Well i do not think i miss the point here.
FYI Lothar the direct military action in my country against the Nazis was started by Greeks not Americans.
I know my history...my grandfathers fought that war and one thing that they taught me is that the weren's sitting like ducks waiting for someone to come and free them.
They fought for their freedom because THEY wanted it.
AFAIK Americans did much more damage than good to my country and the region in which i live...
It was 1967 when a Colonel Papadopoulos decided that dictatorship was the way to go for the country with the excuse that communism was spreading throughout the world and that he wanted to save the country.
Now we both know who supported dictators in this period and was against communism don't we...
And this was something that the generation of my father fought for...not the Americans that put him there in the first place.
The foreign policy of Papadopoulos was bs especially with Turkey and in a moment of tension ther government found the opportunity to invade Cyprus and split it in 2.
I bet you know the results...
And to end my thoughts do you have any idea how bad it sounds to say that US government supported dictators but the countries were always under control in order to reform them and make them democratic and then judge the dictators that YOU put there in the first place for what they did???
I mean what is the point??? :shrug:
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Originally Posted by Lothar5150
No, Ad Hominems do not prove YOU are right, they just fallacious. However, I do love how the kids who live off the very cream of our land complain about America the most. 
Ok now on to your arguments.
Yes we did support dictators during the cold war. No doubt. However, these regimes were under constant pressure to reform and provide human rights protection and free elections. Pinochet is a great example. Over the years he was eventually pressured by the US into allowing reforms which ultimately led democratic reform and don’t think Pinochet is off the hook for his crimes at the very lest he will die penniless. The same is true of all the Latin American countries which the US intervened during the Cold War, they are all democracies now. Can the same be said of Cuba?
slr & Belenar You miss the point; both your countries are democracies as a result of direct military action not diplomatic pressure. Perhaps you need a reminder that the Nazis did not did not practice democratic government and your countries were occupied by them. If the US had not interceded in Europe you would still be a province of the Reich and there is no denying that. Further, we did help set the conditions for democracy to flourish in Western Europe after WW2. You can not be intellectually honest if discount the direct impact of the Marshall Plan and NATO on the democratization of all of Western Europe.
Belenar- America only spends about 3% of its GDP on its military. $333 billion defense, yes the number looks large because our economy really is that big. Our GDP is 11 Trillion yes Trillion dollars. The military budget is not breaking our backs. FYI in 2004 we spent 4.5% of our GDP on healthcare for the uninsured. Our Social Security issues are a long term issue that we want to fix before it becomes a problem in 20 or 30 years. I know you would like to think we eat out of trashcans in the US but think again. The reason I was giving peepingdan a ribbing is because the median income in Los Gatos is almost $100,000 per year and the median house costs over three quarters of a million dollars.
Lets keep this thing on target this is not the player haters ball.
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