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ORIGINAL: MzMia

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ORIGINAL: GentlehandSTL
The answer to the question is: nobody is going to help, in terms of troops. The rest of the world in general and Europe in particular has learned that they don’t have to help. This isn’t a George Bush thing, it’s an America thing going back 50 years (or more)

That said, many will help with one hand and curse us with the other. Everyone from Germany to Saudi.

US Troops are operating inside both Syria,  and Iran interdicting the flow of insurgents and supplies into Iraq. There have been rumors of this for quite some time, and it is logical, but we believe the evidence is strong this time.

Of course, we get into problems of definition. If the occasional CIA or SF team gets across the border for a few days, that is troops operating inside the countries, but is of no great import. If however, US forces are regularly conducting these reconnaissances and raids, then this is an entirely different manner.

In any event, I approve. They have been at war with us for some time. Its time these two terror-instigating countries were smacked on the hand, and worse Both have highly paranoid regimes, and assuming the reports of US troops are correct, we are certain the effort both regimes are putting into hunting US intruders will be intense and costly. For once it will be the US leveraging a small number of men into creating a big problem for the adversaries.

And given the way these regimes operate, their secret services too will be working overtime to protect the regime from imaginary - and perhaps real too - threats from the US.

And here’s the kicker…we don’t have to ‘take’ Iran is see it fall. I quick look at their geography, tells you that. And as Iran goes so goes Syria. Once these two and Iraq are ‘done, the rest of the Middle East falls into place.

Thank you, this appears to be the way we are heading.

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ORIGINAL: dcnovice

Notes from a research geek:

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Galileo studied the movement of celestial bodies and was killed (If I remember right) by religious zealots who stated that the Universe could not possibly work the way he said it did. 

According to Wikipedia, he was forced to recant and seems to have been under house arrest, but he wasn't actually killed.

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Columbus ignored what everybody believed and went off and did what he had to do.

Wikipedia again: "In fact, few people at the time of Columbus’s voyage, and virtually no sailors or navigators, believed this. Most agreed that the earth was a sphere." The real debate was about whether Columbus's calculations of Earth's circumference were correct. They weren't; the planet is much larger than he thought. If he hadn't lucked into finding land, he and his men would likely have died at sea. Columbus also believed to his death that he'd reached Asia, not found a new world.

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The members of the Catholic Church did not generally happen to be navigators or explorers. 

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ORIGINAL: Sinergy
"I have no evidence to support my conclusion, but I know I can rely on my own deeply held inner certainty as proof?"


Sinergy

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And Reagan....  He brought down the USSR.  He may very well have saved Capitalism.  He did it with a deeply held inner certainty, so far out of touch with "enlightened" thinking that a great many people are in denial of his greatness to this day.  When future college students cover the second half of the 20th Century in US History,  Reagan will be the name they have to know and they'll get Clinton and Nixon confused (maybe.  My magic 8-ball needs new batteries).

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there is a game kids play in Kindergarten, "which one does not belong?".. well Reagan does not belong

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ORIGINAL: juliaoceania

BTW, in other countries in Europe Reagan is barely talked about when it comes to the fall of the USSR.

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ORIGINAL: cyberdude611

Second, Iran is developing nuclear weapons for offensive purposes. They have made no secret of their intention to "wipe Israel off the map."

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ORIGINAL: WyrdRich

          And Reagan....  He brought down the USSR.  He may very well have saved Capitalism.  He did it with a deeply held inner certainty, so far out of touch with "enlightened" thinking that a great many people are in denial of his greatness to this day.  When future college students cover the second half of the 20th Century in US History,  Reagan will be the name they have to know and they'll get Clinton and Nixon confused (maybe.  My magic 8-ball needs new batteries).

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ORIGINAL: seeksfemslave

After the fall of the hard line communist regime in the Soviet Union many in the West were happy because people like Solzhenitsin were free to express their opinions. Those same happy types rarely mentioned the fact that many Soviet citizens were forced to live on a diet of Potatoes and Bread....so were the consequences all good ?

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ORIGINAL: WyrdRich

      Thanks to all who have provided evidence of my point about the "enlightened" being in denial of Reagan's greatness.

     Julia, did you even bother to read the first bit of my post, where I explained how Reagan fit with such other notables? 

     

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ORIGINAL: juliaoceania

I was having fun with you, since when did you lose your sense of humor? I am deeply disappointed you did not get my joke.

And as far as college students studying the greatness that is Reagan, well not in my experience. And I hardly think that future professors are going to stress his presidency as being the driving force behind the end of communism in the USSR. That would take total intellectual denial to make political points. While some may do that, as time wears on I am extraordinarily sure there will be less and less Reagan deification going on. You forget that historians do not pull one person out and raise them above all others so much as they study trends... these are the things one learns in college in my experience.

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ORIGINAL: WyrdRich

      My comment was speculative, Julia.  When I said "future" students, I meant more than 50 years down the road.  Purely my own opinion.

    I actually had more time devoted to Reagan in my 'Intercultural and Women's Film' class than in any history course.  The instructor was a hard-core feminist and never missed a chance for a jab at him.