Cowlesy
01-05-2008, 05:46 PM
Guys -- In the end it is immaterial because it is one vote, but we'll get one more level pull for Paul.
My friend's argument against Paul was about National Security and Oil. He argued that McCain was the best to fight terrorism, and keep Iran from taking over the entire Middle East, which is why he thinks we're really over there.
I retorted with the fact that Iran has to import at least 50% of its gasoline due to it have an archaic refining infrastructure, that if they ever stopped exporting oil (the country's primary source of revenue), it'd cripple their entire economy which would likely end the country in a regime-change. I also noted that the NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) reported that Iran gave up its nuke program 4 years ago. I then asked the question, "Can you seriously think Iran is going to take over the Middle East?"
After that, I piled on with the fact our economies are intimately tied together. Abu Dhabi recently injected $7.5 billion dollars into Citigroup, not to mention Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia (King Abdullah's nephew) was already the largest shareholder. Even the Chinese Government purchased a $5.0 billion stake in Morgan Stanley, and the Singapore investment arm (Temasek) bought $5.0 billion worth of Merrill Lynch shares. (On a side note, you ALL should be worried about foreigners buying up our financial assets on the cheap...for your own saving's safety). They aren't doing this as charity. They know if U.S. financial institutions fail, they'll lose massive amounts of wealth. They're as scared as us.
The last thing that is going to happen, is these major governments in the Middle East let their giant investments in the United States or held through U.S. interests go to shit because of radical fundamentalists. THEY will institute fascism to control their own before their wealthy elite lose their power. Let THEM take care of the fundamentalists, not U.S. soldiers.
Once I assured him that Iran wasn't going to annex the Arabian Peninsula due to our financial ties and their desperate need for our revenue, he started looking into Ron Paul. I gave him some random links to show the delineation *sp between "neo-conservativism" and "traditional-conservative", and it was like he had an epiphany.
Don't give up guys. One vote at a time.
My friend's argument against Paul was about National Security and Oil. He argued that McCain was the best to fight terrorism, and keep Iran from taking over the entire Middle East, which is why he thinks we're really over there.
I retorted with the fact that Iran has to import at least 50% of its gasoline due to it have an archaic refining infrastructure, that if they ever stopped exporting oil (the country's primary source of revenue), it'd cripple their entire economy which would likely end the country in a regime-change. I also noted that the NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) reported that Iran gave up its nuke program 4 years ago. I then asked the question, "Can you seriously think Iran is going to take over the Middle East?"
After that, I piled on with the fact our economies are intimately tied together. Abu Dhabi recently injected $7.5 billion dollars into Citigroup, not to mention Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia (King Abdullah's nephew) was already the largest shareholder. Even the Chinese Government purchased a $5.0 billion stake in Morgan Stanley, and the Singapore investment arm (Temasek) bought $5.0 billion worth of Merrill Lynch shares. (On a side note, you ALL should be worried about foreigners buying up our financial assets on the cheap...for your own saving's safety). They aren't doing this as charity. They know if U.S. financial institutions fail, they'll lose massive amounts of wealth. They're as scared as us.
The last thing that is going to happen, is these major governments in the Middle East let their giant investments in the United States or held through U.S. interests go to shit because of radical fundamentalists. THEY will institute fascism to control their own before their wealthy elite lose their power. Let THEM take care of the fundamentalists, not U.S. soldiers.
Once I assured him that Iran wasn't going to annex the Arabian Peninsula due to our financial ties and their desperate need for our revenue, he started looking into Ron Paul. I gave him some random links to show the delineation *sp between "neo-conservativism" and "traditional-conservative", and it was like he had an epiphany.
Don't give up guys. One vote at a time.