Guest lazyphil Posted March 1, 2011 Report Share Posted March 1, 2011 off topic-ish. big debate heating up here. foreign aid. we give millions of tax pounds to india among others who have a fucking space program. i say cease foreign aid to any country and fix our crumbling schools and hospital wards. fuck everyone else. giving millions to yemen, pakistan etc etc.....crazy, we're friggin broke here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted March 1, 2011 Report Share Posted March 1, 2011 I would love an isolationist America. But what would that look like? How would that effect the rest of you? The US tried isolationism. Japan tried isolationism. They ended up bayoneting one another in the Pacific. No question that the US taxpayer has to take it in the neck for every foreign policy decision made by the White House, but someone in Florida keeps electing a new clown every few years. Lets assume that you pulled every jarhead out of Afghanistan/Iraq/wherever tomorrow and vowed never to go back. Station them on the border with Mexico and give them very loose rules of engagement. How long before the cries start FROM PEOPLE IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY that your military is a disgrace ? How long before pencil pushers start slashing the Pentagon's budget ? How many more young, pissed off men and women do you need on the streets of your cities, no job prospects beyond having been trained to kill ..... I watched JAG the other day and thought 'Man, the Defence Dept must have written the script for this' - the machine will have its little wars, because that is what the machine was designed for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted March 1, 2011 Report Share Posted March 1, 2011 America was isolationists before WW2 because we came from Europe primarily and saw constant wars that served no one. There was a war between a European country somewhere almost every 20 or 30 years! Look at the 1800s. We didn't need to get involved in WW1. I'm glad we helped win it but the question is, had Germany won or the European powers not hammer them financially after the war would we have had a Hitler? Post WW2 America had no choice to get involved. The problem was we had no experience in foreign affairs or at least the experience commiserate with the role we played. We were also arrogant. Our great response for anything was that we were giving the rest of the world who didn't have it, democracy. Good 'ol American style democracy. We really should have curtailed a lot of our foreign involvements after the USSR fell. We ignored the oil crisis of the '70s and went stayed politically, militarily and economically in the middle east because the oil companies bought the powers that be in government and kept us there. Bottom line is right now we can't even fight a war unless it will be done in a year or two. There is no need to be spending what we are currently spending on defense. Its a huge chunk of a federal budget that is for all intent and purposes on borrowed time with regards to debts. Humanitarian military involvement such as southern Sudan, and only as part of a UN peacekeeping force should be the only type of 'wars' we should only be involved in. China is doing in Africa what we could have done. They are actually forcing the African governments to build up their infrastructure in return for the money provided for their natural resources and loans/grants they give these governments outright. Bridges, roads, power plants/lines, schools, etc. are being built at the behest of the Chinese. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rchapstick Posted March 2, 2011 Report Share Posted March 2, 2011 You would not know it from all the humanitarian aid we send out. Even to places like Iran. When genocide was going on in Cambodia' date=' where was the USA with their aid? Oh, that is right, they supplied the weapons to the ones doing the genocide. Look at Africa, almost as bad. Where was the USA when Idi Amin was committing genocide? Oh, that is right, we even provided him with weapons and even his white convertible.[/quote'] BFtkJd8w5UQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted March 2, 2011 Report Share Posted March 2, 2011 Finally Eddie Izzard gets his chance! Now even he can enlist and do his part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh_Hoy Posted March 2, 2011 Report Share Posted March 2, 2011 I would love an isolationist America. But what would that look like? How would that effect the rest of you? The US tried isolationism. Japan tried isolationism. They ended up bayoneting one another in the Pacific. No question that the US taxpayer has to take it in the neck for every foreign policy decision made by the White House' date=' but someone in Florida keeps electing a new clown every few years. Lets assume that you pulled every jarhead out of Afghanistan/Iraq/wherever tomorrow and vowed never to go back. Station them on the border with Mexico and give them very loose rules of engagement. How long before the cries start FROM PEOPLE IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY that your military is a disgrace ? How long before pencil pushers start slashing the Pentagon's budget ? How many more young, pissed off men and women do you need on the streets of your cities, no job prospects beyond having been trained to kill ..... I watched JAG the other day and thought 'Man, the Defence Dept must have written the script for this' - the machine will have its little wars, because that is what the machine was designed for. [/quote'] Is that rambling an answer to the question posed, or just an ill-constructed rant made under the influence? If the former, you missed a mile. If the latter, take a cold shower and then try to make sense of what you typed. :content: HH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted March 2, 2011 Report Share Posted March 2, 2011 China is doing in Africa what we could have done. They are actually forcing the African governments to build up their infrastructure in return for the money provided for their natural resources and loans/grants they give these governments outright. Bridges, roads, power plants/lines, schools, etc. are being built at the behest of the Chinese. If they can pull that off, then they truly will be the new Masters of the Universe. My personal view is that sub-Saharan Africa is doomed, but fortunately there are people who are still prepared to give them a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coss Posted March 2, 2011 Report Share Posted March 2, 2011 off topic-ish. big debate heating up here. foreign aid. we give millions of tax pounds to india among others who have a fucking space program. i say cease foreign aid to any country and fix our crumbling schools and hospital wards. fuck everyone else. giving millions to yemen, pakistan etc etc.....crazy, we're friggin broke here Similar things happen, though smaller in scale, in NZ. i.e. we give some 4~5 millions in aid annually to Tonga, the King then promptly has a Coronation, cost? 6 million. Why can't I have 4~5 million? I've got no money too? Aid should be for disasters, not lifestyles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted March 2, 2011 Report Share Posted March 2, 2011 coss, you should only give the Tongans money if they agree to house and feed their citizens back in Tonga instead of shipping them to NZ. On a lighter note, we are currently enjoying an ever-increasing number of your TV shows here in Oz, driven by the fact that our networks can buy them for the price of a large bag of fish'n'chups in Bondi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coss Posted March 2, 2011 Report Share Posted March 2, 2011 If you're giving them money, does it matter where they are? The ones in NZ aren't a problem. It's paying people to live in a tropical paradise that irks me. Pay me, I'll even live in Laos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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