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Furry · 03-07-2005, 04:46 PM

Funnily enough, the EU does not brand Hezbollah as a terrorist group, even though Hamas may be a different story. Hezbollah is a political party that has an active paramilitary wing. Screaming "Terrorist!" and going into full- blown paranoia mode does not a terrorist make, neither is it conducive to working things out without raise blood pressure and international tensions. Of the three countries championing negotiation as a way forwards, the UK has experience of dealing with this very scenario. The IRA is (or was, depending on your view of current events) organised in exactly the same way. Tacit US support in the form of your former President Bill Clinton helped with the negotiations that paved the way to the Good Friday Agreements, however any comment from the current incumbent, who has no experience with working things through by diplomatic means, will only hamper efforts to get the situation under some kind of acceptable control.

In response to posts about the NPT, the academic community, who also on occasion fulfill roles as advisors to leaders, consider the NPT as a norm. That is to say that the level of support for that particular convention is so great that it applies to all, even though one may not have signed the original treaty.The Geneva Accords are another example of this. International pressure over US withdrawal from the NPT has led them to quietly shelve plans for tactical battlefield nuclear shells, even though they are no longer officially bound by its terms. In other words, whether or not a treaty has been signed by your country, if the level of worldwide support is great enough, the terms of that agreement are more or less forced upon you. You may still do as you wish under the terms of your own sovereignty, but funnily enough you might suddenly find that people in strategic places stop listening and political doors that were once open become inexplicably shut.

03-07-2005, 04:46 PM	#34 (permalink)
Furry Crazy Location: UK	Funnily enough, the EU does not brand Hezbollah as a terrorist group, even though Hamas may be a different story. Hezbollah is a political party that has an active paramilitary wing. Screaming "Terrorist!" and going into full- blown paranoia mode does not a terrorist make, neither is it conducive to working things out without raise blood pressure and international tensions. Of the three countries championing negotiation as a way forwards, the UK has experience of dealing with this very scenario. The IRA is (or was, depending on your view of current events) organised in exactly the same way. Tacit US support in the form of your former President Bill Clinton helped with the negotiations that paved the way to the Good Friday Agreements, however any comment from the current incumbent, who has no experience with working things through by diplomatic means, will only hamper efforts to get the situation under some kind of acceptable control. In response to posts about the NPT, the academic community, who also on occasion fulfill roles as advisors to leaders, consider the NPT as a norm. That is to say that the level of support for that particular convention is so great that it applies to all, even though one may not have signed the original treaty.The Geneva Accords are another example of this. International pressure over US withdrawal from the NPT has led them to quietly shelve plans for tactical battlefield nuclear shells, even though they are no longer officially bound by its terms. In other words, whether or not a treaty has been signed by your country, if the level of worldwide support is great enough, the terms of that agreement are more or less forced upon you. You may still do as you wish under the terms of your own sovereignty, but funnily enough you might suddenly find that people in strategic places stop listening and political doors that were once open become inexplicably shut. __________________ Furry is the leader of his own cult, the "Furballs of Doom". They sit about chanting "Doom, Doom, Doom". (From a random shot in the dark by SirLance)