Gee, I didn’t know joking about a country’s military being small or nearly non-existent was such a horrific insult and “slagging a whole country”. I actually thought there was more to countries than their military.
You folks must really despise MAS*H! All they did was make fun of the US military. You should probably know the reruns are still being shown during the day. Check your listings for which stations to boycott.
I can still make fun of the French, though, right?
I agree, the UN should have taken the lead in military action. But it failed.
I regret to say that you must have Canada confused with Australia. I wish Canada had supported the US initiative.
Canada has had many NDP governments in the past, albeit provincial. Furthermore to suggest the “bush doctrine” as a precedent ignores Panama, Grenada, Germany, Vietnam , and Somalia.
Revtim: Though the 1998-2000 war didn’t get much press, Ethiopia and Eritrea’s armies were neither small nor nearly non-existent, and the casualties were very steep, estimated at 70,000-120,000 dead, most of them in 2000. From here:
So the problem is not your ignorance or casual dismissal of something which killed over 100,000 people, the problem is our lack of humor regarding war.
You might be the first person in history to reference the TV show MASH to defend what you said. I sure hope you are the last.
Yup, nobody ever jokes about wars. I was the first.
Oh the Dominican Republic. Yes, we sent 300 poor souls to uncertain destiny, but like many other nations we were somewhere between threatened and bribed to do so. Our little half island is in a very sad state of affair after having sort of elected the biggest moron ever sitting on a president’s chair.
To make the story short:
We are broke.
Our president’s closest aides have been linked with the trade of certain illegal substances. Uncle Sam is pissed off.
We are broke.
We are broke and need to enter certain treaties with the US.
We are broke and need Uncle Sam to help us bail us out.
We are very broke.
Our presidumb, against the will of the majority agreed to send 300 of our elite soldiers (mind you I don’t know what that means) and please Uncle Sam. In exchange Uncle Sam promised to put our boys away from any possible danger.
A couple of weeks ago our boys faced an attack. Nobody was heart and facing local criticism His Dumbness promptly announced our boys would be back home in February. Last week a Washington envoy visiting us expressed in no uncertain terms that HRM Bush II expected our troops to stay until August as agreed.
So yes, count us in, I suppose. Like most of those countries the people had no saying. That’s how democracy works.
>>>Nobody was heart and facing…
Hurt, not heart.
Carry on.
This is very embarrassing, in a very odd sort of way, Mighty_Girl. Until you told us, I hadn’t the slightest idea that any soldiers from the Dominican Republic were in harm’s way. It is disturbing to be in a position to apologize for a foreign policy one disagrees with so strenuously.
Considering your peoples past history with the US, if you look upon us with generosity, it says far more for your character than it does for ours.
With machetes, no doubt.
Are you sure you’re talking about the Dominican Republic? 'Cuz that sounds awfully familiar.
Careful! This Board may be getting read in Athens!
[collateral rant on nationalistic obnoxiousness]
And of course all references to a historically great Macedonia are exclusively copyrighted by Greece. “Macedonia”, “Alexander”, “Philippos”, etc. are registered trademarks of Greece. There is no such country as Macedonia nor such people as Macedonians, just some place called “FYROM”. All nations before calling themselves what they want must first clear it through Greece, because… well… again, why the fuck does anyone care what Greece thinks?
[/collateral rant on nationalistic obnoxiousness]
Sofa King and JRDelirious, good show!
You won’t take that from us!
A bilateral free trade pact and access to your steel markets that your congress appears to be close to renegging on, thank-you very much.
If you’re asking us to sell our souls, is it too much to expect that you follow through on your end of the agreements?
Well, what the fuck else could the United States government possibly use tax payer dollars for? Don’t worry, Uncle Sam will be along shortly to piss away his money paying off your credit card bills.
The Long Road
Hmm, let’s see. It comes with a price dear. Be sure that our big brother to the north has never, ever, given us anything without something in exchange.
Obviously HRM Bush II thought that 300 young men and indebtness for years to come is good enough.
BTW, it isn’t the US exactly who is bailing us out but the IMF. See above.
With the only exception of illegal substances, you can say the same thing regarding El Salvador Mighty_Girl!
I mean, El Salvador is doing better than many other nations. Mostly due to the money relatives that moved out (because of the the civil war) send or invert back to the old country. Future visa extensions and residency for former illegals enter in the picture.
Also, the right wing party in power owes their current clout, to the support the US gave to the then repressive governments during the civil war. Sending troops is mostly paying back the US. However, the president of El Salvador first offered 100 soldiers, but they were supposed to be only construction specialists! Later, even congress complained when they turned to be 700 elite force soldiers! Needless to say, the decision was already made without consulting the people.
On top of that, critics in El Salvador have pointed out that Flores is expecting to get support from the US to become the next Secretary General of the OAS.
As I said before, no bribes are needed to become part of the coalition of the willing, the example of “pork” in American politics will do, this a case were pork is becoming international.
In the case of my country I was a little surprised we didn´t end up in the Willing group, after all W lent us a big hand of a billion and a half bucks to sort out a grim financial debacle in 2002.
However, our Minister for Foreign Affairs is known to have some deeply engraved ideals about eh UN (and man, I do respect him so much for that) and firmly oposed the position of the USA without a security council approval, came wind or high water (that´s how the saying goes?)
However, a bit later it came out to light the sort of, ejem, negotiations that I think were involved in the Coallition of the Willing (it´s just me or the name sounds so stupid?) Situation, the USA doens´t want to touch the International Criminal Court with a 10 foot stick; passes a memo to Latin American countries basically saying that they want them to sign a paper granting the USA immunity against it; the catch: sign or military aid is withdrawn.
Personally speaking if that´s the kind of conditions the USA bases their aids I rather not have them, thank-you-very-much-sir.
Seems that the powers over here, in a seizure of sanity, agreed with me and kindly rejected the “offer”. Military aid gone, big deal it wasn´t more than a very few millions in equipment and training; we still are able to fend of the attacks of… hmmm… give me a second; heh funny, seems that the military over here haven´t flexed much muscle in the last 150 years (here, abroad they do UN pace keeping missinos, truth be told)
The comments of the US embassador deserve a little highlight, when asked about the whole matter he let slip a little comment about how US investors would be worried about a deterioration of the security because of the withdrawn aid… HAW HAW! are we for some scaremongering or what, clown.
Coallition of the willing my arse.
Multilateral war my uncle´s arse; as if the USA sat by Latvia, Mongolia and the rest and said “OK boys, what do we do about Iraq?”
Phewww… I needed a little venting.
I gave you the benefit of the doubt, but to break it down for you: Getting the “joke” requires one to be ignorant of the fact that Ethiopia and Eritrea fought one of the bloodiest and most brutal wars on the planet in the last decade. To illustrate, if I were to say
It wouldn’t be a very funny joke, now would it? I’d imagine it becomes progressively less so if one knows people who lost loved ones in the war.