[A-List] Juan Cole implies that MLK Jr was not anti-military, and that may be so...

[Leigh Meyers <the.buffalo.in.the.midst@xxxxxxxxx>]

Also see:
[January 15 2007] Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary:
Cleaning Up History - MLK Jrâs Birthday & The Reality Of The Timesâ He 
Looked Good For The White Folks, But What About The Others Involved In 
The Black Liberation Movement? 
<http://leighm.net/blog/2007/01/15/tth_070115/>

Juan Cole said:
Dr. King was not saying that war cannot solve military problems, you 
will note. He was saying that it cannot solve social problems.

   Professor Cole,

   Reverend King Jr. made it quite clear in his speech of April 4, 1967
   <http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2564.htm> that war
   IS the cause of the social problems American society faces.

   I'd like to point out, because you often mention this as if it's a
   good thing, economic warfare on other societies also affects
   Americans, sometimes quite directly, and we ought to regard with
   GREAT skepticism, any attempt to embargo or sanction other states
   into compliance with our wants and desires.

   It leads us astray... down the rosy path to hell, as a preacher
   might be wont to say...

   I could recount the failed attempt to destroy New Zealand's economy
   after a diplomatic breach involving US warships in their territory
   which were refusing to confirm or deny nuclear weapons in NZ's
   territorial waters.

   The United States attempted to undermine New Zealand's economy by
   'dumping' dairy products on the world market.

   Guess what? Just like most military wars, it backfired on the
   persecutors... The tactic undoubtably caused a major change in NZ's
   economy... they diversified, and became a force in the high tech
   industry and other arenas of commerce.

   In the meantime, in America, 'Government Cheese' kept as surplus to
   maintain market pricing which was now being intentionally crashed,
   disappeared from the larders of food banks across the country, and
   impoverished Americans became moreso.

   We HAVE TO stop playing policeman or bully to the world, and we are
   well known for both of those roles, .

   You also mentioned:
   The United States is a peculiarly war-like country. In the last a
   little over a century it has militarily intervened in other
   countries, it is said, some 100 times. If true (and it depends on
   what you count as an intervention), that is once a year!

   [Here's]
   <http://leighm.net/blog/archive/a-chronological-list-of-us-military-interventions-throughout-its-history/>an
   exhaustive list

<...>