Massacre in Kandahar

Originally posted by FMF
As I said several times back when it was awarded, as you well know, I thought it was bordering on laughable, embarrassing even - and this sort of thing has been the case all too often stretching way back in the history of the Nobel Peace Prize - plenty of clangers and cringeworthy moments. What does it have to do Libya's dictator massacring his own people? What ...[text shortened]... rize one in the same thing in your mind? What does it have to do with the massacre in Kandahar?

It's politics. You scratch my back and I will scratch yours, wherever you may itch.

The post that was quoted here has been removed

Obama was given the award due to European infatuation? Not Norwegean infatuation?

Blah!!! 😛

At least everyone agrees the award was 100% BS. Everyone, but Barak, knows it and are laughing behind his back at his enormous ego or he presumbably would have given it back. Of course, as you point out the award itself is known for being total BS. The political reasons behind the award can only be speculated. I guess you have a more generous view of their intentions than I.

Originally posted by whodey
It's politics. You scratch my back and I will scratch yours, wherever you may itch.

This is a cop out meaningless pub bore cliche. You haven't answered any of my questions.

Do you also think North America is a single entity with no separate entities or institutions or sovereign states in the same way as you characterize "Europe". Do you see Asia in the same way?

Originally posted by FMF
This is a cop out meaningless pub bore cliche. You haven't answered any of my questions.

Do you also think North America is a single entity with no separate entities or institutions or sovereign states in the same way as you characterize "Europe". Do you see Asia in the same way?

The US is run primarily by the federal government. Anyone who gets in their way gets crushed. States may flex their muscle from time to time, like Arizona, but in the end the struggle against Big Brother is futile.

Originally posted by whodey
At least everyone agrees the award was 100% BS. Everyone, but Barak, knows it and are laughing behind his back at his enormous ego. Of course, as you point out the award itself is known for being total BS.

"Everyone but Barak knows it?" You seriously think Obama is unaware of the perceptions about the embarrassingly premature nature of the award?

The political reasons behind the award can only be speculated. I guess you have a more generous view of their intentions than I.

You think the Nobel award was some kind of preemptive move in an overall effort by NATO to intervene in Libya? Is that what you are saying?

Originally posted by whodey
The US is run primarily by the federal government. Anyone who gets in their way gets crushed. States may flex their muscle from time to time, like Arizona, but in the end the struggle against Big Brother is futile.

What does this have to do with anything? Arizona? Big Brother?

Originally posted by FMF
"Everyone but Barak knows it?" You seriously think Obama is unaware of the perceptions about the embarrassingly premature nature of the award?

[b]The political reasons behind the award can only be speculated. I guess you have a more generous view of their intentions than I.

You think the Nobel award was some kind of preemptive move in an overall effort by NATO to intervene in Libya? Is that what you are saying?[/b]

I am saying it was political capital and they cashed it in.

Originally posted by FMF
What does this have to do with anything? Arizona? Big Brother?

Power is so centralized in today's world that you need only focus on an elite group of people.

Originally posted by whodey
Nickle and dime aside, the US has the bulk of the military might in the world so without their support nothing flies. If you ask me, UN intervention is a cabal of elite countries with the political and military might to do as they wish with the justification of "saving" the world.

Earlier in this thread, spruce112358 pointed out that of the 82,539 troops currently involved in UN interventions, 16 are Americans, that is to say 0.02 %. How do you square this with your notion that these interventions happen because "the bulk of the military might" is from the U.S. and your claim that "without their support nothing flies"?

Originally posted by whodey
Power is so centralized in today's world that you need only focus on an elite group of people.

What does Arizona and your claims about a Big Brother - that you seem to think turns Europe and Obama into a kind of single entity - have to do with the Massacre in Kandahar?

Originally posted by whodey
I am saying it was political capital and they cashed it in.

You seriously believe that the U.S. participated in the NATO operation in Libya because President Obama was given a Nobel Peace Prize?

Originally posted by spruce112358
A democratically elected and representative UN (without any SC vetoes) could arbitrate disputes between nations and send military force as needed to resolve them.

No one nation can be in the role of cop because no one nation could ever do the job adequately and fairly.

The Jeffersonian principle of friend and trader to all, and entanglements with none, still is the gold standard, one that even Jefferson himself had trouble living up to.

I can hardly see the usefulness of the UN, any more than it's predecessor the League of Nations. The record is that the UN has participated in, and precipitated more wars than it has prevented. The US has used the UN to justify it's foreign ambitions. Remember GWBush's multiple manipulations to get UN resolutions against Iraq.

The US needs to withdraw its troops, and military installations from all but our own shores, and dramatically decrease numbers which aren't needed for the defence of a non aggressive Republic.

Originally posted by FMF
Earlier in this thread, spruce112358 pointed out that of the 82,539 troops currently involved in UN interventions, 16 are Americans, that is to say 0.02 %. How do you square this with your notion that these interventions happen because "the bulk of the military might" is from the U.S. and your claim that "without their support nothing flies"?

How many of those interventions does the US oppose?

Also, if you want something major done militarily, the US is the chosen country to be in the mix.

Originally posted by FMF
You seriously believe that the U.S. participated in the NATO operation in Libya because President Obama was given a Nobel Peace Prize?

I did not mean to imply it was the sole reason, but I think it may have helped win him over.

Originally posted by FMF
"Everyone but Barak knows it?" You seriously think Obama is unaware of the perceptions about the embarrassingly premature nature of the award?

Why do you say that? Did you hear him say it? My guess is you are speculating.

If it were me and I knew I did not deserve it, I would give it back but I guess he has become accustomed to taking things he knows does not belong to him.