I can think of at least five other countries where people call it soccer; Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. (The Japanese word is more or less “SAH-ka,” derived from “soccer.”) That’s about 200 million more people in the “soccer” camp and a fair amount of industrial and military might for the right side.
And of course, in some languages the word doesn’t sound like either “soccer” or “football.”
While the correct Spanish word is “balompié”, nobody calls it that. It’s “futbol”.
So there, add however many million people speak Spanish to the It’s *not *Soccer team.
You dont need to lock it down, just close it for commerce.
Declan
Shut down commerce with our largest trading partner? Yeah, that’ll fly.
Napoleon tried to shut down trade with Great Britain. HE couldn’t do it (in fact, his soldiers were often wearing uniforms made from British textiles). What makes us think WE could?
I’d LOVE to know what could be so important that we’d go to war with Europe and cripple all our foreign commerce!
I cannot imagine a scenario which would lead to war between the EU and the USA. What would be the point? Also, given the level of technology that both parties have, there would be massive destruction within hours of a war declaration. If nuclear weapons were deployed, probably 100’s of millions of deaths.
I know, most wars are not rational, but a war between the USA and the EU would take the cake for stupidity.
There’s a lot less unity between European nations than folks here think. In a US Vs. EU conflict, Scandinavia and most of eastern Europe will probably remain neutral. I know I’m not keen to die in a war for western European interests. And if there’s ever a war, it’s probably between the US and the big EU nations. Germany, Britain and France can go screw themselves.
Yes but before we screw ourselves we’ll screw you first:p
Out of curiosity, where are you located? Because from your username, I’d just assumed you lived in Greektown. With those tasty gyros…
Anyway, I’d assume that the Big 3 (UK, FRA, and GER) would be doing most of the military heavy lifting anyway, so it may not behoove you to turn your back on your EU brethren. You’re going to get economically screwed either way, so you may as well stick with the devil you know.
I never said anything about Spain or people who speak Spanish. I always assumed they called soccer “futbol.”
One thing must remain clear, *nobody *comes out of this unscrewed.
You’re probably right. The British would be and are traitors working against the common interest for what American-based corporate multi-nationals pay them. Without them, the EU would not have accepted the ‘East’ yet,and and would be far more a political Federation. As the Yanks are so fond of saying, without them, we might be speaking Russian (and I bet the Soviets used to say that without them the East would be speaking English). It never occurs to either that we might have our own ideas that could have ended with the East seeing how far Sovietism system had drifted from Socialist ideals and presenting a strong alternative that kicked American corporate colonialism out and inspired the Soviet bloc to demand real Socialism 20 years before they sold out to black marketeers. The last thing the Soviets or Americans wanted was independence from their world-domination ideas. That is what the rest of the world wants and Europe could have led without British-American sabotage.
I’m pretty sure he thinks there’s a point in there somewhere.
Yeah, I would like to hear some elaboration on that. There are interesting snippets of truncated, non-intuitive ideas but I just can’t piece it together. I have never heard of the concept of British-American sabotage for example.
The question to me is, what would be the reason for the war, and where would we be fighting?
Unless the US has a very good reason to invade and occupy some part of the EU, or vice-versa, the war would pretty much be fought in some proxy region- Middle East, Africa, South America(?), or it would strictly be a naval and air war.
All scenarios would have a heavy naval component, and the US Navy would almost certainly come out on top. The only EU nation with ANY naval combat experience since WWII is the UK, and even if they did side with the EU (unlikely, IMO), their navy would probably be overwhelmed by sheer numbers, but would go down fighting for sure. The Spanish, French and Italian navies would pretty much not put up a fight even close to what the Brits would put up, and even at that, a couple of carrier battle groups would probably take care of them.
On the ground it looks pretty even on paper in terms of weapons systems, but the US has two things going for them that the Europeans can’t touch.
The US has a highly developed and experienced logistical capability that the Europeans don’t. As in, the US can get a million men somewhere, ready to fight in a matter of a few months, with a smaller number in terms of days and/or weeks.
The US has recent combat experience. This is a HUGE advantage- American officers and men are combat tested and experienced- many Colonels and Generals have fought in several wars by this point, and a huge chunk of the active, reserve and National Guard personnel have deployed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan.
This means that the US has soldiers that can fight better than the Europeans, and furthermore, the US can deploy and support them effectively on a different continent.
Ya we came that close to shutting down commerce in the aftermath of 911 and we were allies. The point was that its not that long before Ottawa caves in, perhaps a week at most , when if your going for the big kahuna with the EU, your industry is changing over anyways.
Declan
Why don’t we try it the other way? What happens if the EU declares humanitarian war on the USA, to bring us up to their noble standard of living? There’s the various US military bases, and there’s the American Continent.
What happens first? What happens next? Does Canada go along? Do they assault through Mexico? What about the 'Graf?
It goes in stages. First we try to insert an alien spy into your highest ranks and have him introduce unemployment benefits and welfare reforms and other elements of civilisation. He is called Obama. If this doesn’t work then we bomb the shit out of you for your own good and until you accept six weeks summer vacation and 60% tax rates.
I’m not bothering to read all of this very silly thread, but everybody seems to be underestimating what the Germans can do when they put their minds to it. Look what it took to bring them down last time. As Tom Lehrer put it:
Once all the Germans were war-like and mean
But that couldn’t happen again
We taught them a lesson in nineteen eighteen
And they’ve hardly bothered us since then
The EU, if it’s prepared.
As long as you throw in more Swedish exchange students, I surrender.
It’s not about turning you back to them per se, more a matter of self preservation. Historically, small nations have not fared well when getting involved in wars the big ones are waging. The best chance for survival is usually to try and stay outside of the conflict as long as possible.