War is Hell, But...
But it beats the alternatives.
War, A Necessary Good
Related OP: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024875860
darkangel218
(13,985 posts)War does not always and even most of the time beats the alternatives!!! Wtf??
I hope you're just being sarcastic, I seem to be sarcasm impaired at times.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)On the other hand, the peacemaking or war prevention efforts of the US have often led to freezing of incipient wars into long-term festering conflicts -- e.g. Syria.
PosterChild
(1,307 posts)... and I also think that the formation and extension of the EU must also be given some thought as a counter example - although some would point to WWII as a causative element.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)there after communism in the Soviet Union was safely out of the way.
Right now, Europeans are getting the screws put to them as we are, to squeeze every last penny out of them and into the pockets of the wealthy.
That is also why I'm a little skeptical of the Ukrainian uprising, clamoring for closer financial ties to Europe being genuine--it's like someone swimming out and demanding to be chained up in a slave ship.
PosterChild
(1,307 posts)... with the Polish Foreign Minister concerning Ukraine.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/talking-with-polands-foreign-minister-about-the-ukraine-crisis-and-russias-next-moves/2014/04/17/f1811e84-c5ad-11e3-bf7a-be01a9b69cf1_story.html
My own belief is that there is nowhere in the world that is freer or that enjoys a higher general standard of living than the liberal Western democracies of Europe and North America. Russia and its "Potemkin EU" Eurasian Union are nowhere near competitive.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)PosterChild
(1,307 posts)From the interview:
yurbud
(39,405 posts)If you knew a wealthy family that was drowning its children, you would not want them to adopt you.
PosterChild
(1,307 posts)... I consider Russia to be trailer trash that is drowning its children. Good luck with that.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)the Soviet Union.
Radical free market reforms actually led to a lower standard of living and lower life expectancy than under the commies (who I was no fan of).
yurbud
(39,405 posts)FarCenter
(19,429 posts)With some coming via Sunni-controlled areas of western Iraq.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)FarCenter
(19,429 posts)PosterChild
(1,307 posts)... as far as I can tell, it is more or less an empirical work, and within the realm of sociology. As with all empirical research, let alone historical / sociological, the results cannot be "absolutely, positively" certain. I would like to find out, for instance, his thoughts of the formation and sustainability of the EU.
This line of thought, however, is an empirical extension of the theoretical ground work in political philosophy initiated by Thomas Hobbes in 1651 with the publication of Leviathan. As I've said to climate change denialists who point out that correlation is not causation: when the underlying causal principle is well known and understood, correlation becomes collaboration. Personally, I'm betting on Hobbes.
Response to PosterChild (Original post)
Vincardog This message was self-deleted by its author.
PosterChild
(1,307 posts)... a anthropological, historical and empirical extension of one of the core tenets of Western liberal political philosophy that was originally initiated by Thomas Hobbes in 1651 with the publication of Leviathan. This is a line of reasoning that has influenced and has been taken very seriously by all subsequent liberal political philosophy... Locke, Rousseau, Kant, and, in our day, John Rawls.
Rawls, the principle liberal political philosopher of the 20th century, calls Hobbes' Leviathan the most important work of political philosophy ever written in English. (I think he would have given Kant the over-all title.)
Vincardog
(20,234 posts)of the Monied Elite.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)straight-face.
Or it should be read in rebuttal to every presidential speech selling military action.
marmar
(77,080 posts)TBF
(32,060 posts)but unfortunately this seems to be the mantra of the party right now. I find it very depressing.