Who wants to do a scorecard on US wars? I'd just like to see a comparison of the two most opposite countries when it comes to war.
Well, the difference is that we will never really FULLY know the real power of the American military because simply put, we have never taken on THE major power in the world. Think about it: the British and the French fought one another a few times when they were the two most powerful nations in the world; the Spanish and the British also fought one another; Nazi Germany took on the Soviets at one time, and lost of course; Heck, even Christian Europe took on the Muslim Abbasid Caliphate during the Crusades (in a sense). Ahh, how I miss the good ol' days of warfare, where men where real gladiators and fought on equal ground... Until there is an all-out war (one-on-one, not NATO vs. another side) between the USA and another superpower in the world today (either China or Russia would do at this point of time), then we will never truly know the full power of the American military. Of course, I am not wishing for a war, because today's warfare would basically threaten to wipe out the entire population of the earth and make areas uninhabitable for a few decades. But I am just saying...
Use of the full conventional power of the military requires an enemy within proximety of the home country so that the projection can be supported. China and Russia could never project power onto the western hemisphere. The US has the ability to project influence anywhere in the world but certainly not at a level to conquer or occupy much territory. Full scale conventional war has become an anachronism. For better or worse we will live in a world of guerilla conflicts, terrorism and nuclear threats. For all the saber rattling there is nothing to be gained by either side by conflict in Taiwan. There are some territorial issues in the South China Sea reguarding oil prodution that might produce some low level skirmishes requiring the US to balance the power of China but I don't think anyone short of Kim Jong Il is crazy enough to escalate a confrontation to World War status anymore. Maybe 50 years from now a Pan-islamic coalition armed with a nuclear deterrant, but what would their position be other than defensive? They already have all the oil. And you can't take from them without destroying the resource. Maybe 50 years from now China will break the US in a cold war of military production like we did the USSR. Now that could happen. I love the pics I found of Monica Bellucci but isn't she Italian?
French bashing is for rednecks and losers who deep down inside are so insecure about the US, they need to bash another country to get their patriotism on. Same goes for French people who bash America, though I don't know what the French equivelant of a redneck is. As for hot french chicks, one need not look any further than Laetitia Casta. Look her up and you'll find more revealing photos.
What email? This is certainly harsh and cuts the French no slack but then again FB cuts them a wide swath: i.e. "Italian wars - lost parts of the country but didn't lose as a whole."
I think I counted that as a loss. The e-mail also leaves out Norman conquests of England, where the French were the victors. Since the purpose of the French are losers piece that started the post was humor, I don't think it really matters much. I understand it was an attempt at humor, and don't fault it for that. It is just that it is humor based on falsehoods for the most part. In addition Italy didn't take over France, so even though the ceded some territory it wasn't a clear cut Italian Victory.
I enjoy a French bashing as much as anyone, but then I thought maybe France stop going to war because they are just content with their own country's welfar? They DO spend $43 billion dollars on military (compare to the $280+ billion we spend..although i think this is more?). And they do have the 5th highest GDP. Maybe this is just enough for them to say "the hell with America! We love what we have"? BTW, the D&D forum just proves that Socrates was right: True wisdom consists of knowing that you know nothing. And judging by some of the debates, I must have a lot of wisdom. Thanks guys.
LOL. france tied in WWII kind of like robinson tied hakeem in the western conference finals. i mean hakeem didn't actually physically rip his balls off and stomp them out of existence, but close enough. we did pretty well in that WWII thing. while russia gave us a nice hand, essentially going on the road to beat nazi germany and imperial japan at the same time is a nice demonstration of our power. as for taking on the most powerful in the world today, considering no one's even close to us militarily speaking, i don't think it would be that close. well, assuming we don't allow nukes b/c then i guess we'd just blow each other up and that would be that. and why are french jokes so horrible to you Oski? i mean, in general it's just in good fun, like blonde jokes or something. and after you spend 4 or 5 posts telling us how bad the jokes are and sticking up for them with pictures of hot women, you take a shot at america w/ another picture? ok then.
I was actually using less absurd standards than the author of the piece as criteria for wins and losses. I agree it was a loss. But there was a significant part of France that wasn't occupied. But like I said it was a loss.
What's even more hilarious is that most French bashers aren't even in the military. So while you are cracking jokes about aimed at guys like those French pilots helping us out in Afghanistan, you guys are just sitting on your asses and making fun of them behind their collective backs. It's just pathetic IMHO.
I believe it was the French who started this pissin' contest. What's a French basher? I haven't had an ill-thought about France for monts until I found this on another BBS. I spent 6 weeks in France in 1978 and loved it. I take it then that you know for a fact that all these critics of the American military are, in fact, themselves, military or at least ex-military?
Chalemagne did MORE than just "do good for himself"....stopping the Muslim Hordes from taking all of western Europe might have saved both Christianity and the continuing develpoment of western civilization it's self.
yes...she is. Born in 1964 in the Italian village of Citta di Castello, Umbria she did appear in a couple of French films tho...won the French equivalent of a Oscar... the only two relatively famous good looking French women I can think of are Alizee and Sophie Marceau Italian women are far hotter than French ones...
