Which country would you prefer the US to be allied with?
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  Which country would you prefer the US to be allied with?
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Pages: 1 [2]
Poll
Question: ?
#1
Saudi Arabia
 
#2
Iran
 
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Partisan results

Total Voters: 71

Author Topic: Which country would you prefer the US to be allied with?  (Read 3417 times)
Türkisblau
H_Wallace
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« Reply #25 on: January 14, 2015, 10:33:32 PM »

Saudi Arabia, since they aren't as blatantly and rabidly anti-American.

I would consider their political system, their exploitation of their people, and the absolutely unjust justice system about as rabidly "anti-American" as you can get.
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Intell
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« Reply #26 on: January 15, 2015, 12:06:47 AM »

For all it's faults, at least Iran is a Democratic and Secular Nation. 
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Antonio the Sixth
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« Reply #27 on: January 15, 2015, 05:50:05 AM »

For all it's faults, at least Iran is a Democratic and Secular Nation. 

what
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Hifly
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« Reply #28 on: January 15, 2015, 07:34:25 AM »

For all it's faults, at least Iran is a Democratic and Secular Nation. 

what

He does realize that the Shah has been overthrown, right?
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Intell
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« Reply #29 on: January 15, 2015, 08:13:56 AM »
« Edited: January 15, 2015, 08:18:26 AM by Intell »

Sigh*, I need to learn some more history.

I knew the Shah was overthrown, I just thought that Iran was secular, for some weird reason.
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Hifly
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« Reply #30 on: January 15, 2015, 08:17:40 AM »

But yes, the correct answer is Iran. It actually has a semi-democracy in place, social security and protection for its citizens, and is much less of a threat to global peace.

Also, Iran actually has a proper culture.
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Orser67
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« Reply #31 on: January 15, 2015, 12:05:06 PM »

The way I see it, Saudi Arabia might oppress its own people slightly more than Iran does (Iran only deserves a little credit for its quasi-democratic institutions), but it's also much less of a threat to international peace. Yeah, Saudi Arabia does throw its weight around in the gulf (see e.g. Bahrain), and individual Saudi Arabians fund awful causes, but state policy doesn't support anything nearly as harmful as a WMD program or the "annihilation of Israel."

I guess if "being allied with Iran" meant that Iran stopped supporting terrorism and regimes like Assad's, I might consider that option. But Saudi Arabia would still have the advantage as a more important producer of oil, and as a more natural ally of other Sunni states such as Egypt.
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MATTROSE94
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« Reply #32 on: January 15, 2015, 02:15:40 PM »

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Snowstalker Mk. II
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« Reply #33 on: January 15, 2015, 05:33:37 PM »
« Edited: January 15, 2015, 05:35:22 PM by Snowstalker »

The way I see it, Saudi Arabia might oppress its own people slightly more than Iran does (Iran only deserves a little credit for its quasi-democratic institutions), but it's also much less of a threat to international peace. Yeah, Saudi Arabia does throw its weight around in the gulf (see e.g. Bahrain), and individual Saudi Arabians fund awful causes, but state policy doesn't support anything nearly as harmful as a WMD program or the "annihilation of Israel."

I guess if "being allied with Iran" meant that Iran stopped supporting terrorism and regimes like Assad's, I might consider that option. But Saudi Arabia would still have the advantage as a more important producer of oil, and as a more natural ally of other Sunni states such as Egypt.

Stop regurgitating State Department talking points. Saudi Arabia (and let's be honest, the United States and Israel, not to mention Qatar/the UAE/etc.) are far more culpable in state terror than Iran (whose supposed nuclear weapons program is a clear reaction to American and Gulf Arab aggression against it). If we're going to stop Iran from having a nuke, why should the genocidal apartheid Zionist state have an arsenal of over 200? For that matter, why should the United States, by far the worst aggressor of any nation since World War II, have nuclear weapons?
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« Reply #34 on: January 15, 2015, 05:36:50 PM »

Wasn't the "annihilate Israel" soundbite a mistranslation?
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Nathan
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« Reply #35 on: January 15, 2015, 08:10:26 PM »

The way I see it, Saudi Arabia might oppress its own people slightly more than Iran does (Iran only deserves a little credit for its quasi-democratic institutions), but it's also much less of a threat to international peace. Yeah, Saudi Arabia does throw its weight around in the gulf (see e.g. Bahrain), and individual Saudi Arabians fund awful causes, but state policy doesn't support anything nearly as harmful as a WMD program or the "annihilation of Israel."

I guess if "being allied with Iran" meant that Iran stopped supporting terrorism and regimes like Assad's, I might consider that option. But Saudi Arabia would still have the advantage as a more important producer of oil, and as a more natural ally of other Sunni states such as Egypt.

All you're really saying here is that Saudi Arabia has more plausible deniability for the horrible things that it gets up to, and/or that the horrible things that it gets up to are insidious rather than self-evidently dangerous. Which we all knew already.

At least we can trust the people in charge of Iran not to bulldoze Persepolis to build a parking garage or something.
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jfern
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« Reply #36 on: January 15, 2015, 08:11:37 PM »

Iran because Shia Islam isn't a threat, and Wahhabi Islam is.
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Atlas Has Shrugged
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« Reply #37 on: January 15, 2015, 08:23:04 PM »

Saudi Arabia, since they aren't as blatantly and rabidly anti-American.
You do know where ISIS funds come from, right?
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MalaspinaGold
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« Reply #38 on: January 16, 2015, 03:19:41 AM »

Saudi Arabia, since they aren't as blatantly and rabidly anti-American.
You do know where ISIS funds come from, right?
Not from Saudi Arabia.
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Oldiesfreak1854
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« Reply #39 on: January 16, 2015, 09:08:45 AM »

Saudi Arabia, since they aren't as blatantly and rabidly anti-American.

I would consider their political system, their exploitation of their people, and the absolutely unjust justice system about as rabidly "anti-American" as you can get.
But they're not as anti-American in their rhetoric.
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politicus
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« Reply #40 on: January 16, 2015, 09:11:33 AM »

Saudi Arabia, since they aren't as blatantly and rabidly anti-American.

I would consider their political system, their exploitation of their people, and the absolutely unjust justice system about as rabidly "anti-American" as you can get.
But they're not as anti-American in their rhetoric.

So hypocrisy and backstabbing your allies is better than open hostility?
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All Along The Watchtower
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« Reply #41 on: January 16, 2015, 02:16:56 PM »

The way I see it, Saudi Arabia might oppress its own people slightly more than Iran does (Iran only deserves a little credit for its quasi-democratic institutions), but it's also much less of a threat to international peace. Yeah, Saudi Arabia does throw its weight around in the gulf (see e.g. Bahrain), and individual Saudi Arabians fund awful causes, but state policy doesn't support anything nearly as harmful as a WMD program or the "annihilation of Israel."

I guess if "being allied with Iran" meant that Iran stopped supporting terrorism and regimes like Assad's, I might consider that option. But Saudi Arabia would still have the advantage as a more important producer of oil, and as a more natural ally of other Sunni states such as Egypt.

All you're really saying here is that Saudi Arabia has more plausible deniability for the horrible things that it gets up to, and/or that the horrible things that it gets up to are insidious rather than self-evidently dangerous. Which we all knew already.

At least we can trust the people in charge of Iran not to bulldoze Persepolis to build a parking garage or something.

Aren't many wealthy Saudi families-including members of the royal family, the bin Ladens, and others-a very significant source of foreign investment in the United States? I seem to recall hearing that they own a lot of land, office buildings, stakes in many public corporations, etc. in America.

Obviously they hold tons of petro-dollars.
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CrabCake
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« Reply #42 on: January 16, 2015, 02:28:30 PM »

Fat lot of good Arab investment does for London at least, beyond raising the rent and closing ever more of the city off to the peons.
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Kalwejt
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« Reply #43 on: January 16, 2015, 04:07:24 PM »

Sigh*, I need to learn some more history.

You most certainly do.
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jfern
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« Reply #44 on: January 18, 2015, 04:12:32 AM »

For all it's faults, at least Iran is a Democratic and Secular Nation. 

what

He does realize that the Shah has been overthrown, right?

Obviously both countries are most certainly not secular, but Iran amusingly has a Jewish MP.
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