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Thank you for participating in the Dialogue on Foreign Policy. The interactive web site is now closed. The Minister's report will appear on this web site once it is released.

This Forum is bilingual, and participants post messages in their language of choice.

War, to the Rescue!

Contributor: Barretm82

Date: 2003-04-27 19:32:20


Just want to ask you a question. In Africa one group would war against the other. They didn't use depleated urainum, they used large knives and machetties because bullets cost too much.

In trying to stop these two groups from killing each other, how would you in a practical manner go about it without getting killed in the process?

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War, to the Rescue!

Contributor: codc01

Date: 2003-04-28 02:04:37


Thanks for putting this thread discussion in a down to earth approach! :)

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War, to the Rescue!

Contributor: fatmomma

Date: 2003-04-28 02:24:03


Diplomacy only; why should we interfere unless their was a unfair advantage to the agressor.

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War, to the Rescue!

Contributor: cfallon

Date: 2003-04-28 13:08:15


Because if everyone ends up dead thanks to an even match, then everyone is dead.

(Unless you want us to wait for everyone to kill themselves and then move into their apartments.)

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War, to the Rescue!

Contributor: fatmomma

Date: 2003-04-29 22:40:23


You are being a little melodramatic. More usually die when larger forces get involved. Diplomacy.

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War, to the Rescue!

Contributor: solardog

Date: 2003-04-29 00:30:34


Barretm82: "Just want to ask you a question. In Africa one group would war against the other. They didn't use depleated urainum, they used large knives and machetties because bullets cost too much.In trying to stop these two groups from killing each other, how would you in a practical manner go about it without getting killed in the process?"

A good book to read is ISHMAEL by Daniel Quinn. find it at the library. I recommend it for everyone.One of the things the book refers to is the way tribes coexist by what he calls Erratic Retaliation. it can be seen throughout nature as well. being 'unpredictable' is a survival trait.
but what happens when one 'tribe' gets it their heads to go genocidal? which Im sure happened (more than once), and the word gets out that this one tribe just took out a whole other tribe and is moving on to the next one? they're out to Destroy rather than play Erratic Retaliator anymore(which is a sustainable, though not always 'peaceful' way that tribes live in proximity of each other)well what happens is that the surrounding tribes either band together and take out the psycho tribe, or the psycho tribe Succeeds in extending its shadow over the whole territory and over time little 'tribes' form again with different names and live according to Erratic Retaliator again. UNLESS you have food under lock and key. if you lock up the food then the little tribes will be less likely to form again, spread out among the land. They'll be all parts of a society that works insane hours at making products in order to get products in order to live.
The tribal system is different in that rather than products sustaining the lives of the people, its "Give Support-Get Support", family. people lived and had a fulfillment intheir lives, it didnt matter about pension plans or not having money when you're old. Support. Real Support. Unconditional. this is what living in a tribe(family) is about.
So theres a tribe that now has it in their heads and are spreading it to other peoples' heads that 'National Security' is equivalent to 'Increasing the Defense Budget'. one implies the other, don't ask questions.
and now, all the other tribes in the world say oh, well, we'd better get Ourselves some of those GNU-KLE-uR weapons, so we can be 'secure', too.
This is sad. what is Canada going to do?
What can be done? Erratic Retaliator doesn't really last very long when you're using nuclear weapons, yes,life might go on, in disabled and grossly mutated forms,and this, for what?WHY?
because their was a rogue leader in the 21st Century(not the 452 millionth century, ofcourse,that would make us seem insignificant)that had to be removed, in order to 'Protect Freedom'.
depleted uranium had to be used in mass amounts on repeated occasions and is still being used and for the next 4.5 billion years, 'Iraq' is going to suffer. same with Afghanistan(he was in a cave there, we Knew this much, right)and don't think that North America isn't getting its share of the radioactive waste because we're putting into our own soft drinks.
We're playing with the cessation of All life on this Planet and what's worse is we're Proud of our ignorance. We say, "ah yes, bravo" and yo twenty, fifty years down the road our grandkids are gonna be saying DAMN!WHY DID THEY DO THIS TO OUR EARTH???WHY??(if they're alive at all, ofcourse)They're not going to be Thankful that Saddam's regime was toppled back in that War with what's their faces, they're gonna be saying, DID WE REALLY NEED TO BE DESTROYING THE EARTH LIKE THIS?? Were those people back in the early century totally BLIND??? WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY DOING??WHAT COULD POSSIBLY HAVE BEEN SO IMPORTANT?? TO CREATE ALL THOSE H-BOMBS?? DON'T THEY KNOW WHAT THOSE THINGS ARE MADE FOR? but we keep making them. We already ahve enough in existence to put an end to life on this planet. but the US is insistent on making 500 more HBombs per year. regardless, we keep using Nuclear energy and creating nuclear waste.
Are We(Human Beings of the 21st Century) Totally Retarded? Our Ancestors Didn't Teach Us Any Better?
How much work is it going to take to reverse the damage they've done to the land in Iraq over the space of twelve years? It's irreversible, that's the point. Iraq is geographically where Humanity originated from and we've totally been thrashing it, in order to overthrow the current regime so we can 'rebuild'(probe as many holes as we want) access what's underneath it. this way we can go on for a little while longer without having to acknowledge the desperate situation we've landed ourselves into, being so Dependent on fossil fuels. what can I say In War We Trust, thats it

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