Re: RE: European Military Not Up To Par?

[Leon Harrison <juni0r@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 21:08 5/02/02 -0500, you wrote:
> >>American critics of Europe's military incapability are >>right," he said.
>Quite frankly, I think this was a foolish remark for any official to make.
>Inflammatory at best, a blatant slap in the face at worse, and almost
>childish in any respect.

Bravo.  Indeed.

>As an American I have never heard anyone comment that we should "Nuke" NZ,
>or England, or anywhere other than Afghanistan and Iraq.

As an American you probably wouldn't.  These comments were made directly 
towards me as a New Zealander on several occasions and meant to make me 
feel inferior or otherwise subservient.  All they succeed in was to make me 
laugh.  Then I said that the offenders in each case needed to look at their 
own history, and learn a little about some other countries in the world and 
take a good hard look at who has been a friend to their own nation in times 
of need.

>Anyone who feels that way should consider stepping back and taking an
>objective look at the world.......last time I personally checked, we (The
>USA) are not at war with England, NZ, etc.
> >>It's not about that... just big boots. To be brutally
> >>honest, it's precisely this attitude that makes US
> >>citizens disliked to a vast majority of the world
> >>population. Sad, but true.
>Really? I always thought it was our cat food. I'm serious.

Nah mate, we got enough sheep here for that :)

>There are many countries where money is very tight, and there are also many
>locations on this wonderful planet where people struggle to find food to
>eat,
>simply to sustain a day to day, hand to mouth existence. And yet here in
>America we have a over a thousand different types of cat food, and hundreds
>of brands of toilet paper. I suspect that we throw away more food in this
>country than anywhere else in the world.

Well the very broad stat for that is, that 20% of the world's population 
(US, UK, Australia, NZ etc) eats, consumes, wastes 80% of the worlds 
food.  Food for thought, no pun intended.  Food distribution is a joke.  We 
need to ditch some sheep I reckon, just speaking for New Zealand.

>I am proud to be an American, and I am grateful for everything my country
>has done for me, but I would never use that as an excuse to insult another
>man's country.

That's good to hear, sadly many of your fellow Americans don't seem to need 
much of any excuse to insult many countries.  We all do it though.  We all 
have this major problem.  We are part of the tattered machine called 
humanity mate.  Kiwis are really good at insulting people, especially their 
own people, especially when drunk :)  But we'd rather sneak over the fence 
and steal some poor yank or aussie's kit :)


>The "we could Nuke England" sounds suspiciously similar to another phrase I
>remember from my youth:
>"My brother could beat you up!!" says spoiled little boy #1
>"Yeah, well my dad could beat up your brother!!" replied spoiled little boy
>#2
>"Well, my dad could beat kick your dad's ass!!" says spoiled little boy #1
>(Continue until all living family members are exhausted.)
>
>We should cherish our allies and friends.

Exactly my point.  Ass is spelt Arse :)  (cultural joke)  Yeah stupid stuff 
eh, again that humanity thing.

Leon

from New Zealand, aka Middle Earth

Ah, theres a point, any ideas on ME stats for Orcs, Elves and Urak-Hai?  ;)