Why The Gun Is Civilization (1 Viewer)

[Rich]

they lost their main motivation...the Empire.

Unlike the US who of course is still trying to build a bigger one

 

[statsman]

Sombody had to take over the job of

Civilizing the world
Keeping the trade routes open
Acting as the "cop" to the rest of the world

Oh yes, and showing a profit at the end of each fiscal period.

 

[dan-cat]

Summing up from all of this.

Waving guns or nuclear missiles at each other does not guarantee the cessation of violence.

 

[ColinEssex]

Sombody had to take over the job of

Civilizing the world
Keeping the trade routes open
Acting as the "cop" to the rest of the world

Yes but who is going to do it successfully?

Obviously the Yanks can't do it and have made a pigs ear of their attempt, the world is in a worse state now than ever, thanks to the Yanks and Bush - maybe we should leave it up to the Chinese, after all they will be the main superpower in a year or two.

Col

 

[statsman]

Yes but who is going to do it successfully?

Obviously the Yanks can't do it and have made a pigs ear of their attempt, the world is in a worse state now than ever, thanks to the Yanks and Bush - maybe we should leave it up to the Chinese, after all they will be the main superpower in a year or two.

Col

It seems a generation of separation has caused the US to forget the lessons they learned so harshly in Vietnam.
The main lesson being: before we go in, what exactly are we trying to achieve? At what point can we claim victory and go home.

Does anyone see the US leaving Iraq in the forseeable future?

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

Regarding the different cultures in the world:

Currently in some cultures women are deemed second class citizens, even in our culture there are still many men that treat women as second class citizens. In all cultures, (well nearly all) this is how they evolved, with the dominant male in charge, the females and children second class citizens. There's nothing odd about this, it was just part of our progression from being animals to becoming humans.

If you go back in our culture 150 years, you would find that women and children were treated as second class citizens, so now bearing this in mind, look at current cultures where women are deemed second class, the only difference between our culture and their culture is a period of time to evolve our culture. There is very little difference between our cultures. These cultures just need time to adjust, time to evolve, the only trouble is some of these cultures now have access to immense wealth and military might, probably in the form of atomic weapons and others like terrorist bombing.

So is it right to take these cultures on "head on" and try and change their culture by force? I don't really believe there's a simple answer yes or no, education and tolerance would be one option, and force another.

I would say that American, British and other nations soldiers are dying in these conflicts, it's not trivial, something needs to be done, whether it's understanding, education, tolerance or force, or some combination....

To say that the Americans are wrong in standing up to this threat is easy to say, and reflects a very narrow view of the World to my mind, not to say that it isn't a valid view, it is just easy to say, with no real understanding. Does anyone really understand?

I think that would be the secret, the way to end this conflict, or at least reduce it to a simple disagreement between cultures. We need someone with understanding of both sides to get involved someone both sides trust, and respect. Unfortunately these type of characters only appear sporadically throughout history.

 

[KenHigg]

.... We need someone with understanding of both sides to get involved someone both sides trust, and respect. Unfortunately these type of characters only appear sporadically throughout history.

Rich can do this. No wait, he hates the US so that wouldn't work...

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

I'm sure Rich would be an excellent choice...

I won't be on line for a while, I'm going outside to start digging a hole for my nuclear bunker.

 

[Rich]

I'm going outside to start digging a hole for my nuclear bunker.

And now that Bush has re-started the cold war you're gonna need it!.....

 

[dan-cat]

Yes but who is going to do it successfully?

Obviously the Yanks can't do it and have made a pigs ear of their attempt, the world is in a worse state now than ever, thanks to the Yanks and Bush - maybe we should leave it up to the Chinese, after all they will be the main superpower in a year or two.

Col

You think that the world is in a worse state now than in the 1940's or 1914 -1918

 

[dan-cat]

And now that Bush has re-started the cold war you're gonna need it!.....

Yes it's all Bush's fault. Link

 

[dan-cat]

Yes it's all Bush's fault. Link

cue...mitigating circumstances why the UK is involved in cooling relations with Russia [Stage Left]

 

[KenHigg]

I'm sure Rich would be an excellent choice...

I won't be on line for a while, I'm going outside to start digging a hole for my nuclear bunker.

Somehow with Rich in office, this seemed appropriate...

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

Yes Ken,
That would be a correct statement even if the vehicle was empty!

 

[Rich]

cue...mitigating circumstances why the UK is involved in cooling relations with Russia [Stage Left]

There is a difference between a diplomatic incident which will blow over and America's need to build a missile defence shield for a threat that hardly exists

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Rich, I think the USA is afraid of those shots you keep lobbing our way. Makes the radar look too busy. Hence the missile defense.

 

[statsman]

The US should not be worried about China starting a nuclear war and lobbing missiles at them.

They should be worried about China buying the whole country.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Wouldn't be that good an investment now. And by the time it becomes a good investment, they'll be too busy with their own non-homogeneous mess as more and more people learn about REAL freedom through illicit Internet connections. That's a genie that once uncorked will NEVER go back in the bottle. INFORMATION is what will kill the current Chinese regime. And they know it.

 

[statsman]

Wouldn't be that good an investment now. And by the time it becomes a good investment, they'll be too busy with their own non-homogeneous mess as more and more people learn about REAL freedom through illicit Internet connections. That's a genie that once uncorked will NEVER go back in the bottle. INFORMATION is what will kill the current Chinese regime. And they know it.

Actually with the US dollar going down the toilet, NOW is the time to buy.

With capitalism going full tilt in China, freedoms are coming through Unions, not through political activists.

 

[ColinEssex]

The US should not be worried about China starting a nuclear war and lobbing missiles at them.

China won't lob nuclear missiles, they're too clever for that. It's only the Yanks that do stupid things like that.

China will infiltrate via the business routes and will gradually take over that way.
We all know that Bush is scared stiff of upsetting big business bosses, hence the non-interest in climate change in the USA. (the USA being the worlds worst polluter and they're darn proud of it)
The time will come when the USA's big bosses will be slitty eyed and will all be meeting in the local chinky and not the local hamburger stand.

Col