by maewing » Thu Jan 05, 2006 7:44 am
Dear Leonidas,
As an American I must say I am a bit disappointed by some of your glib responses here. Of course I know that it is difficult to field all of the anti-American sentiment that is going around but I think these guys here are really just trying to state the obvious--American involvement in the Middle East is strategic. I don't believe American sentiment, when the story is well understood, is so dismissive. However, given the biased media protrayal of everything in the States (and the predominance of "Friends"-type TV), I think the story of any conflict is rarely well understood.
Hence, regarding the Cyprus problem, I don't think one can sweep under the rug such and awful and debilitating situation. People were kicked out of their homes because Turkey took the opportunity to invade. I disagree with the one of the other chatroom participants--this had nothing to do with the US or oil. This was simply Turkish aggression and that has been the same (in its ugly nature) for the last 1000 years. They have terrorized Europe (along with Germany) for that entire time and will probably continue to do so once they join EU. (Note: I am not Turkish or Greek ethnically.)
But I think we should look for the real reasons why the US has not helped Cyprus (or Greece). Culturally speaking, when people think of the US they think of stupid white men (like Bush) and the many who arbitrarily use force to obtain whatever selfish objective is their whim. Sadly, this is the face that is represented abroad even though this is a small minority of people. Nonetheless, this small (but powerful) minority is mason (as someone pointed out) and hence very much opposed to the Orthodox world.
The only way the problem will change is then if there is an organic solution--that is, Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots force Turkey out (as the Lebanese are doing with the Syrians).
