All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!

[Mikekerr3]

As do you it seems. In 1865 how many nations in the world wanted the US destroyed?

in 1865, none except perhaps Mexico who we had stolen so much from. Europe didn't care as long as the cotton kept coming

[Mikekerr3]

Every country has the potential to become a major power.

SMDH and ROTFLMAO

[Mark]

SMDH and ROTFLMAO

Ok, the second one I know, the first one is a puzzle to me.

[the4thpip]

Every country has the potential to become a major power.

No, they really have not.

[the4thpip]

Ok, the second one I know, the first one is a puzzle to me.

SMDH: http://en.lmgtfy.com/?q=what+does+smdh+stand+for%3F

[Nick Soapdish]

Perhaps you know more about them than I do, but I'd like to point out that men who would never have been expected to do anything have changed the course of history more than once. Hitler was a failed painter. Don't underestimate the potential of the individual when motivated.

That doesn't mean that we should lock up everybody that we don't have enough evidence to try for a decade or more. Or anybody.

And it's not just Obama that's failed to pin charges to these Taliban "terrorists". Bush couldn't do it either. They've all been imprisoned since late 2001 or 2002. And yeah, after more than a decade behind bars of watching the US ignore its own principles out of fear or convenience or whatever it was, they're likely to like us a lot less now.

Every country has the potential to become a major power.

With the right resources. Spain did it on the back of the gold that it got from the New World. Great Britain did it with naval superiority and industrial power. France did it with its own industrial power, backed with greater natural resources and a larger population. Etc, etc.

The US has tremendous natural resources as well as a large, well-educated and skilled workforce. It'll be sitting pretty for a long time, but we shouldn't assume that we'll be the world's only superpower.

China, India, Russia, the EU, and maybe Brazil and even Indonesia are all possibilities in the next century.

Afghanistan? Not unless Tony Stark starts building arc reactors for them. Or maybe a zombie apocalypse. Same with North Korea. They're both so isolated that has almost become a strength for them.

[Mbast1]

Ok, the second one I know, the first one is a puzzle to me.

shaking my damned head, as in "I can't believe anyone would say that".

[Mikekerr3]

Nope, just looking at the state of the country. Napoleon once called the Ottoman Empire the "Sick old man", and I think we're getting to that point. Do you really think of us as invincible? That we can't be beat or destroyed or severely hurt? Why? Just because we're the United States? I doubt they'd be able to fly a plane into a building again but there are number of other ways to attack us. All it takes is one guy with a wild, out of the box way of thinking.

The nation a has spent much of it history in far worse shape than it is today, the 70s for example, When do you think the US was healthier as a nation than it is now?

[Mark]

SMDH: http://en.lmgtfy.com/?q=what+does+smdh+stand+for%3F

Or you could have simply been polite and told me.

[Mark]

No, they really have not.

Really? Why do you think that? Size? Population? Character?

[Mark]

shaking my damned head, as in "I can't believe anyone would say that".

Thanks for being polite.

[Mark]

I'm not denying that the whole thing with gitmo was a botch from day one, but I'm saying that in our world a small group of dedicated people can do a lot of damage.

That doesn't mean that we should lock up everybody that we don't have enough evidence to try for a decade or more. Or anybody.

And it's not just Obama that's failed to pin charges to these Taliban "terrorists". Bush couldn't do it either. They've all been imprisoned since late 2001 or 2002. And yeah, after more than a decade behind bars of watching the US ignore its own principles out of fear or convenience or whatever it was, they're likely to like us a lot less now.



With the right resources. Spain did it on the back of the gold that it got from the New World. Great Britain did it with naval superiority and industrial power. France did it with its own industrial power, backed with greater natural resources and a larger population. Etc, etc.

The US has tremendous natural resources as well as a large, well-educated and skilled workforce. It'll be sitting pretty for a long time, but we shouldn't assume that we'll be the world's only superpower.

China, India, Russia, the EU, and maybe Brazil and even Indonesia are all possibilities in the next century.

Afghanistan? Not unless Tony Stark starts building arc reactors for them. Or maybe a zombie apocalypse. Same with North Korea. They're both so isolated that has almost become a strength for them.

[Mark]

I lived through the 1970's, we were in better shape then if only because the only real enemy we had was the Soviett Union. Put aside bad disco fashion and the pet rock and we weren't doing that badly. But never have we been in a such a dangerous world with so many enemies. We can't even secure the southern border of our own country.

The nation a has spent much of it history in far worse shape than it is today, the 70s for example, When do you think the US was healthier as a nation than it is now?

[Ant-manic]

I lived through the 1970's, we were in better shape then if only because the only real enemy we had was the Soviett Union. Put aside bad disco fashion and the pet rock and we weren't doing that badly. But never have we been in a such a dangerous world with so many enemies. We can't even secure the southern border of our own country.

so you rank mexicans as a bigger threat than 70s era soviets?

[Nick Soapdish]

I'm not denying that the whole thing with gitmo was a botch from day one, but I'm saying that in our world a small group of dedicated people can do a lot of damage.

That's not an answer. It's just an appeal to fear.

If we knew that they were that group, we should've put them on trial. If not, we should've let them go - even without an exchange.

I lived through the 1970's, we were in better shape then if only because the only real enemy we had was the Soviett Union. Put aside bad disco fashion and the pet rock and we weren't doing that badly. But never have we been in a such a dangerous world with so many enemies. We can't even secure the southern border of our own country.

Vietnam, Watergate, the oil embargo and the Iranian hostage crisis are four fairly obvious crises that may have faded from your memory. The only ones of even a remotely similar degree that we've faced this decade is the NSA spying and our own economic sabotage.

And back in the 70s, we didn't have our southern border secured then either. That's where we got all of our pot and it only stopped when we convinced the Mexican government to start cracking down which made Mexican pot potentially unsafe. We've always (well, since WWII, at least) had this many enemies. The only difference was back in the 70s, the Soviets were so much bigger in scope than the rest that the rest didn't even seem to exist.