Battle erupts @ Russian school....

[Dr Mordrid]

Exactly.

Also: my doors are double-locked with deadbolts and keyed handles. If some SOB comes through that at 3:00 AM he's a dead man...either by my 12 guage or because Spike (112 lb Rottweiler/Rhodesian Ridgeback mix) has eaten him.

Actually, my shooting the SOB would probably be an act of mercy

Dr. Mordrid

[DukeP]

Sigh.
You Americans.!

Im SOOO glad we are allies.



~~DukeP~~

[omegaRED]

Well, anyways, i think there`s a solution to the Chechnia case...

Give the residents 1 month to evac (all with papers ofcourse, background checks to insure they didnt have a family member who was a terrorist), when all who are willing to leave have left, NUKE the f**king snake den. Problem more or less solved.

[IM_Riktar]

Duke:
I used to (And in "theory" right now) believe in most of your points when it comes to the live and let live.

If it was just myself in a situation that had the potential outcome for bodily harm I might entertain your ideas.

Once I became a husband, and most importantly a father, I have taken a direction of "protect" before "understand" in my thinking.

I'll take a chance on myself. I WILL NOT TAKE A CHANCE on the well being of my family.

[xortam]

Originally posted by DukeP
Sigh.
You Americans.! ...

Yeah, go ahead ... lump us all together.

[DukeP]

Did I forget a smiley?

Sorry Xortam.

But its SOO easy to "lump" you guys together. I mean, your politics is only a matter of which of two guys wins.
So more than half of your population must therefore agree with the current president.

Its vastly different from what is common "over here". Theres 6 major parties in Denmark, and a host of smaller ones.
Incidentially, no-one in my family votes for the same guy (Nope, not even my girlfriend).


~~DukeP~~

[Wombat]

Originally posted by omegaRED
Well, anyways, i think there`s a solution to the Chechnia case...

Give the residents 1 month to evac (all with papers ofcourse, background checks to insure they didnt have a family member who was a terrorist), when all who are willing to leave have left, NUKE the f**king snake den. Problem more or less solved.

Wouldn't <I>that</I> be the biggest terrorist act? Obliterating the homeland of an entire population of largely innocent people?

[KvHagedorn]

Originally posted by DukeP
Did I forget a smiley?

Sorry Xortam.

But its SOO easy to "lump" you guys together. I mean, your politics is only a matter of which of two guys wins.
So more than half of your population must therefore agree with the current president.

Its vastly different from what is common "over here". Theres 6 major parties in Denmark, and a host of smaller ones.
Incidentially, no-one in my family votes for the same guy (Nope, not even my girlfriend).


~~DukeP~~

Duke, as I said, you live under very different circumstances in your country than we do here. Denmark is a virtual utopia.. small and relatively homogenous, with a highly civilized society which has a good work ethic. And yes, without the huge weight of responsibility that comes with being a superpower. Just think of yourself as lucky, because you are.

[Dr Mordrid]

I agree. DukeP's country has most of the advantages of modern life without many responsibilities. We in the US have a different experience being an economic and global superpower.

No matter what we do in our own or some nation we call friends interest it's going to piss someone off and make us a target. In such a circumstance we have two possible courses of action;

1. isolationism. This has been tried several times in our past and has never worked. Even if we were isolated politically the actions of others would often affect our economy or in some other manner conspire drag us out of the box.

We've also been dragged out by the miscalculation by others that isolationism was a synonym for weakness (Japan's "Paper Tiger" hypothesis). This was, and still is, a huge miscalculation. Americans by their very nature take this kind of thing very badly.

2. proaction. This is our current mode in which we try to take preventive action. This is effective but often ticks off those still in their own isolationist box. It also conflicts with nations like France who are trying to expand their own spheres of influence. In this mode of operation Amiericans may understand the feelings, but given the choice of ticking people off or getting hit again we'll opt for the former.

Damned if you do; damned if you don't.

Might as well give up and do #2.

Dr. Mordrid

[DukeP]

Well, Denmarks NO superpower, thats for sure. We gave that up ages ago (Although we are still the largest country in Europe, if you count square kilometres).

And we have no large standing army.
Infact, more than half our military is involved with either UN peacekeeping or (what we term peacekeeping) in the Iraq.

The mostly UN based operations of our small country is infact affecting such a large part of our populaiton, that more than 5 of my closest friends have served in either Bosnia, Serbia, Makedonia, Kuwait, Afghanistan or Iraq. Two of those live in the same building as I. One of them is just about to finish his education as a journalist, the other is studying for a master degree in medical biochemistry (You need to at least have a highschool degree to serve).

~~DukeP~~

[IM_Riktar]

Originally posted by DukeP
But its SOO easy to "lump" you guys together. I mean, your politics is only a matter of which of two guys wins.
So more than half of your population must therefore agree with the current president.

~~DukeP~~

How broadminded of you.

[DukeP]

Originally posted by IM_Riktar
How broadminded of you.

Not polite to quote and edit the quoted part. There were amble smileys..

But Im willing to admit to ignorance. How many of you do NOT vote on the two main candidates?

~~DukeP~~

[IM_Riktar]

Duke you are quite correct. No smileys, no sarcasm in my reply other than an apology.

As to who voted for who. I have on past elections "wasted" my vote. Note the sarcastic quotes. That subject is one I am fond of as well as a bit irratated over the apathectic mindset of my society which lends creedence to the whole wasted vote arguement.

Edit ad on: I don't want to get too far off topic from the original debate so I will also toss in the comment about taking whatever action is required to end the terror such as what is occuring in Russia and other places.

I believe inaction will cause greater harm and outweigh the greater good accomplished.

Here's to hoping the action's taken will bring the swiftest (And peacefull) end possible.

[omegaRED]

Originally posted by Wombat
Wouldn't <I>that</I> be the biggest terrorist act? Obliterating the homeland of an entire population of largely innocent people?

You didn`t think i was being serious, did you? Even if i were (which i wasn`t), it`s along the lines with turning the other cheek (which IMHO would do nothing) or giving up on the whole place (worst case, IMHO, not because of the current problem, but because it`d cause a chain reaction, not just in Russia), or negotiating with the monsters. Or a smaller scale rataliatory action in Chechnia (more probable, but essentially with no result in the long run). Besides, i`m sure you`ll agree that people`s lives are more valuable than their posessions, or even homes, the loss of which is a tragedy, sure, but doesn`t really compare to the tragedy of around 500 civilian (over half of which children) deaths in a week.

[rylan]

Duke, just because I vote for one of the two major candidates does not mean I agree with the majority of their policies however.