Talk about chumming!!!

[Ulmus]

Thank you for replying.  No worries about the intent of you message.  I was actually more concerned about how my reply would come across to you.

I completely agree about gut and paste on tablets.  replying on a smart phone with autocorrect in a nightmare!  I'm going to follow your lead on the paragraphs.

1.  History is a great subject that I dabble in.  I often watch "The Guns of August" and understand the sheer anger against Germany after their scorched earth policy during the war.  I also have the privilege of talking to vets of WW-II, Korea, and Vietnam at work. 

2. I think the business world used to be what screwed up the ability to stay away from places that can be triaged. (More resources to get and profit to make)  Now it's more in the hands of social media.  The constant barrage of that (which is even bigger than the 24 hr news cycle) along with the emotional need "to do something" causes more trouble, and political backlash now than ever before.  Unfortunately we're never getting that genie back in the bottle.

3.  Sorry I didn't think about England and France.  I guess I'm still American-centric in my thinking.  It is a good point you make.

4.  True.  It was a win-win for Russia at that point.

5.  Yep.  Guns and butter.

6.  That's OK.  At this point I have more hair on my legs than my head!     Besides.  We don't need to start a Target version of "People of Walmart".

7.  Thanks for the tip on "Influence of Sea Power."  I'll go to project Gutenberg and download it tonight.  That sounds like a great read!

8. True, It works great in the middle east and Africa as well, but once the force behind the fear is gone, the backlash is devastating.

9. Again true.  (This is where I screwed up and didn't communicate right.)  Defeat and destroy the enemy.  Limit collateral damage.  (There will always be some) And win the hearts and minds of those on the sidelines.  Or, If I may put in words of my work,  Kill the fire ant that sting the residents, trap and relocate the raccoons in the dumpster, and get the residents on our side.  (I killed the mean/dangerous biting insects, but didn't kill the cute, fuzzy critter. and thus a good guy.)



 

[tombogan03884]

1) What is this "Guns of August" you mention ? the only one I know of is the book by Barbra Tuchmann.

2) There was some benefit to letting capitalism do things. They at least benefited everybody. For example, United Fruit may have made tons of money for their shareholders by overthrowing Central American govts, but no one ever mentions they also built most of the roads, railroads, bridges, and port facilities in the region. We hear how under Batista "the mafia ran Cuba" what you don't hear is that during the period when the hotels and casino's were booming Cuba had the highest standard of living in the region.
Compare that to the emotion driven ban on hunting in Kenya, so called "eco-tourism is a flop. No hunting means no meat for villagers, and no more jobs . therefore the locals had no incentive to continue protecting the animals, and every incentive to poach the valuable vermin that were eating the crops that were their only remaining food source. The result has been an 85% drop in animal populations.

[Ulmus]

It's going to be a late response for me tonight, but I wanted to post this for your enjoyment.

The Guns of August

[Ulmus]

Capitalism is a good thing. 

[tombogan03884]

Oh, I didn't know they made a documentary of it.
Cool.

[Sponsor]