a quick reply -- FawnDoo's Cavalcade of Whimsy

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 00:44:44 03/20/03 Thu
Author: Goktimus Prime
Subject: a quick reply
In reply to: Perceptor II 's message, "I can hope." on 19:10:22 03/19/03 Wed

Not in this case. You're applying democratic standards to a non-democratic situation.

From what I understand of the situation, serving in the military in Iraq is something that you are more likely to be strongarmed into than volunteer for. I have read reports of it being made clear what would happen to your family if you do not enlist.

I do think that given half a chance a lot of the Iraqi soldiers will surrender (It apparently happened in the first Gulf War) in the hope that Saddam is deposed and something more tolerable put in it's place. Whether that happens I can't predict.

That's a good point. I heard on the news this morning that 17 Iraqi soldiers have already surrendered to Coalition forces.

The problem there is I don't think any country, or group of countries can afford to have the only world superpower left as a rogue state. There'll be griping and whining from many of them, but I can't see the US being made a pariah state for long by most of the rest of the "Western world". The Middle East is a whole different issue.

Correction: The United States is not the only world superpower left. The People's Republic of China is still a superpower with the world's largest army and fastest growing economy. The US is the world's largest and most dominant superpower, but it would be incorrect to say that it is the *only* superpower. The fact that China has a formidable military and thriving economic growth is the primary reason that the United States won't attack them. As I mentioned before, the Chinese government is guilty of atrocious violations of human rights. Look at their persecution against the Falungong movement as an example.
As I mentioned last year, they've even gone as far as capturing women and electrocuting their genitals for their beliefs. Certainly not actions that are very condusive to ideals of liberty and freedom. But China is one of the few countries in the world -- perhaps the only country in the worl - that could single-handedly sustain a prolonged war against the United States and stand a chance of defeating the Americans. Sure, the Americans have the most technologically advanced army in the world, but the Chinese army compensate with vastly superior numbers - and as mentioned before, China is experiencing an economic boom, whilst we're watching the US economy slow down with a lot big corporations like MCI Worldcom and Emron, taking belly-flops. If virtually any other country captured an American aircraft, you'd bet that the US would demand that piece of military hardware returned. Yet when the Chinese capture one, the US merely make a polite request and do nothing whilst the Chinese casually tear the thing apart, analyse it and return what's left in pieces. *NO* other country could get away with doing that to the United States and get away with it.

But I digress...

The United States is certainly the most dominant member of the United Nations -- and as such, we may not see the US and its Coalition Allies become classified as a rogue or see the US President persecuted for his war crimes.
A fringe benefit that comes with being the richest country in the world.

Mmm... political corruption fresh...

Eep! Gotta get back to work now!

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

One Superpower -- WarCore, 04:15:07 03/20/03 Thu
- what defines a superpower -- Goktimus Prime, 08:01:44 03/20/03 Thu
  - So you also disagreed -- WarCore, 13:15:41 03/20/03 Thu
  - Uh...like WarCore said... -- Perceptor II, 19:48:14 03/20/03 Thu
One Superpower -- WarCore, 12:56:35 03/20/03 Thu
Hmmm -- Icon, 16:34:18 03/20/03 Thu
- superpowers -- Goktimus Prime, 15:02:53 03/21/03 Fri
  - ::sigh:: -- WarCore, 16:38:31 03/21/03 Fri
    - Superpower(s) -- FawnDoo, 09:44:04 03/24/03 Mon
      - This is a dumb thing to argue about -- X, 23:21:21 03/24/03 Mon
        Word. (nt) -- Motocron, 02:02:56 03/25/03 Tue
        moot issue -- Goktimus Prime, 10:15:53 03/25/03 Tue
        No, it is not a dumb thing to argue about -- FawnDoo, 10:20:30 03/25/03 Tue
        But he wasn't saying to ignore the definition. -- Motocron, 20:34:23 03/25/03 Tue
        Of superpowers and dictionaries -- Perceptor II, 15:10:10 03/26/03 Wed