samboct
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There's a reason we can't have a war like WWII- technology has marched on. That was the last total war possible if human civilization is going to survive. Technology has marched on. Total war these days involves nuclear weapons- that doesn't conquer a country, that destroys it utterly. We've also hit the point where there is no effective defense any longer against an attacker with nukes. So yeah, we can no longer rally around the flag and get everybody worked up to go stop a guy like Hitler- the costs are too high.
Mike- I'll stand by my comments. The smarter folks in England recognized that they were getting wealthy off trade with the colonies and that once the war ended, trade would resume. The nature of war is that it involves murder, which is never easy to control. That some regions became a bloodbath doesn't surprise me- but the orders from up top were not to win at any cost. That makes it a limited war in my book. That it got gruesome in spots- shows how well the concept of limited war works in reality. But I'll have to check out some of the battles around the Carolinas. I drove through some of the battle fields (some mountain I forget which) on the way to Florida this year, and we had a Georgia gal with us who's a grad student in history- but Wikipedia didn't point out that the battles fought were particularly nasty.
Tweak-
"The Israeli Palestine question lies at the heart of ME instability and terrorism. How many terrorists didthe invasion of Gaza 2008 (Cast Lead) create? A lot more than it killed. This issue is widely viewed as one of the fundamental causes of Islamic extremism and terrorism. Even warmongers like Blair have recognised this explicitly."
Sorry- but strong disagreement here. And to get it out of the way- yes, I'm Jewish. I too have grown disillusioned with many of the actions of Israel- and you left out S. Africa as one of Israel's supporters because Israel is an apartheid country. OK, South Africa isn't anymore....
Nevertheless, the idea that if the Arabs rolled in and wiped out the Jews and everything would be hunky dory? Don't make me laugh- that's one of the most naive things I've heard in a long time. Israel unifies the Arabs in a way that nothing else has, it's the one thing that they can agree upon- none of them like Jews. Absent the Jews and you have a similar quagmire as Iraq, where Sunnis, Shias, Kurds, etc all start fighting each other- again.
The Middle East will be a powder keg as long as the tribes there want to war with each other and the region has resources that the rest of the world wants. Absent oil and who cares?
In terms of the Arab insistence that Israel is the thorn in their side that if plucked, would make all problems go away...just look at a map for 30 seconds. Israel is a crummy little country the size of New Jersey. If all of us in the US said all our problems were due to New Jersey, we'd be the laughingstock of the world. As an aside-our problems are due to Texas- clearly! Militarily, shrinking down your borders when you're just the size of New Jersey is just a dumb idea- even if you are armed to the teeth courtesy of the US.
Wars are fought for economics-even religious wars like the Crusades where some folks wanted a chance at a power and land grab. There's nothing different going on in the Middle East- there's an economic advantage for the people running those countries to drum up hatred of Israel- it stops people from focusing on how they could be bettering their own lives, often by tossing the people running the country out of a job.
Look at the map. Does Israel control access ports of the Arab world? Does it control water? Food supplies? Power? When Hitler went on his land grab in Europe, he was driven by the need for resources and to pay off his wealthy backers- this is why representatives from firms like IG Farben were looking at factories in Holland even as the war was raging. What's Israel got that anybody would want? Some religious relics? Seems to me, that's about it. There's not much land there- and Israel is not hurting the Arab countries economically. They've done that to themselves.
Terrorists are strengthened by attitudes like yours. They've inspired fear, and the desire to capitulate to their demands, no matter how whacko. The best cure for dealing with Arab insistence that Israel is at the root of all their problems is laughter- it's a sick, sick joke. We should all laugh about it- and at them for such claptrap. Acceding to terrorist demands at this point is like Chamberlain appeasing Hitler, it will just embolden them.
Sam
< Message edited by samboct -- 9/13/2011 6:08:16 AM >
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RE: 9/11: 10 years on ..... - 
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