Just out of curiosity, what is your country?
Don’t read too much into the question, I’m just curious about the different defensive policies.
Finland. We share a loooooong land border with Russia. And only have a population of 5 million people or so to defend it.
you forgot to sign of with USA! USA! USA!
you know what? I’ll agree with torpor beast… and add that the people like you are the reason some Europeans actively dislike Americans. (ftr. I’m not one of them)
Especially the Canadian ones.
Now that’s just hilarious. All the jingoist rants usually follow the same template, so I’d tuned out by the time he got to the Canada bit. 
you’re not the only one that happened to:)
Finland! Hah! No fucking wonder you didn’t sign the treaty.
I wouldn’t want the treaty either if I was a Finn. As an American, we don’t like the treaty mainly because it will neuter our infantry (we do seem to fight a lot of wars). But you, as a Finn, looking at that big Soviet Bear[sup]*[/sup]… no fucking wonder you planted land mines. Hah!
I’m not laughing at you, Torpor Beast. I’m laughing because I forgot about the position Finland’s in. Your national sovereignty could very well depend on land mines.
*For those who will point out that their not “soviets” any more, shut the fuck up. The Finns planted most of those mines when the Russians were soviet, and I can’t blame the Finns for not trusting the current Russian kleptocracy.
I have to add that the “You thankless Europeans” rants sound really funny to many Europeans, since they tend to ignore completely the fact that Europe is a collection of different countries with very different fates after WWII.
Finland for example fought on the side of the Axis countries, and allied itself with Germany. If we didn’t, “we’d all be speaking Russian over here”, as they love to say. Many European countries did end up under Soviet rule until the turn of 1990s. About a quarter of the German population included. Poland, Yugoslavia, Hungary etc.
Not that constanze has any better grasp of history.
I have a Russian co-worker, and he’s a cool guy. As are all the Russians I’ve personally talked with. That doesn’t stop me from being surprised at what weird shit the Russian politicians manage to come up with.
To be honest, I’ve had the exact same experience with the Americans in the past ten years. 
You know what? Since USA is the lone superpower left (until China catches up), we get to decide what tools we need as the world’s policeman.
If not for us, right now, China would own Taiwan, Iraq would own Kuwait (from the first gulf war) and maybe Saudi Arabia by now too, North Korea would probably have squished South Korea (although that one would be closer than people think), and there’d be a hell of a lot more pirates in the gulf of Aden. Plus it’s even money the Soviets would have dominated most of Europe except maybe France and Britian.
I’ve been involved in military programs for 15 years, all kinds, all services. If you knew the precautions they take, the money they spend in stuff like chem demil, nuclear protocols, etc., it would boggle your mind. We go out of our way to protect the good guys (us and them), compared to others. The value to protecting our people that the mines bring far outweighs the costs.
It’s like nuclear weapons: not everyone is equal, despite what you hear from the panty-wearing peacenik crowd. I trust America to handle them responsibly. I don’t trust Iraq or Iran or Pakistan, or even Israel. I hope this paragraph is not a threadjack, sry if it is.
If the Pentagon says they need mines as part of that strategy, then I believe them. Thank God Obama didn’t knuckle under to the pussies like he has done on other issues.
Good post Bryan
Under Bush?
Not a chance:
Ousted Minot commander Westa to retire
more:
General: Minot wing improved, but not enough
Maybe things’ll improve under Obama, but there’s no call for anyone to rest easy.
As soon as the military actually says they don’t need a new weapons system, or says we could use less troops , I will listen to them. The only military brass that tells the truth are the retired ones, assuming they are not working for defense contractors. The active ones are trying to accumulate power, get promoted and to build a huge retirement. They always want more troops. they always will. There is no reason to include them in discussions. You know what they will say.
We also know that the defense contractors exert incredible power. They are gobbling up so much of our money that it should be against the law.
You actually heard of North Korea, right? I mean, the concept is not completely alien to you, I trust.
Good thing Australia doesn’t need landmines, don’t have to bitch about this crap. Why Americans and Europeans get all emotional and whiny about stuff like this is beyond me.
Afaik they’re ok as long as you don’t use a tripwire to set them off.
When Sweden signed the treaty we renamed our version and changed the regulations so you can’t use the tripwire that’s included in the box. :rolleyes:
I thought your defence plans mainly consisted of everyone grabbing a rifle and heading into the trees, White Death style.
It’s more the loudness, crassness, and your tendency to Oprah-ise everything.
Most of us like you though, we just can’t believe you re-elected Bush.
I’m pretty glad he didn’t sign them. This treaty banned marked, fenced landmine fields. Fields that don’t pose any danger to anyone unless they’re stupid enough to jump a fence that says “WARNING: MINEFIELD” in the native tongue (and presumably English, because everyone speaks that…).
Those fields aren’t used for the mass murder of children, they’re used to funnel troops. Those mines are already easily detectable (unlike the old ones), and very detailed in their placement.
Well so far we’ve had sneering jingoistic explosive-loving Americacentric outdated Europhobic blather from…
wait for it…
“A Monkey With a Gun”
and…
“Mr. Smashy”
Who says Americans can’t take the piss out of themselves? Who says they have no self awareness? Who says they have no ability to step out of their exceptionalist fantasies and see themselves as the rest of the world sees them?
(ftr it’s places like the SDMB that showed me just how many US citizens there are who don’t fall for all that imperialist crap. Thankyou all.)
What the heck does that mean?
I am curious where you folks who have…unusual ideas…about us hail from. 
Well, there’s no large areas in Finland that are mined. The landmines are in stockpiles somewhere waiting for deployment should the need arise.
Finland does intend to sign the Ottawa treaty in 2012 and destroy the stockpiles by 2016. Link. Link.. Those stockpiles are getting pretty old and would have to have been replaced soon anyway.
Finland still has cluster bombs and have refused to ban them. Link. Link.