http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/09/post-anti-americanism.html?from=rss
The only part I disagree with is that Europe and the world's loss of appetite for war was about Afghanistan. It was mostly about Iraq and it has spilled over to Afghanistan as well, but the fact that European countries continue to send troops to Afghanistan shows that it is a war that people do believe is right. Badly run perhaps, but right nonetheless.
Showing posts with label world. Show all posts
Showing posts with label world. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Reading about old Wars
I went to a Barnes and Nobles (a book store) the other day to finally read up on some history. The way things went in Iraq and how things are going in Afghanistan, thought it would be good to read about something relevant that would help me understand. Sure, books on both conflicts are fine, but I think they generally represent small views of ongoing wars. It is only wars that have ended, reviewed and carefully researched about that produce literature that's truly comprehensive.
So I went to find a book on the Malaya Emergency since it was among the few cases of a Western army beating a local insurgency.
I learned something completely different altogether.
Bullshit: Fixation about World War II.
The Truth: World War II is a war that's well past. The US hasn't won a truly major war since 1945 and it's because the US cannot think beyond World War II.
Just shelve it
Now I am in no way against remembering those who have fought for our freedoms and that of others in the past, but the problem with these World War II books is that they simply fix the way you see conflict and war in a purely conventional way. You will always see conflict through the lens of conventional warfare where divisions, mass attacks, heavy firepower and Generals who like to piss everybody else off reign supreme.
If you are a historian or a budding historian or history is your thing, by all means (though I think World War II has been read to death) go ahead and read World War II stuff. But if you're serious and you're in the business, STOP READING WORLD WAR II BOOKS. Wars in general have not been fought that way since the Korean War and this ogling over impressive OOBs (or ORBAT or O/B depending on who you are) etc. is a waste of time. In this day and age, if you're stocked up with division after division of soldiers, heavy equipment etc., unless you are facing a purely conventional foe with a purely conventional mission (like Gulf War I), you are wasting your time.
So wait, did I come up with this by reading the book I eventually found? Not really. I realized it when I found out just how HARD it was to find a book on Malaya. It wasn't a purely dedicated book on Malaya either, rather a comparison between Malaya and Vietnam and their implications on current counterinsurgency operations (Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife by John Nagl, a superb read). And there was only one copy in the store. Meanwhile there were three book shelves full of World War II books and two book shelves full of Vietnam books.
Basically when Americans think "history" that doesn't include the birth of their country or the civil war, it's about basking in the glory of a time long gone (World War II) or dealing with national pain (Vietnam).
What's there to learn about current wars from World War II? Nothing.
What's there to learn about current wars from Vietnam? Nothing if you think that the Generals actually did a good job and the civilian leadership ruined it for everyone. Bullshit. These World War II Generals didn't know the war they were fighting and sent people to their deaths for nothing.
Funny thing, when I read the book, the author John Nagl actually said the same thing.
Bottom line: stop reading World War II books. Read Vietnam books with caution. Read about the Malayan Emergency. Perhaps also Operation Artemis but I'm not sure if good literature is out regarding that.
So I went to find a book on the Malaya Emergency since it was among the few cases of a Western army beating a local insurgency.
I learned something completely different altogether.
Bullshit: Fixation about World War II.
The Truth: World War II is a war that's well past. The US hasn't won a truly major war since 1945 and it's because the US cannot think beyond World War II.
Just shelve it
Now I am in no way against remembering those who have fought for our freedoms and that of others in the past, but the problem with these World War II books is that they simply fix the way you see conflict and war in a purely conventional way. You will always see conflict through the lens of conventional warfare where divisions, mass attacks, heavy firepower and Generals who like to piss everybody else off reign supreme.
If you are a historian or a budding historian or history is your thing, by all means (though I think World War II has been read to death) go ahead and read World War II stuff. But if you're serious and you're in the business, STOP READING WORLD WAR II BOOKS. Wars in general have not been fought that way since the Korean War and this ogling over impressive OOBs (or ORBAT or O/B depending on who you are) etc. is a waste of time. In this day and age, if you're stocked up with division after division of soldiers, heavy equipment etc., unless you are facing a purely conventional foe with a purely conventional mission (like Gulf War I), you are wasting your time.
So wait, did I come up with this by reading the book I eventually found? Not really. I realized it when I found out just how HARD it was to find a book on Malaya. It wasn't a purely dedicated book on Malaya either, rather a comparison between Malaya and Vietnam and their implications on current counterinsurgency operations (Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife by John Nagl, a superb read). And there was only one copy in the store. Meanwhile there were three book shelves full of World War II books and two book shelves full of Vietnam books.
Basically when Americans think "history" that doesn't include the birth of their country or the civil war, it's about basking in the glory of a time long gone (World War II) or dealing with national pain (Vietnam).
What's there to learn about current wars from World War II? Nothing.
What's there to learn about current wars from Vietnam? Nothing if you think that the Generals actually did a good job and the civilian leadership ruined it for everyone. Bullshit. These World War II Generals didn't know the war they were fighting and sent people to their deaths for nothing.
Funny thing, when I read the book, the author John Nagl actually said the same thing.
Bottom line: stop reading World War II books. Read Vietnam books with caution. Read about the Malayan Emergency. Perhaps also Operation Artemis but I'm not sure if good literature is out regarding that.
Friday, July 9, 2010
A whole list of what's Bullshit
It's been a while since I wrote anything and here's why. It's been a very, very long few months.
Oh, say can you see? They fucking crushed my pizza!
1) I actually moved. I called the moving company the night before to make sure they would be at my address. They said they'd be there, definitely. So the next morning I waited, waited and waited. Nothing. I called, no one answered. It was like the whole company got drunk and plastered on Friday night and no one gave a fuck about their Saturday schedule. I called another company which showed up (late, but shit at least they showed up) and managed to move. I did mention that this happened in the USA right? And not just the middle of nowhere either. This is the nation's capital. Oh and the guys who showed up did a fine job and both were foreigners.
Bullshit: Hard working Americans.
2) I called to have my internet connected and had to wait 9 days for the guy to show up. 9 days. Acceptable if you live in the middle of nowhere. In Washington, DC, unacceptable.
Bullshit: Efficient American businesses.
3) Around June 25th - now there was a dead deer on the south side of the Key Bridge (the one in DC) just ten, maybe twenty feet away from a sidewalk where thousands of pedestrians pass by each day. It's still kind of there. No one cleaned it up and I know at least one person called it in. You'd think that even a dead deer by a frequented trail in a national park would be cleaned up but apparently not even one in the middle of a city is worth cleaning up. The smell was just incredible and no doubt a health hazard. Wow... just wow. Knowing how Americans don't ignore these things, I'm sure that more than one person called it in. What probably happened was the various police and other agencies pushed the responsibility around so although the actual deer didn't move, the paperwork regarding it ran laps around Arlington County.
Bullshit: American sense of duty.
4) Ordered a pizza to commemorate the opening of my new place. Pizza arrived late, crushed to one side. Last time this happened to me, it was in Malaysia about fifteen years ago. I have ordered many pizzas in many different countries. Never had it arrived in such piss poor shape.
Bullshit: Tips. Fuck you, asshole.
Fucking sounds like I'm writing about a 3rd world country.
Korea took a smacking while I was there but America does prove that it will try really hard at being number 1! AT PISSING ME OFF.
Oh, say can you see? They fucking crushed my pizza!
1) I actually moved. I called the moving company the night before to make sure they would be at my address. They said they'd be there, definitely. So the next morning I waited, waited and waited. Nothing. I called, no one answered. It was like the whole company got drunk and plastered on Friday night and no one gave a fuck about their Saturday schedule. I called another company which showed up (late, but shit at least they showed up) and managed to move. I did mention that this happened in the USA right? And not just the middle of nowhere either. This is the nation's capital. Oh and the guys who showed up did a fine job and both were foreigners.
Bullshit: Hard working Americans.
2) I called to have my internet connected and had to wait 9 days for the guy to show up. 9 days. Acceptable if you live in the middle of nowhere. In Washington, DC, unacceptable.
Bullshit: Efficient American businesses.
3) Around June 25th - now there was a dead deer on the south side of the Key Bridge (the one in DC) just ten, maybe twenty feet away from a sidewalk where thousands of pedestrians pass by each day. It's still kind of there. No one cleaned it up and I know at least one person called it in. You'd think that even a dead deer by a frequented trail in a national park would be cleaned up but apparently not even one in the middle of a city is worth cleaning up. The smell was just incredible and no doubt a health hazard. Wow... just wow. Knowing how Americans don't ignore these things, I'm sure that more than one person called it in. What probably happened was the various police and other agencies pushed the responsibility around so although the actual deer didn't move, the paperwork regarding it ran laps around Arlington County.
Bullshit: American sense of duty.
4) Ordered a pizza to commemorate the opening of my new place. Pizza arrived late, crushed to one side. Last time this happened to me, it was in Malaysia about fifteen years ago. I have ordered many pizzas in many different countries. Never had it arrived in such piss poor shape.
Bullshit: Tips. Fuck you, asshole.
Fucking sounds like I'm writing about a 3rd world country.
Korea took a smacking while I was there but America does prove that it will try really hard at being number 1! AT PISSING ME OFF.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
People can't make the world better
Actually this theme came across in a thread on www.milforum.com.
It's regarding a lot of topics but one of it became about the decency of the human being.
Rob Henderson wanted things to go back to how they were before "9/11." I'm assuming how America was like before 9/11 because the world I knew before 9/11 was still a piece of shit.
This is my response:
Wake up seriously.
You have Gurkhas who served so well for the British for hundreds of years... if you count the British East India Company, since 1817. Yet they're not given the rights to enter and stay in the UK compared with some guy from Pakistan who clearly hates the UK and is under suspicion that he may have fought against British troops in Afghanistan.
All these financial institutions... all that greed. The government finally gives them money to un-f*ck the mess they created and they're using GOVERNMENT money (tax payer money) to pay off their layoffs and even finance their own vacations.
You have legal immigration restricted because illegal immigration is a problem and not enough is being done to restrict illegal immigration. Just happens to be that targeting people who might actually be of benefit to America is a lot easier.
An actress in South Korea committed suicide [Insert: Jang Ja-yun, for those who want to read up on the case] because she was used as a prostitute by her manager (and of course the chain of responsibility goes higher but largely it's been well covered up). The police are then sent on a raid against prostitution. Yes, the entertainment industry can force the police to pretend to take action without actually taking action against those really responsible. It's not the first case that something like this happened. It's happened MANY times now.
People smuggle drugs across borders by stuffing drugs into freshly dead babies.
Genocide.
....
the list is endless.
People don't change. At least, not very much. We always try to kid ourselves into thinking that we're different from our ancestors. We are in a way, but if you look at it overall, we're very much the same.
Ask a guy who's got his limbs blown off in a war and got abandoned by the military, the government and his own family if he believes in the decency of mankind.
Or the girl who got tricked into going into a prostitution ring by a woman at her church who told her that she was going to help her find work overseas.
Or the guy or woman with a family to feed who's been waiting in line for days at an aid distribution center who can't get aid because gangs/militia are hogging the front of the line and taking everything.
Wake the f*ck up Henderson.
People can't make the world a better place.
Not even Jesus managed to do that.
It's not because we're stupid. It's because we're greedy, selfish, jealous, prideful... it's because we are evil, because we are weak.
So wake the f*ck up Henderson and people who think we can make the world a better place.
Possibly the kindest person to walk the earth in recent times. Feel good factor whenever her name is mentioned: 10/10. Her actual effect on making the world a better place: close to 0.
Jesus Christ who died for our sins still couldn't make people good. Or make the world a good place for that matter. (On that note, do you know how HARD it is to find a picture of Jesus that doesn't look like Jesus of Narvik, Norway?)
People can make the world a better place = BULLSHIT of the highest caliber.
It's regarding a lot of topics but one of it became about the decency of the human being.
Rob Henderson wanted things to go back to how they were before "9/11." I'm assuming how America was like before 9/11 because the world I knew before 9/11 was still a piece of shit.
Posted by Me
The kinder gentler "world" before 9/11 never existed. It was simply an illusion.
The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as well as Canada usually shield America from the realities of the real world. But on 9/11 it kind of hit home and many couldn't deal with it.
Deal with it. This is life, this is the world.
The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as well as Canada usually shield America from the realities of the real world. But on 9/11 it kind of hit home and many couldn't deal with it.
Deal with it. This is life, this is the world.
Posted by Rob Henderson
I'm not going to be a pessimist just because some nut jobs decided to attack America because they're jealous of us... Is it somehow wrong to want a more peaceful world?
Posted by Me
It's like wishing that all the hot women in the world would take turns getting into bed with you.
It's not going to happen and quite frankly even thinking about it is a total waste of time.
It's not going to happen and quite frankly even thinking about it is a total waste of time.
Posted by Rob Henderson
Hardly... Men CAN make this place better for everyone. Just because you don't think it will, doesn't mean it won't.
This is my response:
Wake up seriously.
You have Gurkhas who served so well for the British for hundreds of years... if you count the British East India Company, since 1817. Yet they're not given the rights to enter and stay in the UK compared with some guy from Pakistan who clearly hates the UK and is under suspicion that he may have fought against British troops in Afghanistan.
All these financial institutions... all that greed. The government finally gives them money to un-f*ck the mess they created and they're using GOVERNMENT money (tax payer money) to pay off their layoffs and even finance their own vacations.
You have legal immigration restricted because illegal immigration is a problem and not enough is being done to restrict illegal immigration. Just happens to be that targeting people who might actually be of benefit to America is a lot easier.
An actress in South Korea committed suicide [Insert: Jang Ja-yun, for those who want to read up on the case] because she was used as a prostitute by her manager (and of course the chain of responsibility goes higher but largely it's been well covered up). The police are then sent on a raid against prostitution. Yes, the entertainment industry can force the police to pretend to take action without actually taking action against those really responsible. It's not the first case that something like this happened. It's happened MANY times now.
People smuggle drugs across borders by stuffing drugs into freshly dead babies.
Genocide.
....
the list is endless.
People don't change. At least, not very much. We always try to kid ourselves into thinking that we're different from our ancestors. We are in a way, but if you look at it overall, we're very much the same.
Ask a guy who's got his limbs blown off in a war and got abandoned by the military, the government and his own family if he believes in the decency of mankind.
Or the girl who got tricked into going into a prostitution ring by a woman at her church who told her that she was going to help her find work overseas.
Or the guy or woman with a family to feed who's been waiting in line for days at an aid distribution center who can't get aid because gangs/militia are hogging the front of the line and taking everything.
Wake the f*ck up Henderson.
People can't make the world a better place.
Not even Jesus managed to do that.
It's not because we're stupid. It's because we're greedy, selfish, jealous, prideful... it's because we are evil, because we are weak.
So wake the f*ck up Henderson and people who think we can make the world a better place.
Possibly the kindest person to walk the earth in recent times. Feel good factor whenever her name is mentioned: 10/10. Her actual effect on making the world a better place: close to 0.
Jesus Christ who died for our sins still couldn't make people good. Or make the world a good place for that matter. (On that note, do you know how HARD it is to find a picture of Jesus that doesn't look like Jesus of Narvik, Norway?)
People can make the world a better place = BULLSHIT of the highest caliber.
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