zhaktronz wrote:The first gulf war is pretty much as close to an unprovoked attack by a big bad man picking on a smaller weaker country for no solid reason as you can get
I actually don't disagree with you on that, but the problem is that 9999 times out of 10000, it's not anywhere near that clear.
Also, as I said in my previous post, the culturally western european nations of the world are rather an exception to the rule, in my mind. There's a lot less of the so called "cultural" agenda. Or more accurately, the cultural agenda is one that we as western europeans generally understand and can predict. If you want an example of how bad things can go between even two relatively similar (culturally, not governmentally) nations, look at the cold war. In hindsight, particularly if you read primary sources, its very clear that NO ONE wanted the cold war, but both countries relied on cultural baggage causing the USSR and the USA to be almost fundamentally incompatible on a communications standpoint.
The closest analogy I can think of is that the USSR was a PTSD sufferer and the USA was an adrenaline addict (think Hurt Locker, not X-Games). Throw in different (and in many was opposite) cultural reactions to perceived threat, and you have a real communications problem.
And that's with a country that we have a heck of a lot more cultural referents in common with than Africa, the Middle East, or the rest of Asia.
