RE: Who Most Threatens America?

RE: Who Most Threatens America? (Full Version)

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LadyJulieAnn -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/5/2006 7:15:09 AM)
The media.

LadyJulieAnn -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/5/2006 7:16:39 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: DivaDuchess The rich will always control those that have little or nothing, and in my opinion, threaten America the most. Define "rich".

MissyRane -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/5/2006 7:22:09 AM)
not a who..but a what...religion.. in my opinion

WhipTheHip -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/5/2006 7:38:22 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: CrappyDom People who believe there are simple answers for complex problems. Complex problems often have simple answers. I remember once solving a four page math problem. The answer was 1.

caitlyn -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/5/2006 8:59:08 AM)
The only real threat to America, is letting our military power degrade. History teaches us that powerful nations can survive and prosper through corrupt and inept leadership, poor economic decisions, famine, natural disasters, you name it ... as long as military power remains a top priority. It's a big bad world out there. I wish it wasn't that way ... but it is.

CrappyDom -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/5/2006 10:37:21 AM)
caitlyn, You draw the most amazing things from history. I find the complete opposite. Napolean was kicking ass until he lost. England won both World Wars and lost its empire because of it. Massive militaries are expensive and drain treasuries. Japan had a fantastic one during WWII and lost. They have no military to speak of now and are doing great.

caitlyn -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/5/2006 12:09:36 PM)
I'm not sure who "Napolean" is, but if you are talking about Napoleon Bonaparte, the army fielded at Waterloo had degraded quite a bit, and had failed to respond to modern tactics used by Wellington. [;)][;)] England is still a reasonably strong nation. I'm not sure they really "lost" things they wanted to keep. It was no longer profitable for England to project power across the globe ... especially when they have the United States to do that for them. Think what you want about our friends in the UK, but they know how to play this game. Japan was never militarily strong. Japan was beaten by 16% of America's war potential in the Second World War. That Japan is doing well now, is not on point. They are no longer an Empire. I can respect your opinion on what conclusions I draw from history, but the key to understanding my point, is to make historical comparisons that actually apply to the United States. Napoleon's France, The British Empire, and Japan, are all examples of poor historical comparisons. They were never as militarily strong in relation to potential enemies, as the United States is today. If you want better historical comparisons, you need to look at those that were equally strong in relation to potential enemies, as the United States is today. The middle period Roman Empire is a good one, as is the Byzantine Empire of Justinian, Basil, and Alexi Comnenus. China during the Qin and Han Dynasty makes an excellent comparison tool, as is the Carolingian Frankish Empire. These all had power relative to their potential opponents, roughly parallel to what the United States has today. Another thing that must be considered when making a comparison, is that "Empire" doesn't always mean area. The Arab Conquest period makes a poor example as a comparision to the United States, as they were never able to defeat other powerful states. They took a lot of ground, but were never particularly strong in relation to other powerful nations. The same can be applied to the Sassanids, Ottomans or Mongols. All very powerful, but not overly so, when matched against potential opponents. The Soviet Union is another poor example, for roughly the same reasons. Interesting debate ...

windy135 -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/5/2006 1:14:51 PM)
America

meatcleaver -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/5/2006 4:03:20 PM)
It is true that the British Empire rarely fielded massive armies in the field, they preferred to divide and rule and use allied armies. Britain maintained 40,000 men in India at the height of the Empire, 20,000 of them were administrators and recruited Indians into the British Indian Imperial army. However, the British Empire was maintained by sea power which it invested heavily in to protect trade which was the whole point of the Empire. Once the empire started to cost Britain to maintain it, we withdrew. You are right about Napoleon. He used manpower like it was an easily replaceable commodity and didn't adapt his tactics which was his ultimate downfall. I forget the exact quote but wellington was supposed to have said at the battle of Waterloo, Napoleon only knows one way how to fight a battle...brute force. He just keeps charging in the same old way.

CrappyDom -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/5/2006 4:26:15 PM)
Caitlyn, Your analytical abilities and logic suck. You tell me Britain wasn't a good example cause they are "strong" and then say that Japan was a bad example because they were "weak" and yet the Japanese were busy cleaning the Brits clocks...

happypervert -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/5/2006 6:42:25 PM)
The neocons are the biggest threat to America. quote: History teaches us that powerful nations can survive and prosper through corrupt and inept leadership, poor economic decisions, famine, natural disasters, you name it ... as long as military power remains a top priority. History also teaches us that powerful nations only remain powerful if they don't squander that power by overextending themselves. Problem is, almost by definition the powerful nations are driven to overextend themselves, and then they undermine their economies by spending ever more on the military in a futile effort to prevent a decline in power. We ain't quite there yet, but unilaterally deciding to bring democracy to some shithole in the Middle East is exactly the type of overextending venture the formerly powerful empires engaged in. Perhaps in 200 years historians will point to Iraq as the beginning of the end of America as a great power. For a good read on the subject, I highly recommend The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy. quote: England is still a reasonably strong nation. I'm not sure they really "lost" things they wanted to keep. Right! That little thing we call the Revolutionary War was just an elaborate ruse they perpetrated to make us think they wanted to keep their "colonies".

Dtesmoac -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/5/2006 7:18:19 PM)
The food industry. Far more Americans are being killed early due to the hidden fat and sugar in their diet than are being killed in any acts of terrorism. And these deaths are aided and abetted by government policy that financial supports the crap that goes into the food. Obeisty rates, diabetes, etc, etc,etc,etc.............

slavejlb -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/6/2006 3:27:14 AM)
i have to agree with meatcleaver we are our own worst emenies, we will destory ourself from the inside first. by fear, mostly. take care and be safe

philosophy -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/6/2006 5:22:34 AM)
"I can respect your opinion on what conclusions I draw from history, but the key to understanding my point, is to make historical comparisons that actually apply to the United States." Caitlyn, i think there is a logical flaw in your reasoning, and that you have stated it very clearly here. If you only analyse history from an americacentric viewpoint you run the very real risk of losing the original context. For instance your argument about the UK's reasons for losing an empire are, quite frankly, rubbish........but your underlying reason for making such a naiive assertion is clear when you speak of the UK having america to push its influence on the world. You seem to think it's all about the US.....and it's precisely that thinking that is the real enemy of america today. It's a whole planet out there and america is absolutely not the be all and end all of it. While too many americans ignore context that isn't american you will consistently fail to understand the world......and, sadly, that'll probably have the effect of creating more 9/11's and the sight of americans running around asking 'why'.

meatcleaver -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/6/2006 6:01:24 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: happypervert Right! That little thing we call the Revolutionary War was just an elaborate ruse they perpetrated to make us think they wanted to keep their "colonies". If you read your history, the British Parliament was split 50-50 and half of the parliament were more than sympathetic to the revolutionaries for several reasons. On the right many parliamentarians didn't like paying tax either, on the left were radicals that sympathised with the aims of the revolt. I've said it before, the founding fathers were the mirror image of their parliamentary counterparts in Britain. As soon as they had won the war they raised taxes to keep a standing army to secure the country (dare I say for themselves?). Britain never commited enough troops to the war and were half hearted in pursuing the war. The British never had a coherent strategy, weren't quite sure why they were fighting, had little support at home for the war and were clueless as to what they would do with the colonies should they have won. It was a war Britain really won because they got the best result. The colonies had cost Britain a fortune to protect and had a huge trading deficit with the colonies and getting rid of the burden of the colonies freed the energy of Britain to pursue other policies.

Mercnbeth -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/6/2006 6:29:04 AM)
The 75% who don't vote in local "off year" elections down to the nearly 50% of the eligible voters who don't vote in presidential elections. Then of course there are those who vote as they speak, based upon "talking points" and buzzwords; usually the same that can't debate an issue and resort to labeling, insults, and name calling. However, most often, they also aren't registered to vote. After all, their one vote won't make a difference, posting on CM will?

JohnSteed1967 -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/6/2006 6:34:38 AM)
Who Most threatens America? Simple George Bush and his administration. What other president in recent history has spent this much money on a war that we aren't winning and destroyed the freedoms on which America is Based? They send a very simple message "If you don't support Bush and his war, then your a Nazi"

Mercnbeth -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/6/2006 6:59:18 AM)
quote: They send a very simple message "If you don't support Bush and his war, then your a Nazi" John, Not on CM. Here, the party of Bush is identified as Nazi.Proving only the ignorance of the poster's understanding of the Nazis and making anything they say worthless.

caitlyn -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/6/2006 7:00:33 AM)
Please forgive me for actually discussing this as it relates to America, in a post entitled, "Who Most Threatens America?"

philosophy -> RE: Who Most Threatens America? (9/6/2006 7:18:50 AM)
"Please forgive me for actually discussing this as it relates to America, in a post entitled, "Who Most Threatens America?" " quite........solipism.........the phrase 'who most threatens america' includes within it the possibility that the threat may come from outside america. While you cling to the notion that all world events can be analysed purely in american terms you miss out on many nuances, and critically run the risk of failing to understand world events until it is too late. Unless you can think outside the blinkers of american interest and outlook you will fail to properly analyse intelligence, because the people you are gathering intelligence on are often not american.

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