And today is the start of the 96th anniversary of Vimy Ridge. I used to think it was a great moment in our history, now I just see 10,062 dead and mangled men. And a dead empire.
And the old men march slowly, old bones stiff and sore.
They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, what are they marching for?
And I ask myself the same question.
"also it really shits my mum so it's a good way of winding her up"
More or less. I've heard anything from we should "zero dark thirty" Kim (as if it's that easy and *won't* precipitate a war...) to we should bomb him to we should just invade them and the NK citizens, inspired, will rise up in righteous anger against their oppressor to we should preemptively nuke North Korea.
Others have been the voice of reason in some form or another from too many civilian casualties to we're not the world's policeman to we just can't afford another war, etc.
The Spartan wrote:More or less. I've heard anything from we should "zero dark thirty" Kim (as if it's that easy and *won't* precipitate a war...) to we should bomb him to we should just invade them and the NK citizens, inspired, will rise up in righteous anger against their oppressor to we should preemptively nuke North Korea.
Others have been the voice of reason in some form or another from too many civilian casualties to we're not the world's policeman to we just can't afford another war, etc.
I'm sure China would be totally fine with sitting back and letting that happen.
Zod wrote:I'm sure China would be totally fine with sitting back and letting that happen.
I know....
To say nothing of Russia.
And I'm sure it's quite ethical of us to let fallout rain down upon our allies the South Koreans. And the only country on Earth to have ever been nuked and who are now also our allies.
The Spartan wrote:More or less. I've heard anything from we should "zero dark thirty" Kim (as if it's that easy and *won't* precipitate a war...)
Wow, but I guess those people probably haven't heard of the past 60 years of Korean history with the relatively common attempts by both sides to knock off each other's leadership in such a fashion.
Even without the threat of nukes, fighting the Norks is best avoided when Kim's military is around a million strong, they're good at hiding stuff, and they seem well dug in. Kim's posturing may seem comical now but all this sabre rattling could set a tone of even deeper frostiness with outsiders. NK won't start a war now, but I'll expect a civil war eventually.
Taking on Kim right EVER would be so fucking absurd. It would be like Desert Storm--if we had decided to keep going to Baghdad. And the country was rugged mountains instead of flat open desert. Yeeeaaahh...
I want Kim to have nukes, I think it's the best possible thing for improving the lot of the North Korean people. I also want us to axe several Army divisions to pay for ABM interceptors so that his nukes and Iran's and whomever else's are useless against us in numbers they can afford, and we have less of a standing army to go charging off invading countries with, and put more money into the air force, missile defence, and the navy, things which actually protect America and American commerce. I honestly wouldn't mind seeing the regular Army reduced to a training cadre of about 100,000 from its current 1,000,000, available to lead the mobilization of the reserves/NG if we have had a true conflict, and we just use the Marines for peacekeeping with vast numbers of drones and aircraft to even the odds if they're outnumbered, which isn't likely since they're the size of most armies in the world in their own right.
Speaking of North Korea . . . am I the only one who thinks it's funny the government's making a stink about Beyonce & Jay-Z going to Cuba as tourists because it enriches a despotic regime but everybody gave Rodman a thumbs up for going to North Korea as a tourist and enriching a despotic regime?
my life is so goddamn amazing out here and i suddenly have more friends than i know what to do with
the only concern (aside from academic stuff and abstract recurrent worries) is that it seems that when i am happy and active, as i am now, i find that i am significantly less responsible with my money than i always have been in my life
i am usually pretty good at finances and savings but i will probably be flying home with less than 100 dollars to my name
fortunately i haven't taken on any debt either
and i think i have an amazing job waiting for me for when i touch down in saskatchewan
so as usual i will continue to make impulsive decisions and rely on providence to see me through