Quote:
Originally Posted by Idiens
And Cam, I certainly thank the Americans who won the war in Europe.
But what did their children, born after the war, contribute? Why do the glories of the fathers pass to their children, allowing them to claim superiority above all criticism?
When a veteran of that war makes your claims, I bow to him. When his children, born after that war, make the same claims, it smacks of arrogance to me.
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You've gone a bit too far with this one, Idiens.
Apparently you're willing to admit that the US spent half of the twentieth century bailing Yurrup's ass out but, since then, we've done damn little. The kindest interpretation I can put on your remarks is that our soldiers, in general, were not dying in Yurrup's defense.
You say this while you've lived your entire life under the protection of the American nuclear umbrella. You say this while you sleep secure in the knowledge that the NATO treaty says that an attack on a NATO member is synonymous with an attack on all NATO members and that the US is forsworn to come to your defense. You've got a lot of G.D. balls to spout such bull tookey.
Do you have the least idea of what it took to create the M1A1 Main Battle Tank? Just a refresher; it's the only tank in the world that can stand up to or destroy the Soviet T-72 tank. And the only place it was truly developed for was the fertile tank plains of northern Europe. Last I checked, that'd include Belgium. The ceramic armor alone was a billion dollar project to develop. I have no idea what it took to make a gas turbine that would fit into a 70 ton tank and propel it at 70 mph but, I don't think it was cheap. And that's just one weapons system! By the way, we could have gotten by otherwise with our Sherman tanks for most of our obligations around the rest of the world. Maybe you could name one weapons system, or weapon, that Belgium has developed recently. What strategic forces or weapons does Belgium possess?
Yurrup likes to disdain us for our guns, our non-socialized medicine, our long work hours, our lack of vacation time, our expensive universities that the government won't pay for, and our relative uncouthness. And that's just fine. But while Yurrup has been busy socializing her economies and coddling her citizens cradle to grave the United States citizen has been paying, day in and day out, so you fear for naught.
We maintain a military approximately one third the size of the entire population of Belgium and it should be larger yet given our commitments. I can see a way clear to reduce those commitments by quite a significant amount. I'd say we should renounce the NATO treaty but then I think of the Poles and the rest of eastern Europe who, along with the Brits, are damn glad we never weakened in our resolve.
It's interesting, and beyond the scope of this thread, how the English-speaking peoples of the world seem to be largely responsible for it not being one vast despotic dictatorship. One can only wonder why that calm self-sacrificing steely reserve never managed to cross the Channel while it flowed freely into such far flung places as North America and the Antipodes.
You ought to be embarrassed.