jeff what you are doing here is exactly what the media is doing, that is demonization and dehumanization. you gotta get real buddy, these ppl dont do it for fun
Who said anything about "fun". This is serious business on both sides.
they do it because they have no other choice.
No, they do
this thing because they choose to do so...for whatever reason...some of them admittedly being harsh.
this is a forum not the media so you dont have to be politically correct all the time ...maybe you think that the pirates has always been a great threat, but the media dont seem to agree, all the focus has been on the terrorism and all that, i dont see you talkin about pirates in somalia a year ago.
In my last post I said that their threat had been reduced for many years to the major sea lanes because of the way the nations routed them out. Lately, ariund Somalia, the threat to the major sea lanes has again reared its ugly head.
As to Somalia, I have been talking to people about Somalia and the situation there since the late 1980s and through the 1990s.
My military knowledge is not my only interest. I have also been very active politically, parrticularly with activism. ANd what I am saying here is certainly not coinsidered "politcally" correct according to today's progressive thinking.
But that progressive thinking does not change the pertinent facts.
Any look at my JEFFHEAD.COM site, or a google of my name will reveal this.
You really should ask a couple of questions and check things like that out before you make a firm statement regarding it.
As to values, rightousness, right and wrong, politics, etc. While it is true that there are a lot of amoral and immoral politicans and leaders...in the end they have to appeal to one degree or another to the fundamental value system of the society they either represent or lead. If they do not, then ultimately they fall from power.
This is the truth of politics from time immorial. Either the sensibilites of the people in the nations or maintained (even at a low level), or they and those of the people surrounding it will sour if equity is not addressed and that power will fall.
Those politicans and leaders usually last longest who naturally and sincerely attempt to weigh the moral and political issues against national interests and actions. All come into play. Others try and fool their people...but this can only last so long as ultimately their actions and their words do not line up and it besomce obvious to the people.
In a western style constitutional republic (because that is what most are as opposed to true democracies) this change happens quicker associated with election cycles and is usually less violent. In totalitarian states it can take much longer but can also be very violent.
As a student you are exposed to a fairly limited life's experience to date (this is a general statement and applies if you are young) and a whole lot of what professors are telling you. Philosphically many professors are quite bright...but the real world is always a better teacher in the end. A mix of both can be very good, if the latter is given priority once the student graduates and gets out in the real world with a real career, family, responsibilites, etc., etc.
My Dad (who was a master degreed dynamics engineer and extremely talented), God rest his soul, taught it to my like this.
"We all know what BS is. MS is just "more of the same", and PHD is the same stuff "piled higher and deeper".
He told me to get my education (which I did) and then use it to help me understand the real world as I worked in my career...not to try and use it to control the real world. Sort of like in a military a good officere listens to and benefits from his NCOs...while officers that already know it all and insist on pure textbook solutions can get a lot of people killed.
Anyhow...good luck in your studies.
What is happening in Somalia is the "real" world writ large on life's canvas. There is good and bad. And the nations responding to the piracy are doing so for all sorts of reasons...but in the end, those reasons better reflect something of their underlying value system or things will go even worse awry.
I know a lot of military people in the US, their commanders, and some of the polciy makers. I am telling you honestly and sincerely that there is a lot more "value" thinking and reasoning mixed in with the use of the US military than your current cynical view indicates.
You are free to believe that or not...but again, it does not change the truth of it.
Anyhow, I believe I have stated my own reasoning and the ideas behind it. Other folks reading can make up their own mind and judge accordingly. But I believe you are going to see the "pirate" issue addressed at sea and that more nations will respond directly to it as, IMHO, they should.
Hopefully, at some point some of the issues on shore will be addressed...but sometimes that takes a long time, and other times you can't solve all the problems in any case.
But in the mean time the pirate issue at sea can be addressed...as per my posts earlier on this thread.
