1. It isn't a false dilemma because I was responding to a particular poster who made a statement for which my reply was entirely applicable.
I read the post you responded to before I made my comment about yours. You did create a false dilemma when you stated "Congo implausible, Syria plausible." Why not the Congo if Syria? What makes Syrian intervention more plausible? Neither situation justifies military intervention, however you just assert one has greater actual value than the other for whatever reasons.
2. I find non-interventionism to be fool hardy and morally distasteful.
Where do I advocate pure "non-interventionism?" I am willing to intervene militarily when one of our allies is attacked or threatened. That does not mean I support military intervention in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation any more than I would allow another country to intervene militarily in OUR internal affairs.
I have yet to hear a proper justification for your idea that "What’s good for the goose is NOT good for the gander" when it comes to intervention. The argument always seems to be “we are strongest and hold the moral right, therefore we can intervene.” Yet unless you would be willing to allow a more powerful nation to intervene militarily in American internal affairs in support of their ideology, you are preaching hypocrisy.
3. If we only go to places that have "something we want" why did we go to Bosnia? Kosovo? Haiti? Somalia? Hell why Syria? Clearly we are not a kleptocratic leviathan or we'd surely select some better targets.
We were never IN Bosnia. NATO supported two UN resolutions regarding maritime traffic and no fly zones. Our actions were under treaty obligations and consisted of air and naval units. Kosovo was also a NATO mission, the USA is a treaty member of NATO and we honor our treaty obligations. Haiti?? That was humanitarian disaster assistance, which I advocate and support. Somalia? We initially sent troops in to help with humanitarian relief for a population facing starvation caused by drought; the troops were there to protect American relief workers. Of course they were attacked and we got stuck in the mess.
4. I disagree. I think we do have a corner on the proper form of government. I find that notion that others do not desire democracy to be more racist than claiming that Chinese or Iranian citizens are desirous of a more republican form of government.
Very noble, and very ethnocentric. In any case, if a people WANT something, they eventually get it. We don’t need to impose it on them.
5. False. Good ideas and people power do not bring down autocracies. All it would have taken to prevent the collapse of the Mubarak regime would have been a government as ruthless as the one in Tehran or Damascus. The ability to deploy violence and the willingness to do so can perpetuate these dictatorships ad nausum. The collapse of the Soviet Union was in large part brought about because of the pressures exerted by the United States and her allies across the globe, but even then the possibility that violence would have saved the regime was absolutely present. It is why a strong democratic power, the United States, is essential in bringing about a better world.
Umm, I think not. I disagree with your opinion about the fall of the U.S.S.R. entirely. I think it was the EXAMPLE of the USA that eventually led to the popular fall of that government, not any "pressures" we brought to bear militarily. The same is true of Iran under the Shah, he was ruthless but he still fell to a popular rebellion.
6. I find the Chinese and Russian system of government to be repugnant and their governments to be moreso. I am not a relativist, I do not care about the equivalence of what a Chinese authoritarian thinks vs. what I think. I'm in this to win.
It does not matter what you find, they exist in fact. The issue was, if THEY had the power and we did not, how would you feel about their interference. Apparently, you would not be happy or appreciate it. Again, it is utter hubris to think our lifestyle is automatically the best for every culture or society in the world. Still, if it is, they will come to it themselves eventually. People have to make the choice and the effort themselves. We cannot impose it from outside.