. It certainly has done nothing about Iran or North Korea.

Because it wants to look powerful now and cares nothing about the future.

Because it knows that Reagan scared the crap out of Gaddafi, and it believes that even if Gaddafi retains power he won’t use terrorism to retaliate against the USA.

Because it cares nothing about weakening the international prestige of the USA, and it may consider a loss of prestige to be a benefit. After all, Obama deliberately snubs and annoys allies and kowtows (literally) to unfriendly dictators and theocrats.

Because it wants to suck-up to the United Nations and its failed concept of enforcing peace through multinational agreements about the use of force.

]]> By: The Crossed Pond » Deincentivizing dearmament http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2011/03/22/so-you%e2%80%99re-a-dictator-who-wants-to-remain-in-power%e2%80%a6/#comment-76908 The Crossed Pond » Deincentivizing dearmament Tue, 22 Mar 2011 21:17:11 +0000 http://www.thelibertypapers.org/?p=9140#comment-76908 [...] Stephen Littau, Steven Taylor, and Jonathan Schwarz are all pointing out the obvious: Libya was, of course, the one great success story in the neoconservative domino theory of Middle East intervention, as they were, post-Iraq, the one country to explicitly state they were giving up their quest for nuclear and chemical weapons so as to not get invaded by America. They are also, post-Iraq, the one Middle Eastern country to get invaded by America. An irony probably not lost on Iran, et al. posted in: Main Comments (0) [...]

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