Country That is Worst Threat to World Peace?

um just asking but could someone explain what the difference is between Iraq=Material Breach and Israel-non-compliance? and why one means we can go to war and the other means?????

I don't discount at all our wielding of our unmatched economic power either ... it is part of our arsenal


Nobody else could have gotten away with it ... at least not as cleanly as we managed to. As to the incident itself, it was an inexcuseable, bone-headed, arrogant blunder (an entertainment not exclusive to The US) which could have been avoided by consulting the then-current local Telephone Directory. We screwed up. We do that a lot.


I am quite aware of and vexxed by our own inconsistencies. On this website and in other forums I have been quite critical of our stance re: Israel. I do not see myself inconsistent; our policies are often disturbingly inconsistent.


Most wars are.


Of course not ... to think so would be ludicrous. I do wish more folk would volunteer to be deputies, though.

Good article Walter. I have to ask, though ... do you discount the military capabilities of France, Germany, and Britain? I submit a consortuium of thos three alone should prove adequate to "Patrol" Europe without direct US participation. I feel it is not that EU/Non-US Nato is as helpless as it claims to be. It easy for them to come running to "Big Brother" rather than to themselves deal with problems in their own back yard. Somebody has to do it. They can. They won't, so we feel we must.


timber

Which country poses the greatest danger to world peace in 2003?

North Korea 8.3 %
Iraq 9.5 %
The United States 82.2 %


Total Votes Cast: 221671

Good question, dys ... but for one thing, Israel has not been threatened with military intervention to bring about their compliance with UN Resolutions. A few years back, Israel checked up and desisted from "Cleaning up the neighborhood" in the face of just such admonition.
The Middle East in general is a sore which refuses to heal. Personally, I would like to see a multi-national peacekeeping force with real teeth imposed on the Israeli's and their neighboring and co-domiciled foes, accompanied by stringent sanctions equitably applied to all belligerants in the region. That's another thread though.

In keeping with the "Peace Keeping Force" referrenced above, I am not unmindful that Pontius Pilate was Field Commander of The Roman Peace Keeping Force over there some time ago. Tthe core dissention in that part of the world goes back a while .... and likely will not go away next Tuesday. That bramble thicket has substantial roots and seems to thrive on even vigorous pruning ... damned inconvenient, and difficult to deal with. If it were on my farm, I imagine I'd be inclined to just burn it off, scrape it down a few feet, and truck in new topsoil. The World, however, is a much bigger farm ... pity.



timber

Due to what international agreement should that patrol have started?

Kinda figure that ought to be up to you guys, Walter ... ain't really our business.
Please just keep it civil, though, and don't kill too many folks. That tends eventually to upset us. In fact getting us that upset probably takes longer than it should.


timber

ok, one more of my silly (poet) questions WOMD- historically the long bow was a WOMD- gun powder muskets.canons became the new WOMD, of course the repeating rifle that Mr Lincoln feared as the new WOMD, Mustard gas etal of WWI on thru the A-bomb then the H-Bomb, Napalm, agent orange, smart bombs and all the death machines of new age technology BUT suddenly Sadaam has OMG WOMD and ergo must be blown away. oh yeah an i almost forgot Alfed Nobel manufactured his own brand of WOMD proclaiming that it was so devastating a WOMD that it would end all war forever. So my understanding is that we need to kill lots more people who have WOMD because we have even better WOMD.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, and whom called you dyslexic?

I disagree, dys. Historical WMDs may have included catapulting diseased carcasses over the walls of a besieged city, but The Stirrup, The Long Bow, the Roman Pilum, cannon, and precision weapons are not WMD. They are focussed in their effect, and while with increasing expense and complexity, the area of that focus may be sized variously, regardless the effect of conventional weapons, their "intended" use is against primarily military or militarily supportive assets. They may be and have been put to misuse, of course.
Chemical and biological agents provide little or no tactical advantage and offer substantial risk to freindly forces and to otherwise uninvolved non-combatants as well, in very indiscriminate fashion. They are nasty, but of little impact beyond inconvenience to a prepared modern military. Civilians are at horrendous risk. Bad guys, particularly crazy bad guys who have already used WMD against both civilian and military targets should not have them.

I don't think nukes need much discussion. They're nasty all around, for lots of reasons, some of them very long-term.



timber

War is Hell, there is not civil war. When you are dead - well, the things that duslexia is talking about were comments made by leaders of the era. Unless you are for population controllers - there is no valid reasoning for killing other people in wars. That is true of both sides. Now we have to convince the other side and let the events unfold.

yeah Timberlandko no argument from me and my feable rant is mostly about the constant talking heads/news persons using WOMD and MATERIAL BREACH as if they had a clue about what they are talking about. Sadaam is absolutely a menace to the world we live in, but he has not used his WOMD currently and when he did we looked the other way. the world as we know it is full of WOMD and i continue to believe that as long as the inspectors are there Sadaam is not going to use them.

Lets get some talk going also!

All the more reason to finally get off our National Ass and do something.
The Inspectors inhibit nothing, really; they are there at Saddam's sufferance, and really are but pawns ... potential hostages at great peril.


timber

Any one who wishes may draw inference of a Partisan Domestic Political Bias on my part from a reference in my earlier post.



timber

timber, not another PDPB from your. Aren't those harmful to the environment?

timber

Back to seriousness - the country that IMHO the biggest threat to world peace is China, may the dragon sleep!

China is coming to center stage, no doubt. She may be expected to attempt to upstage the other players.



timber

Currently, India/Pakistan is unbelievably close - much, much too close. What if countries start choosing up sides there?

China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Afganistan, Iran, Iraq, Seria, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Egypt - it is a big, big picture!