If you are scared of bullets

[pete376403]

When the Russians were trying to prop up the Afghan govt the Taliban were the Wests (ie US) good guys. The US supplied weapons (ie the Stinger missiles) which helped defeat the Russians (Read "Charlie Wilsons War")

Once the Russians went home the US govt and oil companies were actively courting the taliban in order to get permission for oil and gas pipelines to move product from the central Asian 'stans to the Indian Ocean.

The Saddam invaded Kuwait and it all changed. (Bush 1's war) Major US buildups and bases in Saudi Arabia (infidels on Moslem holy ground) got Bin Laden going. Various attacks ending up with 9/11. Taliban is now NOT the Wests best mate. Bush 2's war started off against Bin Laden in Afghanistan, then got sidetracked into Iraq. Obama has now pulled the troops mostly out of Iraq, but the quagmire of Afghanistan just keeps going. Probably because the oil companies still haven't lost hope of building their pipelines.

Also, a re-write of one of Kiplings poems about Afghanistan.

[Woodman]

from what I understand the taliban or whoever want us to follow Frances example and bug out earlier than planned.

France? surrender? surely not.

Send in more troops I say, negotiating with terrorists will only make them stronger.

[Macontour]

[QUOTE=huff3r;1130381106]That may be true, but I think you'll also find a medics job is to help the injured, no matter where or when. So they know well they could be called upon to provide assistance right in the middle of a firefight.

And of course they may also be trying to save the life of enemy who were just trying to kill them.

For those saying it is too dangerous and they should come home, I guess it is just like us and bikes. We accept that the activity is dangerous, that some may die but we don't think it will be us and we do all we can to try to avoid it being us, but occasionally we may just be unlucky. Just because some of us die occasionally doesn't mean we all stop riding.

The other thing is the very strong sense of comradeship and having your mates back.

[oneofsix]

When the Russians were trying to prop up the Afghan govt the Taliban were the Wests (ie US) good guys. The US supplied weapons (ie the Stinger missiles) which helped defeat the Russians (Read "Charlie Wilsons War")

Once the Russians went home the US govt and oil companies were actively courting the taliban in order to get permission for oil and gas pipelines to move product from the central Asian 'stans to the Indian Ocean.

The Saddam invaded Kuwait and it all changed. (Bush 1's war) Major US buildups and bases in Saudi Arabia (infidels on Moslem holy ground) got Bin Laden going. Various attacks ending up with 9/11. Taliban is now NOT the Wests best mate. Bush 2's war started off against Bin Laden in Afghanistan, then got sidetracked into Iraq. Obama has now pulled the troops mostly out of Iraq, but the quagmire of Afghanistan just keeps going. Probably because the oil companies still haven't lost hope of building their pipelines.

Also, a re-write of one of Kiplings poems about Afghanistan.

Incorrect. The Taliban were one of the groups fighting the Russian but it was the mujahideen the was the West's main ally. The Taliban were seen as to unstable and radical even back then and they proved to be worse oppressors of their own people and grew from a group in a single tribal region.

[Maki]

Everybody knows the real reason for wars but we keep inventing excuses like religion and politics. The world contains a fixed amount of resources but the human population keeps growing. This means less and less for each person. A person who has less than someone else will sometimes fight to redress the imbalance. The USA fights to maintain growth, partly driven by oil and the weapons industry. Some other countries fight to have enough to eat. The excuses are usually politics and religion but in the end those are just lies.

If we want a future free of war we need to achieve some kind of balance with nature. Until we do we will always be fighting.

[oneofsix]

from what I understand the taliban or whoever want us to follow Frances example and bug out earlier than planned.

France? surrender? surely not.

Send in more troops I say, negotiating with terrorists will only make them stronger.

[Akzle]

The world contains a fixed amount of resources but the human population keeps growing.

there's actually enough resources for everyone to be quite comfortably off.

infact, i heard it comparitored a while ago that every person ON THE PLANET could have a square kilometer of australia to live on. granted there's fuckall in australia, but that's how much space we have spare...

[imdying]

infact, i heard it comparitored a while ago that every person ON THE PLANET could have a square kilometer of australia to live on. granted there's fuckall in australia, but that's how much space we have spare...

You heard wrong.

[bogan]

You heard wrong.

he's only out by a factor of 1000

[Maki]

there's actually enough resources for everyone to be quite comfortably off.

Yea right...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine

"The Guardian reports that in 2007 approximately 40% of the world's agricultural land is seriously degraded.[27] If current trends of soil degradation continue in Africa, the continent might be able to feed just 25% of its population by 2025, according to UNU's Ghana-based Institute for Natural Resources in Africa."

"David Pimentel, professor of ecology and agriculture at Cornell University, and Mario Giampietro, senior researcher at the National Research Institute on Food and Nutrition (INRAN), place in their study Food, Land, Population and the U.S. Economy the maximum U.S. population for a sustainable economy at 200 million.[39] To achieve a sustainable economy and avert disaster, the United States must reduce its population by at least one-third, and world population will have to be reduced by two-thirds, says study.[40] The authors of this study believe that the mentioned agricultural crisis will only begin to impact us after 2020, and will not become critical until 2050."

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The myth that there is enough for everyone to be comfortably off is fed by self interested groups such as religious congregations who see their members children as future cash cows. Therefore they urge their members to multiply in order to fatten their bank accounts, who cares about the environment, famine, war and disease...

[imdying]

Sadly, it is coming... and not in the 'running out of oil' way

We are basically headed towards too many people... humans are a parasite... nature deals with parasites in its own way.... which unfortunately is never good for the parasites

[Maha]

Meanwhile, back in the Afghan province of bla blayin...Al Qaeda frontman Mohammed Kaboom has been found dead....his body covering an area of approx 356 sqm.

[Tigadee]

[mashman]

there's actually enough resources for everyone to be quite comfortably off.

infact, i heard it comparitored a while ago that every person ON THE PLANET could have a square kilometer of australia to live on. granted there's fuckall in australia, but that's how much space we have spare...

Agreed. There just isn't enough money to use it properly. Was talking with a friend the other day and she was commenting on how there are 3 hard core gardeners in her cul de sac... no problem to them being able to plant out the 1000 or so houses that don't have vege patches around where I live. Unfortunately they'd want money for materials etc... Planting out own own patches will give the hard tilled soil a rest.

Talking to another friend a couple of months ago and soil erosion in the US is starting to become a bit of an issue. He's a smart smart smart guy and knows lots of smart smart smart people... anyhoo, he was saying that the US has lost something like 30 metres (yes 30 metres) of top soil over the last 40 years or so. If that is true then bullets are gonna be the new currency .

On the flip side, war is utterly unavoidable and is not fought in the name of freedom as that is what diplomacy is for. War is stealing.


I heard that we could all stand up in texas.

[Tigadee]

War is also for bolstering an economy... All that weaponry and ammunition sitting around doing nothing except depreciating is going to expire sometime anyway, use it up and you can claim capital expenditure, print/spend more money to buy new ones and claim some sort of moral high ground to invade.

So what better way to turn your declining economy around and create jobs, raise the stock index, pay fat bonuses, distract taxpayers and instill a sense of national pride? Start a war...