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I've just seen the second Republican debate (watch it here) and it was such a desastrous display of crazy idiots without a clue that it shocked me way more than I thought it could. Whoever said they would torture suspects most brutally got the most applause. Only one candidate thought that US foreign policy might have had something to do with 9/11. And they seem to believe what they're saying, so it's even worse than in the final years of the Soviet Union.
In the end, I was only waiting to hear this sentence: "We are determined to defend our life with all means without consideration for whether the surrounding world sees the necessity for this fight or not." Because, as you might know, the next sentence was "Thus, Total War is now required."

/ in case that doesn't ring a bell.

"If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles." Sun Tzu

by Turambar (sersguenda at hotmail com) on Fri May 18th, 2007 at 03:35:45 AM EST
On some other blogs, your'd immediately be bashed on the head with the club of Godwyn's Law...

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Fri May 18th, 2007 at 04:21:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I know, but I couldn't help it (it's Godwin, btw).

"If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles." Sun Tzu
by Turambar (sersguenda at hotmail com) on Fri May 18th, 2007 at 11:37:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]
You know what? Now that you mention it, the similarities are uncanny.

Bush is a symptom, not the disease.
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri May 18th, 2007 at 12:09:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
No, you misunderstand, I think your reference was entirely apt, it's dismissing Third Reich analogies with reference to Godwin's Law that annoys me :-)

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Fri May 18th, 2007 at 12:33:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I was only waiting to hear this sentence: "We are determined to defend our life with all means without consideration for whether the surrounding world sees the necessity for this fight or not."

You mean you haven't heard it enough times in the last few years?

Bush is a symptom, not the disease.

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri May 18th, 2007 at 05:29:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]
"We are determined to defend our life with all means without consideration for whether the surrounding world sees the necessity for this fight or not." Because, as you might know, the next sentence was "Thus, Total War is now required."

Just two days ago:

"I don't think anyone expects the United States to permit a veto on American security interests," [Rice] said


Bush is a symptom, not the disease.
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri May 18th, 2007 at 05:35:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Of course it's been coming for years. But it's the first time I realized just how similar it sounds and that the audience would probably have reacted with applause in exactly the same way.
Makes me shudder. Your sig, sir, is getting more frigthening every day.

"If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles." Sun Tzu
by Turambar (sersguenda at hotmail com) on Fri May 18th, 2007 at 11:42:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Adam G. Mersereau on Total War & Military on National Review Online

Why Is Our Military Not Being Rebuilt?
The case for a total war.

By Adam G. Mersereau

...If we are going to win a total victory in the war on terrorism while deterring other major wars around the globe, we will first have to rid ourselves of our aversion to total war.

By "total" war, I mean the kind of warfare that not only destroys the enemy's military forces, but also brings the enemy society to an extremely personal point of decision, so that they are willing to accept a reversal of the cultural trends that spawned the war in the first place...

This is frequently mis-attributed to Michael Ledeen, but the latter said:

Again and again we were dragged into war, and we invariably tossed our enemies onto history's trash heap of failed lies. We wage total war, because we fight in the name of an idea -- freedom -- and ideas either triumph or fail.

...and, of course, there is Richard "Prince of Darkness" Perle:

ZNet | Foreign Policy | The Colder War (by John Pilger)

Vice President Dick Cheney, the voice of Bush, has said the US is considering military or other action against "40 to 50 countries" and warns that the new war may last 50 years or more. A Bush adviser, Richard Perle, explained. "(There will be) no stages," he said.

 

"This is total war. We are fighting a variety of enemies. There are lots of them out there ... If we just let our vision of the world go forth, and we embrace it entirely, and we don't try to piece together clever diplomacy but just wage a total war, our children will sing great songs about us years from now."



*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Fri May 18th, 2007 at 06:13:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I wonder if France is on that list.

And Belgium. Let's not forget Belgium.

Luxembourg? Monaco?

Maybe it's time for Rockall and the Isle of Man to declare their independent support for the War on Terra.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Fri May 18th, 2007 at 07:27:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]
our children will sing great songs about us years from now

I assume everyone knows the Anglophone rude words to the Colonel Bogey March?

never assume you know what kind of songs your kids -- or other people's kids -- will be singing about you a generation from now...

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...

by DeAnander (de_at_daclarke_dot_org) on Fri May 18th, 2007 at 02:19:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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