Comments for Greg and Holly's Weblog

Comment on United States Moral Foreign Policy in Afghanistan by gigantorguys

gigantorguys — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:38:03 +0000

Morals can often cause tricky situations like this one shows, at least from a theoretical stance. Both the Taliban and and the United States believe they acted morally. The Taliban saw their laws as instilling public and Islamic morality, whereas the United States saw them as immoral and dangerous to humanity, which helped justify their decision to take them out of power. Obviously I side with the United States and believe the Taliban put in place very immoral laws, but is that just my personal feeling, or is there some higher authority (the UN? God?) that determines whether governments act morally or immorally? Obviously when two groups think they are morally justified it causes greater difficulty to solve problems (Israel and Palestine). But can a person say that an action is universally moral, or can we only say a majority of people find it moral?

Comment on United States Moral Foreign Policy in Afghanistan by bmjs

bmjs — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 19:54:21 +0000

I agree that the United States did invade Afghanistan for moral reasons. However, with the War in Iraq many resources have been diverted from Afghanistan to Iraq allowing the Taliban to regain territory in the rural ares of the country. If the United States commits to entering a country and freeing them from previous oppression they should provide adequate military and political support until groups like the Taliban are no longer able to threaten the freedom of Afghan people.

Comment on International Ethics by bmjs

bmjs — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 19:50:43 +0000

I agree with georgegeorge about the contradictory nature of the United States, however I agree with the ends based motivation of the United States’s actions in Afghanistan. The United States is working to combat the immoral actions of the terrorist regimes in the region that they commit against their own civilians. Although they may have to take drastic means to do so, the United States is working for the betterment of the region and to bring about stability. The United States is working to protect those that cannot protect themselves. However, in order to do so, the United States must stay actively involved in Afghanistan until improvements are finalized. It would be immoral to abandon the country.

Comment on International Ethics by georgegeorge

georgegeorge — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:06:20 +0000

First, the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon is great. It really applies to the morality and issue and may describe a certain country that we live in. How can the US judge others when we have committed such atrocities in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib? This really disturbs me, and a prime example is the Saudi Arabian case of the woman who was raped. Before 9/11 could the US have saved her? That is an impossible questions to answer but very necessary to contemplate. Are our means justified? In these cases it certainly seems no.

In light of Afghanistan this article from BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7222194.stm describes that the Taliban have älmost just as much control as they used to due to the current corrupt and weak government. The article says “the battle for Afghanistan is harder now than it was after the Taleban were first forced out of power in Kabul.” Have we done more good than bad? Will there be a stable government in the end? The US needs to properly balance deontology and consequentialism before invasion.

Comment on Afghanistan and International Relation Theory by jd

jd — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 03:56:56 +0000

Very good post. In fact, today the United States is acting in Afghanistan with NATO. I’ll be posting on this shortly on my blog.

Well done.

Comment on How international relations affects our everyday lives and how we affect international relations. by jd

jd — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 04:52:24 +0000

Great post! Yes, choicing which type of car to drive certainly has an impact on the lives of others, not only here but abroad. Well done!

Comment on Hello world! by jd

jd — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 04:18:17 +0000

Thanks for your reply. There’s so much in that story that is worthy of commentary. I’m glad that both your cousin and mother are still with us today.

Comment on Hello world! by Mr WordPress

Mr WordPress — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:33:51 +0000

Hi, this is a comment.
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