Who knew P-3's were so threatening?

[eraser_tr 29]

In other words, in the appropriate American slang that I grew up on, Europe is currently a cluster ****.

 

As are we.

 

The disrespect we get even from allies comes most from the attitude "If it wasn't for us you'd all be speaking German" we constantly espouse rather than deeds. The great Lewis Black summed it up, if you worked in an office with a person who constantly told you how superior they are to everyone else there and how you wouldn't stand a chance without them, I guarantee within a week, you'd have killed them.

 

There's pride and confidance are good, but like with a person too much is as much a detriment as a strength.

 

being nice to everyone all the time doesn't get you to the top - that's reality!.

 

Maybe, but nobody hates you (unless you're one of those infectiously cheery, bubbly types) Just look at countries like Canada or Sweden, they're always nice to everyone and who hates or attacks them? You can get to the top being nice to everyone, but once near you have to give the message not to f**k with you, but still be nice.

 

As for the economic chernobyll, blame can be traced as far back as the 70s and stagflation, but could have been entirely avoidable. Enron was a huge alarm, and people had been going to the SEC about Madoff for years about his ponzi scheme. The most simple way to describe it, people forgot the lessons of the great depression. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission will likely come to the same exact conclusion as the Pecora hearings. Hell they could practically plagiarize the entire thing word for word and change the names around.

[serverandenforcer 33]

As are we.

 

...if you worked in an office with a person who constantly told you how superior they are to everyone else there and how you wouldn't stand a chance without them, I guarantee within a week, you'd have killed them.

 

 

 

Not if they're always carrying a bigger and better gun. Then I stay the f*** away and mind my own business. Just listen to the white noise as he/she keeps ranting about himself/herself and hope he/she doesn't notice me as a target for conversation.

Edited January 16, 2010 by serverandenforcer

[eraser_tr 29]

The point is, its annoying as hell and turns people away, even when its true. Modesty is a far better approach than boasting (until you get into a contest that is)

[serverandenforcer 33]

The point is, its annoying as hell and turns people away, even when its true. Modesty is a far better approach than boasting (until you get into a contest that is)

 

I saw a Marine Corps T-shirt that said, "It's hard to be modest when you know you're the best!" Hey, we try not to boast a lot, but when someone starts pointing that stupid finger, it's hard not to hold back and put them back in their place.

[Vigilant 1]

In other words, in the appropriate American slang that I grew up on, Europe is currently a cluster ****.

 

Not completely. Today, most of these problems are only annoying. If there is nothing done about them, then in time they will become very real. There are many different tensions here. Between the old western members and new eastern. Between the small and large members. The mediterranean members want different things than Skandinavian ones. The British are always at the bring of "lets blow that tunnel and be done with it". The problems I wrote about simply don't help make these tensions go away. And politics aimed at average center voter make the parties somewhat bland. Whenever support for extreme parties rises (like in the last European parliament elections) it is correct to assume that the "normal" parties are doing something wrong.

I know that I am probably too pessimistic about it, but problem with pessimism is, that sooner or later you are right and s*** really hits the fan.

 

Anyway, was there any new development on that P-3 incident?

[+Gepard 11,303]

The EU is far to be perfect. In contrary. The european unification may be a fiction. But it is the biggest peace keeping activity worldwide.

If you remember back how often in history the europeans played their favorit game "kill each other" and how often they played it when became member of the EU (EC) then you would see the worth of the EU. Its far better to have a very suboptimal EU than to have one optimal war.

[MigBuster 2,884]

 

Maybe, but nobody hates you (unless you're one of those infectiously cheery, bubbly types) Just look at countries like Canada or Sweden, they're always nice to everyone and who hates or attacks them? You can get to the top being nice to everyone, but once near you have to give the message not to f**k with you, but still be nice.

 

 

Perfect examples of countries that will never be at the top - anyway who exactly is gonna have a go at Canada with the USA right next to them and it being part of the British commonwealth - btw both Canada and Sweden have troops in Afganistan - so they do have some enemies I guess.

As for Sweden - well no one knows it there, if they had something worth nicking the Germans would have been in there - claiming to be neutral and brandashing those tiny swiss army knives wouldnt have stopped much

 

Sorry who has got to the top being nice? - apart from Santa - and even thats debatable - we only see what the press report

[eraser_tr 29]

Really? because they're really up there on everything usable to measure, standards of living, health, etc. Military might, obviously not #1, nor the best measure to judge a country by.

[JediMaster 451]

You can't take a country's standard of living or healthcare system from them. Unlike things like resources or land, while you can be envious of what they have, there's no way to take it for yourself other than moving there. You CAN destroy it, but that is a lot of expenditures for what is basically a petty act.

[SayethWhaaaa 245]

Jedi, you know anyone in foreign affairs who is "above" committing petty acts? I sure as hell don't...

[JediMaster 451]

No, my point was simply the cost of something like a war is prohibitive if your only goal is "if we can't make it, they can't have it either." If it can be taken, then the war is easier to justify.

 

"We must ensure the enemy loses their preventative health care option!!"

"Um...yeah?"

[Sakai 2]

I live near a, until 2011, P-3 base, NAS Brunswick, Maine. I was in the Sea Cadets as a young man and got the opportunity to do a ride along in one over the Gulf of Maine, and North Atlantic. We were doing a normal patrol, looking for russias finest submersibles. It was that wonderful time of after the cold war and before 9/11, so there wasn't much to do. I can say this much, our P-3 crews, indeed, all of our aircrews in the armed forces are very professional and don't lose their way on accident very often. If we are doing recce on Chavez, then god bless the crew doing so. He is yet another nutjob in a world full of them, and need some divine intervention in the form of precision guided munitions.

 

I personally feel that the US has not only the responsibility, but the right, to keep little conflicts from growing into big ones. The longer we let chavez do his thing, the more Flankers will be sitting on his airfields, the more americans die when we finally have no choice but to pull the trigger to save regional stability. Imperialistic is not the word I would use to describe our efforts. England was an empire, Japan was an Empire, even France. We leave when we are done stabilizing a region most of the time. And let us not forget, at this time we have an all volunteer force. If we need to, the selective service can put soldiers in boots on the front line in 196 days, lots of them. That combined with a core of highly trained professionals with the best gear in the world........I echo Dave's comments when I say...PLEASE CHAVEZ, JUST ONE STUPID MOVE! PLEASE!!!!!