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Unread 02-26-2005, 07:04 PM   #127
Lothar5150
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Surf City USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jag
Lothar,

It seems that we are diverging from the main issue here that is your question, and it seems evident that you're tyring to funnel this issue leading it to a military action. Well Democracy isn't incompatible with military actions (as in forging one) but the decision of establishing a democracy belongs to the people and not to the military,that is to say it's a political decision (wider meaning of this word) and not a military one.

As for the Britains being the principal, this headline hasn't any bearing at all on this issue by the way - Star Wars deal places US missiles on UK soil?(http://www.cndyorks.gn.apc.org/yspac...iles_in_uk.htm)

As for the Kosovo, you're right, there shouldn't be any need for the U.S. to intervene in there, should the European states be more cohesive, that has been and allways be the doom of Europe, and it shows the need more than ever to have a joint army composed of all the E.U. states.
The question is: does the U.S. sees it with good eyes?
No, I am not funneling this into a justification for the use of military action. I was very clear in stating that each situation would require a different tactic and that military action should be the rare option. However, it should remain an option. Let me remind you that we have over 240 years of civilian control of our military and never has the US military turned on the civilian authority. This is not true of most other nations.

When I said the British stand on principal I think something was lost in the translation. I was referring to the British willingness to step up immediately to help fix the problems in Kosovo along with the US.

In terms of the EU…I think you have a multitude of problems which as an outsider I am highly skeptical you can fix right now. First you speak over a half dozen languages and each country worries about loosing its unique culture. The French and the Germans are trying to run the show (they want a unified Europe with them as the head) and the UK really would prefer to be the 51st State in of our country not a member of the EU. A true EU with a unified fighting force will require a solid federal system with a single political authority. Each or your countries will have to completely give up its sovereignty in favor of the EU Federal system. Honestly, I don’t see the love and trust required for that to work.

The Untied States started of as a confederacy of states in the years immediately after our revolution. What we found was that the system was ultimately too week to work. In the end each of the original states had to give up much of it antimony in favor of a stronger more cohesive federal system. I think it was much easier for us to do this because America started with a clean slate. Even so we still ended up in civil war some 70 years later and this was what finally cemented our federal government’s powers. I don’t think that the EU will end up in war however; I do think it will take you several generations and a common language in order to completely unify. Much to the chagrin of the French I predict the language will be English.
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