OK, lets double it, and say only half the Americans in Guam are of European ancestry, and the number of Americans is 15% instead of 7%, a highly improbable concentration of African and Native Americans. How does that significantly change the validity of my remarks? Namely, that only a very small minority of Guam’s population are descended from ancestors who ever lived in and reflected the culture of the 50 US states
Honest question, because I do not know. I’ve never been to Guam (and, alas, likely never will…)
How prevalent is “American” (mainland mainstream) culture there? Does the average guy watch U.S. tv shows and read U.S. magazines, or is there a local culture that is largely outside the U.S. mainstream?
I’m curious, specifically because of your phrasing, “…reflected the culture…” How much does a typical resident of Guam “reflect the culture” of the U.S.?
When I was there in the 80’s I’d say that, culturally, Guam was closer to Japan than the US. A lot of the signage at things like restaurants and the like were in Japanese. The locals often spoke Japanese better than English, at least at the smaller shops and such. Even at the tourist areas, it seemed more geared towards Japanse tourists than Americans…which makes sense, at least at the time, as a lot of Japanese went there for vacations. It was a pretty cool place, though, and I really liked being on the island (I spent about 2 months there)…it’s actually where I learned to dive.
And this was quite a while ago, so things might have changed, so grain of salt.
Who, exactly, is meant by “Guam”, in the question “What has Guam done”?. In terms of sovereignty, Washington acts on behalf of Guam, with no Guamanian advice or consent, except maybe leash laws or parking regulations… The people of Guam have no collective power to do anything. They can choose, individually or collectively, to shake their fist at NK, but that has no more effect than their choice to boo a bad sports team. Guam is one of the few places left on earth still ruled by an absentee despot.
In terms of Guam’s “beingness”, what exactly can or could or might or should Guam do, to anybody?
Cool! I would not have guessed this; thank you for the insight!
Also nifty!
I seem to remember a little something that happened in the early 1950s…
As far as more recent history…oh jeez. Read a book or something, will ya?
An attack on Guam is an attack on US soil populated by US citizens. That’s the “propaganda” value of that threat. In theory, a missile launch against the Aleutians would be easier and more likely to succeed, but they’re almost unpopulated, so the threat becomes more symbolic than practical.
I don’t know if NK’s intel has gotten better, or if they’re just lucky, but Politico points out a very practical reason to target Guam: it’s the logistical linchpin of any kind of air war against any target in the Western Pacific, including NK. Take Anderson AFB out, along with its theater-wide stockpiles of munitions, and the US probably can’t prosecute a Asian air war against anyone for more than a very few days before running out of ammo.
Just an aside…
what do you call the People of Guam?
Guamanian?
Guamese?
Guamite?
Guamish?
Guamanian.
Not necessarily. Pearl Harbor was not an attack on US soil populated by US citizens. It was an attack on a clearly defined military target, a US naval base, at which the entire Pacific Fleet had been assembles as an announced threat to enforce an oil blockade of Japan. Few, if any, American civilian personnel were harmed at Pearl Harbor, except those physically present at the military installation or struck by mis-aimed ordinance.
If N K’s intent is to diminish the attack capacity of a threatening Anderson AFB in order to achieve a military objective, it would not be an attack on “US soil populated by US citizens”, but an objective to remove a threatening military force from a forward offensive position.
Really neither here nor there, but I had instructor in the Marine Corps who was from Guam. He proudly announced one day that GUAM stands for “Give Us American Money.”
Also neither here nor there, he was busted to corporal for checking for properly cleared weapons by sticking the muzzle in his face and pulling the trigger.
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:eek:
I currently live on Guam. Most of the locals (Don’t call them Guamanians; Chamorros hate that) are Americanized. The tourist area in Tumon is dominated by Japanese tourists. There has been an influx of Eastern European tourists in the last three years, but most tourists are still Japanese. Once you get away from Tumon, however the island is mostly Americanized. It is still a really cool place and also where I learned to dive.
Locals prefer Chamorro. Others that reside on Guam might technically be Guamanian, but I’d never say that on the island.
Well Guam is essentially one big military base for the American armed forces, which once ran a genocidal campaign of carpet bombing Korea’s civilian population centres which destroyed most of the buildings in the country and a significant portion of the population.
Bob. It’s easier.
Hmm, hyperbolic, historically inaccurate and insulting to the inhabitants of Guam - all in the same post. Wow.
For the record, the casualty breakdownin the Korean War, broken by military vs. civilian, is:
I excluded the US and China from these figures as there were no civilian casualties from these nations, at least not any unrelated to the war effort (defense contractors, REMF’s, etc).
The civilian killed and missing rate for both countries was well below 1%, hardly “genocide” (1MM out of a population if 21mm for S. Korea, 600K from 9MM for N. Korea). North Korea killed 1.5 civilians for every military death, South Korea killed .21 civilians for every 1 military.
As to the OP - because Guam is the closest US ally apart, from S. Korea, that N. Korea could reach at this time. They are merely broadcasting an expansion of missile range.
You might want to get some new batteries for your calculator.
You mean well below…10%, not 1%, right?
Guam nor the United States did anything to North Korea besides stopping them from enslaving South Korea.
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Oops! The calculator is fine, new batteries are needed for my typing fingers.
For the sake of accuracy, the actual percentages of civilian population killed were 4.76% for S Korea and 6.67% for N. Korea.