Quote:

First Amongst Daves said:
In some ways that is a sensible military solution.

Japan and Germany were capable of integration post WW2 because both were exhausted states.

The populace was so tired of death, famine, plague and war that they were happy to fundamentally change their ethos. Japan for the first time in its history stopped being militaristic, and Germany lost its nationalism (which is why the abundance of German flags at the recent World Cup was such a notable thing).

But that is a military solution, not an ethical solution. Television means that a country can not indiscriminately kill civilians to the point that they will accept any change, so long as the killing stops.

TV is the handbrake for politicians who would forego human rights.



Yeah, this thing has been fucked up from the beginning. I believe that invading Iraq and ousting Saddam is/was right, but the handleing could have been better. We needed more troops to wipe out the remenants of Saddam's military. Also, we were hamstrung by not being able to sweep in from the north out of Turkey to trap them because the Turks wanted to follow up behind our troops and snuff out the Kurds. Had that gone off, we'd have seen less of an insurgence which would have allowed for more trained Iraqi troops and an ability to concentrate better on quelling sectarian violence. As it is now, the only thing we can do is a full out offensive with more troops than we currently have deployed now with better equipment than we have them armed with.

whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules.
It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness.
This is true both in politics and on the internet."

Our Friendly Neighborhood Ray-man said: "no, the doctor's right. besides, he has seniority."