Hey Platt,
> Yes, England and the U.S. were amenable to change. But Nazi > Germany, Imperial Japan, North Korea and the Viet Cong? Not so > much. > > Admitted. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. But even then, I think there are tactics which work better than all out brute force. And today we're talking about Afghanistan, right? I did hear a guy on the radio today, I think he was some sort of general being interviewed and he emphasized that they were shifting their strategy from the impossible-to-subdue outlying tribal areas to the cities (well... Kabul) which does make sense. But sorta begs the question of why we're spending our money to prop up Karzai. > > And it proves that people can think and act rationally, even as in the > days > > of the formation of the Iroquois confederation when the tribes listened > to > > Degonidewah and chose peace. > > Yes, but the Comanches? Not so much. > > I'm pretty ignorant on Indian history and culture, but from what I've read so far the Huron, Seneca, etc, were pretty blood-thirsty and unbending before they "saw the light". > We've been trying to get the Russians to help us vis a vis Iran, without > much luck to date. But, still worth the effort. My solution? Take out the > capacity of the bad guys to build nukes. > > How so in North Korea? They've got those mountains and they like to tunnel. I'm sure Iran's program is deep underground as well. They've been bombed before. They're expecting it. I think the Russians could be wooed. They like Americans over there and miss the prestige when it was a two-sided power competition. > > > But, I could be wrong. > > > > > > I think you are. Anybody who'd volunteer for the humiliation of boot > camp > > is practically by definition an idiot. Conscription at least guarantees > a > > cross-section of peoples. > > A cross-section of reluctant participants is not what I would want for an > army. Anyway, to call those who protect your ass "idiots" is highly > ungrateful to say the least. > > I didn't exactly call them idiots, I said "practically a definition of" which is a bit milder and gives me some leeway. But still, I think there was a good point there about the kind of atmosphere which encourages outside the box thinking and I remain skeptical that our training methods do so. And I really don't need my ass protected from Muslims. I like Muslims. They'd probably like me and I don't hang out in big cities or target-type places anyway. Remember who you're talking to here. I'm no fan of the Pentagon or Wall Street in the best of times and the way I saw it they were both brought down a peg at the apex of their arrogance. And if the war was actually fought to keep the price of oil down, then why did it go so high while we fought? It seems to me pretty clear that Saddam was a competitor of the Texas/Saudi powermongers and our blood and taxes were spent by the big boys for their own reasons, not mine. > I guess you've heard of drones. But, never mind. We have the ability to > carpet bomb them thar hills in Afghanistan into dirt piles, but our > politically correct military doesn't want to wage war anymore. Now it's > community organizing with armed diplomats. (What's a "jogging > stroller?") > Drones are a lot more expensive and less practical than a simple 50 caliber gun emplacement on street corners and on top of strategic buildings. And that's just silly, the assertion that we can bomb the mountains into rubble. Those are big mountains and it'd take an awful lot of expensive ordinance to even make a bit of a dent. And since you can't tell which cave your enemy is hiding in, you have to bomb 'em all. And since this is guaranteed to become a recruiting tool your enemy uses against you, the more you do it, the less you kill and the faster they recruit. Hey, the Russians tried it. They certainly didn't have any kindness compunction or PC sensibilities getting in their way. Afghanistan was a major factor in breaking up the USSR. I don't think the British found the place so amenable either. It's notorious as the place where fading empires go to die. Meanwhile, we slowly bleed dollars to the big companies that make million dollar cruise missles and they fight back with used cars and cheap explosive. That's a losing formula guaranteed to end your glory days faster than you can yell, "Barbarians at the gates!" A jogging stroller is an aluminum three-wheeled device us dads and often soccer moms use to push their tots along while jogging. Like a pram only practical - with big bicycle wheels. Also useful for carrying a pack and chainsaw along the mountain trails of my home. > > > Like the old comparison between America and Russia: NASA spent millions > > developing a pen that would write in space. The Russians spent a $1.50 > on > > pencils. > > Maybe you should do a little fact checking. Why? I've got you. But thanks, that is interesting to know. > From Wikipedia: > > "There exists a common urban legend claiming that the Americans > spent millions of dollars developing the Space Pen, and the Russians > used a pencil.[1] > > > And as always, I could be right. > > > Sometimes maybe, but not always. > > Well I said "could be"... and besides, I don't think of that pen/pencil story as a fact, I think of it as an illustration of a point. In my experience, Russians are quite amazing in their resourcefulness in adapting parts. They're your prototypical beer-can-shim, shade-tree mechanics. Although admittedly, I think Sasha permanently screwed up my vanagon when he salvaged parts off my rabbit to fix it. Thanks for the dialogue Platt. Always a pleasure, John > Platt > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
