Was dumb enough myself to get suckered in.
I whole heartedly agree, maybe an admin should step in and end this...No need to restart the cold war :grin:

I have no ill will towards the country of Russia and Olegs great sim has certainly helped with any ignorance I may have had on the matter. But this is a discussion for another forum in my opinion for the simple fact that it can not remain simple if you know what I mean. I certainly hope SoW gets installed on my hard drive in the near future but only because Im a simmer and perhaps a tad selfish...;-)

S!

Sorry, politcal correctness has nothing to do with it. If it is your opinion that someones sexual orientation is sinful, keep it to yourself. It is the opinion of some islamics that spreading christianity is sinful, yet you say they are evil for that. I say that discrimination of any kind is sinful, unless it's bigots, bigots should be shot ;)

There is so much that is naive/factually wrong with what you say that it's ridiculous. Every country works with/against other countries to get the most benefit. Many times the USA has gone above and beyond this criteria to help many others when we really did not have to.

It took the USA to go into the Balkans to stop genocide (to help Muslims I must add)-where were all the "smart/great/caring" Europeans. Same thing as Darfur-no one is willing to get involved until it turns out to be the USA. Even in Afghanistan it's nearly impossible to get the required help from certain members of NATO. Our next Presidential election will show you what will happen in a World where the USA turns again to isolationism. As a so-called Superpower I think we have been relatively behaved when compared to any other like-sized country/empire. I

The point i'm trying to make but some of you don't get is very simple. You can't help someone who doesn't want your help, you'll only annoy them or worse. If a woman is forced to wear a burgha against her will it's bad, but if a woman wants to wear it who am i to bomb her country to "liberate" her from covering her face?

The US has helped a lot of people and harmed equally many. Helping is not their concern, helping people with common interests is.

Nearmiss, i respect your freedom of having a different opinion even if i totally disagree with it. I just want you to know that to an outsider like me you don't seem very different from a mildly radical muslim, the only thing that changes is a couple of names..US instead of Iraq, Christianity instead of Islam.

I honestly mean you no offence with what i'm saying, but your though patterns are very similar.

It's not your ideas that will make you different from those people that annoy you so much, it's how you pursue them that will.

As for the genocide in the Balkans, i live less than a day from where most of it all went down and i can tell you with absolute certainty that it wasn't only one side engaging in the killing and mass expulsion of civilians.

This isn't even new, it dates back to the middle ages up to WW2, but it's not your fault that CNN won't show you a report about it. I don't mean this as an insult, but i don't expect a country with 200 years of existence under its belt to understand blood feuds that have been going on in circles for half a millennium. They simply lack the collective "historical experience" (for want of a better phrase) as a nation to see things that way, plus they've been in so many wars and never saw their home turf getting bombed that i would be an idiot to believe they would understand why things are the way they are in the Balkans. And i don't blame them for it one bit. I blame them for thinking their way is the only way when they have a fraction of the knowledge required to see the big picture.

Everyone knows how many Bosnian civilians were killed by Serbian paramilitary units, it's just too bad that nobody knows how many Serbian civilians were killed by Croatian/Muslim/Albanian paramilitaries. To think that it was as one sided as western media portrayed it is honest lack of knowledge at best, or downright naivety at worst. If you want to know why the Serbian irregulars were so aggressive against civilians in these recent wars, maybe you should read about the Jasenovac concentration camps and the 13th SS Handschar division during WW2. There where no saints there. There is not one of these nations that can claim their guys were 100% innocent and the enemy was 100% guilty, they were all guilty of crimes to varying degrees and they have long memories to keep the feuds going.

You don't end these vendettas if you single out only one of the offenders for punishment, because it's equal to rewarding the rest for their transgressions. If the international community really wanted to put an end to this, they would punish everyone equally to make it known that they'll gain nothing by killing the other side's civilians. Instead, they rewarded 3 of the factions for their crimes by only using force against the fourth. Rewarding might seem a harsh word to you, but it's perfectly suitable. If i'm the kind of person to do this kind of stuff and see i can kill and pillage just like the next guy, only i can do it with impunity and foreign support while he can't, then i'll do it again.

A lot of Greek people went to study in Yugoslavian universities before all the wars broke out and the news they brought when they were forced to return during each war was equally damning for all nations in the area. We just have to believe that it was a coincidence the US bombed the only nation that was friendly with Russia :rolleyes:

As for some other questions raised above...

International law does exist despite the fact the US (and other countries too) is trying to sidestep it on occasion. They are hell bent on the Hague tribunal for war crimes in Yugoslavia, but don't sign the human rights court charter because their hands are dirty with Guandanamo. There is law and there is jurisdiction and you should know better, your grandfathers fought and died and legislated with other countries when they formed the UN, to prevent these kinds of things from happening in the future. Too bad that modern day governments are so keen to do away with their work.

As for cases like Darfur i have one word for you. Rwanda. Where was the US intervention there, when your own diplomats were frantically calling back home to persuade higher ups to send a single division? Well you see, Rwanda is not as close as Sudan is to areas of geopolitical interest like the Horn of Africa :rolleyes:

Reading your posting I realize regardless what is written, or how much good you know the US has done you seek occassion against US. Therefore you will always be able to turn over at least one stone for disagreement.

You accuse the US, but where was your country when Rwanda needed help?
What did your country do to prevent genocide in the the Serbia /Kosovo/ Croatia conflicts? The US recognized the independence of Kosovo, several days ago. Did your country do that?

You're just like others that blame America to ignore the fact your own country does nothing. It's not about being a rich or poor country, when a country wants to help they can find a way.

The world is full of whiners, excuse makers, people and governments that do nothing to help others. So, I say before you accuse the US take a look at what your own country does.

Relax guys