When oppressed people around the world cry out for help, what can we do?

Fighting is usually not a good way to improve the human condition. Since WWII, the US has tried using war as a tool to liberate people from oppression. The plans seem to fail most of the time.

While most Americans have a certain amount of human rights, parts of the world are enslaved in authoritarian regimes like in Iran. There may be better ways through foreign aid, education and communication, such as the availability of internet access, to melt oppression. Voice of America broadcasts are good, but Trump has cut funding for that. Military intervention seems to seldom work and is a lot more expensive.

In our collective memory is the liberation of Germany and Japan after our victory in WWII. Since then, our attempts to repeat that have not been that successful. Our second invasion of Iraq to "liberate" the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein brought chaos and continued autocracy. I fear that bombing Iran may not help the people overcome that theocracy.

Often people do look to the US for help, however. In the 1990s, there was an intertribal genocide in Rwanda. I remember hearing about that in the news. We mostly stayed out of that and many people died. In other cases, we have tried to intervene, especially if world oil supply and economic interests are in question.

Are there good strategies for promoting democracy around the world?

We are certainly affected by the lack of democracy in other countries as many folks, trying to escape oppression, come knocking on our borders as well as the borders of most democracies, such as Canada and UK. The recent reaction, in many democracies, is to tighten borders; especially when world migration becomes overwhelming to our infrastructure.

Is there enough housing? Is there enough water in the drought stricken Colorado River to meet the need of growing population in that area? One thing we don't hear much about now is the drought in much of Iran. Climate change and local mismanagement, by Iranian authorities, has created a water crisis. Could innovative ways to address these problems help more than going to war?

Even here at home, mismanagement of our economy is evident. We have a president who wants to rededicate USA to fossil fuels. The world may be turning more violent and authoritarian, rather than smarter in addressing the changes that we need for a better and more sustainable future.

Fundamentalist religious believers going to war over their differences while many people are caught in the middle.

We seem to be in an era where fundamentalist religious believers are going to war over their differences while lots of people are caught in the middle.

I prefer open mindedness and diversity.

War is usually not a good strategy.

It seems like regime change in Iran will be hard to achieve from the air. This attempt may be something Americans will regret. Other strategies to try improve that situation are likely better.

I'm not surprised that Trump is trying this as his character is aggressive in both foreign and domestic policy. He has a lot of support from within the Republican Party which is basically all he cares about, but even that support may fade if this attempt to improve things in Iran tuns out to be much harder than anticipated.

One person rule in Iran or in USA is a bad system. There needs to be more diversity of minds and strategies consulted.

Might doesn't necessarily make right, but it usually wins when the conflict tuns violent.

I tend to favor incremental change within a system versus violence or revolution. Regimes like the rulers of Hamas or the regime in Iran are no friends to my ideas of incremental improvement toward openness to alternative lifestyles and freedom of speech. Violent attempts to bring change usually create victory for those with the most powerful weapons. In this case, the US and Israel have the biggest weapons so they are who tend to prevail. The long term outcome is unclear. In the short term, with violence, there is usually a victor who tends to be the one with the biggest weapons.

In the long term, incremental change can melt an oppressive iceberg. The progress that the LGBTQ movement has made in the US and some other nations is an example of incremental change that has been, for the most part, non violent in coming from the closet of repression to more acceptance. LGBTQ is only one example of alternative lifestyles. There are many alternative things such as alternative energy and alternative transportation as well as other lifestyles that bring diversity to mainstream thinking. We need alternatives as humanity faces natural limits to our traditional strivings toward prosperity. Climate change is creating a need to change many of our deep assumptions about what successful living means. Technological change and innovation can also be tools for incremental change.

When war happens.

I've been following the news and reading a wide range of perspectives from various media sources as well as postings from friends on Facebook. Many interesting perspectives are out there.

It's hard to figure out where to begin in expressing my own thoughts and inserting them into the vast amount of opinions that fill the medias. As events happen quickly, I tend to wait till the dust settles, though it never totally settles. I tend to try and express what I think is best for the long term. What is best for the long term isn't clear in short order.