As long as time doesn't stop then neither will history. For example look at the clock. You will see the second hand move and the second it passed is now the past. A part of history. If time stops then you can't add more to the past.
It decreases the likelihood of financial meltdown in theory. We do not know if one country is more corrupt than the next. It increases trade to the countries that share the same currency. Besides if this currency becomes too strong, what will happen to the countries who didn't sign up to snare the global currency? They will collapse because their currency will be too weak.
A global language will also never happen.
History cannot end unless time itself ends.
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Before we get a global language I would first rather see a global currency. Not everybody can speak the same language because of differences in culture, but countries with similar economies would be able to have the same currency. Of course this means if one country suffers from inflation then they all will, causing a global meltdown worse than the one now.
It's not just Lil Wayne- all rappers aren't good. Rap music in general is bad and rappers do little for society.
"An army must eat, breath, sleep and fight as a team. All that individuality stuff is a bunch of crap."- Patton.
The commander is responsible for the actions of their troops because they are the ones giving the orders.
It really depends on the situation because warfare/ and foreign policy have changed dramatically during the last century.
For the general infantryman i would say no. Understanding the enemy is the job of intelligence, translators, interpretors and special forces.
Korea was not a failure because we stopped the communists from taking over the south.
Vietnam we had the right idea but implemented the idea the wrong way.
I do not view Iraq and Afghanistan as a failure because we have suffered less casualties than the enemy and in Iraq we protected our interests and in Afghanistan we are slowly winning over the villagers and getting them to help us fight the Taliban.
"History doesn't repeat itself, at best it sometimes rhymes."
The farming industry has several problems
First of all the food company is in control of the farmer and therefore the farmer makes a very small profit.
The way things are farmed in the US needs to change. We feed our animals corn which is not all that good for them because they aren't meant to digest it. The US also grows too much corn and the government actually has to pay the farmers to not grow it. But they can't really do that because most of our food is a bi product of corn.
The government should step in and impose new regulations on food companies. But this is very hard to do because we need large scale industrial farming to cope with our growth.
I guess so.
I personally have mixed feelings about Vietnam. The plan was poorly executed. But I also believe that communism was bad. I know that we never could have won that war and Nixon new that too and that's why he started Vietnamization. We could still effectively kill the enemy while leaving the country.
We could also debate the food/farming industry.
So is this the end of our debate? We have seemed to reach a common ground.
I don't think they try to understand us- they make assumptions about us and I guess we do too.
We had the right idea with Vietnam, but it was poorly executed. But we did what we were supposed to do there and that was delay the communist takeover for as long as possible.
There are some enemies that can't be understood. This is especially true when you are fight a guerrilla war. Understanding your enemy is only a small part in war, but it is important.
I believe that the Taliban or Al- Qaeda can't be understood because they refuse to understand us.
We have already agreed that the sad truth about war is that it stimulates economy.
I have not yet been to war, but I have read memoirs. I have not yet read "The Things They Carry"
It seems there are two different purposes of learning another culture.
1. To establish a peaceful understanding and relationship
2. To find your enemies weakest points and strike them there.
"The point of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other poor dumb bastard die for his."-Patton
War is not about learning another culture.
I assume you have read the Art of War?
In all fairness the Middle East doesn't understand our culture either. I think think teaching each soldier Arabic would be good but not now because according to Obama the war is diminishing, but that would have bee good at the beginning. Bush didn't see the war as a chance to communicate and understand another culture he saw a threat to our interests and our security.
I agree that food/farming has gotten off topic
Imperialism doesn't always mean declaring war on another country. Some people consider it imperialistic that we have bases and troops in Japan and in South Korea but they are our allies and want our protection. We don't only fight in the middle east we build schools and distribute basic supplies to civilians and still try to be respectful of the peoples cultures. You imply that we are like Russia when they invaded the middle east.
As long as Al-Qaeda and the Taliban continue to kill innocent people then we cannot just sit back and let them do so.
Wars do stimulate economy. I respect your refusal to disregard money for human life so I won't press the issue.
As much as I hate to admit it the Israeli's have one of the best intelligence agencies in the world. Maybe there was no better time for them to get him. I doubt we will ever know the best time because I don't think the Israeli's will show us their records.
Sadly the food companies control the farmers and if the farmers don't comply with what the food companies want then they will get sacked. ( Food Inc.) If you want to change agriculture then first you will need to change how the food companies operate. Right now the food companies want to ban organic foods because it brings in a profit to the farmer instead of the food companies.
What do you believe imperialism. I think it's perspective. Do you consider the fact that we have bases in South Korea, Japan and various European countries imperialistic? Don't you think that would put us in a better position to take over? They like our presence there but people in the middle east are blinded by the lies of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The people in Afghanistan didn't even know what 9/11 was because the Taliban lied to them. The Taliban have a huge influence in Afghanistan.
We could easily produce as much as much as China. Exports are still a big part of the US economy. In 2008 exports accounted for 800 billion dollars. All it would take is if China decided to start a war. China is also invested in many world markets.
In an urban area population density is much greater, so of course there is a greater number of casualties. The part that upsets me is that he could easily kill even more innocent people in an even more dehumanizing way. Statistically civilian deaths are unavoidable in an urban area.
We should get to Vietnam another time :)
In all fairness I believe you're wrong too. :) Kapeesh
More or less I agree. The Iraq war should have lasted no longer than four years, but as you know I still think the invasion was justified. Korea was not a failure. We successfully prevented the communist takeover of South Korea. If we maintained a police force in Vietnam like we do in Korea, then we could have had to Vietnam's. ( but that's another debate for another time)
It won't die completely because there are some things that oil makes better like valve oil. I've tried organic valve oil for my trumpet but it just doesn't work as well as my petroleum based oil. Farmers don't really invent things. And where will they get the money? They won't want another loan.And if they don't do what the food companies want then they get sacked and end up with nothing. ( Food Inc)
Sorry I didn't mean to imply that all governments are equally corrupt. They're not.
It's not only a symbol of power but a chance to help poorer countries. You can give locals jobs since slavery is no longer legal. You can build schools and hospitals and provide health care.
The people that don't hate us aren't insurgents they are just people who live in fear of and are constantly blackmailed by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
I find it sickening and hateful to be at the mercy of China because we import most of our goods from them.
So he was attacked because because he was a high ranking official in a terrorist organization?
I did trust the Bush administration to a certain extent. I don't trust any government/ administration fully. I can also recognize his "bad" decisions but overall I think the good out way the bad.
He protected our economy. There are actually Al-Qaeda operatives in Iraq. Recently, a top Al-Qeada official was killed in Iraq and Biden called it a "Devastating blow" They are still in Afghanistan and Pakistan and now in Yemen and Somalia. Iraq may not be the most influential OPEC member, but our economy is based on infinite growth and infinite resources which means that we need all the resources we can get. Because our demand for oil greatly out ways our supply even a little pinch will be felt with a bigger impact stateside.
The oil industry will never die because everything depends on it. I agree it will diminish, but it won't be gone completely. we have found no other way to make plastics and they come mostly from oil. Agriculture depends on oil because all those machines run on oil and fertilizer comes for oil. Farmers will continue to go this way because they barely make enough money to be self sufficient. They have to get loans for the land and machines. There's no way they want another loan worth thousands of dollars so they can get some solar panels of wind turbines. Even with the tax credit from the government, it will still be expensive for them. Besides not all green tech is good. Electric cars that run on lithium ion batteries - the lithium has to be mined and mining is environmentally unfriendly, plus the cars have to be plugged in and electricity itself isn't clean. Even in California (where I'm from) most of the electricity comes from hydro-electric. That's not very good because it means damming rivers which hurts local fish populations. California has no major free flowing rivers.
All governments are corrupt. They use a democracy in which the Iraqi people vote for their leader. Saddam's killings aren't as much as they seem because not all of the bodies have been found yet.
"Imperialism (even economic) is bad" I don't see how it is bad. Controlling territories is a symbol of power and that power grants resources and expanded borders.
I agree that health care should be free ,but if it's going to cost America trillions of dollars it's not worth it. His stimulus package alone cost 787 billion dollars. not to mention the massive loans to banks and big corporations. Where is the money going to come from- new and increased taxes, more expensive products from companies and borrowed money from China. :(
Our soldiers are still people and they have opinions. Even before the US entered the middle east the insurgents hated us. They have always hated us and always will.
When you say the attack was conducted by the Israeli Army- did they conduct the attack on Palestine or Iraq?
All politicians believe that they are doing the right thing and they all lie.
I'd rather have a president with a strong foreign policy, strong defense policy and America's best interests at heart.
I want to thank you for a well thought debate.
It was a good decision because it protected our oil. Plus under Bush he protected us. After 9/11 there were no other attacks on US soil.
Saying that the oil industry will die is a bunch of crap because everything we do or own is a bi-product of oil. Even green technology comes from oil because it's made in factories and factories use machines that run on oil and other fossil fuels.
Saddam had threatened to cut off our oil supply and oil is the fundamentals of our economy so if he did cut it off our economy would have felt the cut in a negative way.
We overthrew their government and put in a US friendly government that would continue to supply us with oil. Plus Saddam was the leader of a corrupt regime and he was responsible for genocide. He was going to get screwed over sooner of later and it happened to be the US that did it.
Obama isn't exactly doing anything to get us out of debt in fact he is spending even more money than Bush. Most of the soldiers over there believe they are doing the right thing. The insurgents deserve no mercy because they seek to destroy America and the innocent people die because the insurgents refuse to distinguish themselves from civilians.
if we we didn't trust any politicians then we would have no government because they all lie. They say what people want to hear to get elected and then once elected they do their own thing. Obama has lied because he's a politician- it's part of the job.
Going to the middle east was one of his best decisions. you are blinded by the fact that he told a little lie to go there, but he's a politician and all politicians lie.
Even though I'm from San Francisco, I'm a Republican and think Bush was a good president.
Bush had the right idea with the Iraq invasion- he prevented an economic meltdown. The fundamentals of our economy is oil and where does oil come from? The Middle East including Iraq. everything we own or do is a bi-product of oil. Even green technology. The items we associate as green come from factories that run on electricity and where does most electricity come from coal or oil.
In the 1990's Saddam invaded and tried to take over Kuwait- an oil wealthy nation that was/is friendly to the US. We knew that Saddam would then cut off our oil supply from Kuwait which would then effect our gas prices and our economy.
In 2001 9/11 happened and Bush lied and said Saddam was behind it because that was the only way he would get the majority vote for declaration of war. Saddam again threatened to cut off our oil supply and we told him to step down or face a military strike. He refused and we took him down and set up a US friendly government that would continue to supply oil.
Some may ask why not just use a new alternative energy? The answer is look at how long it took to build up the oil industry to where it is now and money. Green tech is expensive.
Bush knew that oil is running out and in the not-so-distant future there will probably be an even bigger war over the last wells of oil. We built three of the biggest military bases in the Middle East and we built them to last so even if all our troops come home we have a foundation for a strong defensive position when the the time comes.
Bush also took the first major step in fighting terrorism- he chose to destroy terrorism at its roots.
Remember that "what is popular is not always right and what is right is not always popular."
It seems to me that people are blinded by the fact that he told a lie. What can you expect he's a politician all politicians lie and he lied for the good of the country.
