--- "J. van Baardwijk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > At 14:25 4-2-2003 -0600, Marvin Long wrote: > > > > I think it is about time that people like you > and Gautam make up their > > > minds about this. On one hand they complain > about the military of other > > > (especially European) countries lacking the > training and equipment to play > > > a role of any importance in international > conflicts, on the other hand > > they > > > complain that those countries let the US do all > the hard work. > > > >I don't understand why these would be thought > contradictory.... They seem > >more complementary to me. > > They are not complementary, they are contradictory. > Gautam et al. are > saying that other countries lack the training and > equipment to play an > important role in international conflicts -- IOW, > they are not capable of > doing any "heavy lifting" and must therefore leave > the "heavy lifting" to > the US. Yet at the same time Gautam et al. > *complain* that those countries > don't do the "heavy lifting". > > In other words: first they say "other countries are > not capable of doing > X", and then they *complain* that those other > countries don't do X. > > > Jeroen "Can't have it both ways" van Baardwijk
Marvin is exactly right. Those other countries _choose_ not to be capable of fulfilling their global responsibilities. All they have to do is reform their defense establishments for power projection and increase their defense spending. If they did those things, they could play a larger part on the world stage, and the US wouldn't have to go in and clean up what they can't do - over, and over, and over again. Those countries are not capable of helping out by choice. Having made that choice, they should stop complaining about those who have made a different choice solve the problems they are unwilling and unable to help with - and they should, in particular, stop interfering and making it harder. They are clearly not contradictory positions. Gautam __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
