As usual Blackdog, well reasoned. I don't agree with some of it, but I understand your logic.
I totally agree with your assessment of how Russia fights: hard and quick (well, except Afghanistan which we all understand is a boondoggle). It's not always pretty, but it is decisive and, over all, saves lives.
I can tell you how the public was talked into Kosovo: It was our liberal media. They started throwing around the word "genocide'.
Why did our liberal media want a war? Because the President they backed was in trouble at home. The war provided a distraction and a way for him to become a hero. Preventing genocide seems honorable, right?
The President was roundly criticized by the conservatives for the way he fought the war. He wouldn't send in ground troops. He preferred to fight the war at 30 thousand feet.
Basically, he was a coward and would not commit forces to get the job done quickly. He was afraid of authorizing actions that would cause American casualties. But hey, he made up for it by passing up opportunities to take out Osama before 9/11
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It's interesting to look at the which presidents "start wars". People want to call conservatives "Warmongers' but it is often our liberal Democrats who get frisky on the foreign front.
Blackdog, wouldn't it be fair to say that Greece's economic problems resulted from their government/economic system? It seems the government has used entitlements (pensions and other government funded programs) to buy votes and power. They kept handing out money until it ran out...then they handed out more lol.
The US is headed down that same path...the question will be who will bail us out? When we fall, the bail out funds needed will be calculated in trillions of US dollars and no one has that money.
BTW, I do feel sorry for the Palestinians. They are being used as pawns on the international scene. No peace is likely to be negotiated there because "peace" is not in the best interest of those "backing" the Palestinians. If they were suddenly taken out of the equation it would create a huge public relations gap. People would still find reasons to hate Israel, but it would be harder to justify.
Splitter