Is masturbation immoral?

[The Duke]

I can't believe 4 people actually said yes.

[The Duke]

And of course the USSR and their puppet Communist regime in Afghanistan were opposed by feminism's worst nightmare, the Taliban. The US definately took the wrong side there, at least women would be treated fairly under the Soviet puppet regime.

I'm gonna have to take your side there BRTD.  We should have let the Soviets take Afghanistan now that I think of it.  Osama's extreme rightism would have had no place to flourish.  Reagan created a lot of blunders conservatives and foreign policy hawks, such as John Ford, will not admit to.

I don't even know where to begin telling you what's wrong with this.

First of all, you have considered only one side of the equation.  You only consider the negative results, and only of the actual US policy.  You do not take into account the positive impact of US policy, or the negative impact of hading the Soviets another colony.  This is bad analysis at a very basic level.

I have admitted to the blunders of Reagan's foreign policy.  I think Lebanon was a mistake, and for that matter so doe Reagan, he said so himself.  Its factually wrong to say that I am unwilling to criticize Reagan when he was wrong.

You have soe facts wrong.  Osama did not build the AQ network in Afghanistan, he built it in Sudan.  "Rightist" conditions in Afghanistan had nothing to do with building Al Qaeda.  You actually seem to have not even rudimentary knowledge of the history of Al Qaeda judging from this post.

Poor analytical skills, no understanding of facts on the ground, etc.  Hey, its what you get for mentionng me by name.

[The Duke]

And of course the USSR and their puppet Communist regime in Afghanistan were opposed by feminism's worst nightmare, the Taliban. The US definately took the wrong side there, at least women would be treated fairly under the Soviet puppet regime.

I'm gonna have to take your side there BRTD. We should have let the Soviets take Afghanistan now that I think of it. Osama's extreme rightism would have had no place to flourish. Reagan created a lot of blunders conservatives and foreign policy hawks, such as John Ford, will not admit to.

I don't even know where to begin telling you what's wrong with this.

First of all, you have considered only one side of the equation. You only consider the negative results, and only of the actual US policy. You do not take into account the positive impact of US policy, or the negative impact of hading the Soviets another colony. This is bad analysis at a very basic level.

I have admitted to the blunders of Reagan's foreign policy. I think Lebanon was a mistake, and for that matter so doe Reagan, he said so himself. Its factually wrong to say that I am unwilling to criticize Reagan when he was wrong.

You have soe facts wrong. Osama did not build the AQ network in Afghanistan, he built it in Sudan. "Rightist" conditions in Afghanistan had nothing to do with building Al Qaeda. You actually seem to have not even rudimentary knowledge of the history of Al Qaeda judging from this post.

Poor analytical skills, no understanding of facts on the ground, etc. Hey, its what you get for mentionng me by name.

however, one can not deny that at least the Soviets kept the Taliban out, and it's tough to argue life for women under the Taliban was better than under the Communist puppet regime. The US backed the greater of two evils there.

Might I add, the US actually created the Taliban, in a sense. The Taliban were far more repressive than another other Muslim fundamentalists in the world, in fact they were criticized by the Iranian mullahs for giving Islam a bad name. The reason is that much of their law is not in the Koran, or only stated in an out of context way. That's because during the Soviet campaign, the US wanted to stir up the local populace against them as much as possible, and decided warmongering religious fanatacism would be the easiest way. So it dropped pamphlets empahsizing out of context Koran quotes or even ones just made up. Since most people there were illerate and uneducated, they weren't too familiar with what the Koran actually said. The result was that a new very nasty strain of Islamic fundamentalism was created, and we saw it in action during Taliban rule. Had the US stayed out of Afghanistan, the country would've been spared a very nasty civil war, would've not have had to suffer under the Taliban for 5 years, and there would've been no terrorist sponsoring nation during that time. Plus, the Soviet puppet regime almost certainly would've collapsed before the 90s anyway.

BRTD, you ignorant slut.

The US did not support the Taliban, as it did not exist until AFTER the US stopped sending aid, and the Soviets did not keep the Taliban out because the Taliban did not exist until after the Soviet withdrawal.

The Iranian mullahs criticized the Taliban because they are Shia, and the Taliban were Sunni, so obviously they have an entirely different view of Islam.  It would only surprise someone who knew nothing about Islam that the Iranian mullahs were not in love with the Taliban.

You're right about one thing, there would not have been a civil war, just an East Europe in Afghanistan.  Nice going, with your endorsement of the Soviet Union's expansionist foreign policy!

And of course the USSR and their puppet Communist regime in Afghanistan were opposed by feminism's worst nightmare, the Taliban. The US definately took the wrong side there, at least women would be treated fairly under the Soviet puppet regime.

I'm gonna have to take your side there BRTD.  We should have let the Soviets take Afghanistan now that I think of it.  Osama's extreme rightism would have had no place to flourish.  Reagan created a lot of blunders conservatives and foreign policy hawks, such as John Ford, will not admit to.

I don't even know where to begin telling you what's wrong with this.

First of all, you have considered only one side of the equation.  You only consider the negative results, and only of the actual US policy.  You do not take into account the positive impact of US policy, or the negative impact of hading the Soviets another colony.  This is bad analysis at a very basic level.

I have admitted to the blunders of Reagan's foreign policy.  I think Lebanon was a mistake, and for that matter so doe Reagan, he said so himself.  Its factually wrong to say that I am unwilling to criticize Reagan when he was wrong.

You have soe facts wrong.  Osama did not build the AQ network in Afghanistan, he built it in Sudan.  "Rightist" conditions in Afghanistan had nothing to do with building Al Qaeda.  You actually seem to have not even rudimentary knowledge of the history of Al Qaeda judging from this post.

Poor analytical skills, no understanding of facts on the ground, etc.  Hey, its what you get for mentionng me by name.

Actually had the Soviets taken Afghanistan in 1980, they would have collapsed in 1991 anyway and the added bonus is Taliban operation would have been limited. Granted the Taliban could still operate elsewhere, but Afghanistan would have been spared had the Soviets taken over. You also forgot about the fact the weapons Reagan gave Osama made him more powerful. We dirtied one hand pretty badly to clean another. I can also criticize Reagan for the whole Iraq-Iran fiasco. I think it was better for us to take a non-interventionist policy. Yes Iraq has democratic elections, but how long will that last? Shiites control the country and may soon turn it into a military theocracy a la the Ayatollah. I know Reagan was thinking of buddying up to Iran because of the Soviet threat to the Middle East and South Asia, but the effects have backfired. Turkey, while it has been pretty secular, could have very well been in danger of becoming an Islamic theocracy as well.

Was aggressive anti-Communist containment worth it? Maybe.... Maybe not. One could argue Cuba did better under Communism than under mob rule which was the case prior to 1960.

Flyers, you ignorant wannabe slut.

Its ludicrous to pretend that the USSR would have collapsed on the same timetable regardless of what happenned in Afghanistan since the Soviet defeat there was a major cause for their ultimate downfall.

Even if you presume that the USSR collapses in 1991 anyway (which as I've said is ludicrous) they pull out of Afghanistan BEFORE the Taliban ever exists, and therefore have no impact on its strength.

Your comment that Turkey's stability was endangered by Reagan rings more than a little hollow, considering how things turned out.

The implication that Shia want to turn Iraq into a military theocracy is ignorant of Shia history in Iraq.  They have no historic ties to the military establishment, nor do they exibit anti-democratic tendencies.  I'd like at least soe evidence for the racist allegation against the Shia you've made by implying that they are unfit to govern.

Nice touch at the end by praising Castro.  Oh, but you guys aren't Communist sympathizers or anything, even though this is the second time in two days one of you has praised Castro.