Whenever any expertise on use of unconventional weapons on civilian population is required, who can be trusted more than the nation and the government that dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Putin slams "American Exceptionalism" in NYT Op-Ed
- Thread starter eznutz
- Start date
Pasionate, but not supported by fact, and it would be clearer—and more polite—if you remembered you may be an American, but you're posting on a Canadian board. 'We' are Canucks.
The US Constitution was not the first ever, nor did it recognize the individual was supreme, although eventually, when the Bill of Rights was added one might read that in. But for more than a hundred years and certainly all through the slavery period, you'd be considered a wild-eyed radical loner if you did. Look up what the Haudenosonee have to say about Constitutions notably yours, Aristotle talks about the Athenian one in BC, and Mohammad promulgated one more than a millenium back, the usefulness of a document setting out the rules was obvious to many folks long before you guys took your territory away from the original inhabitants—who only had tribal rights in the rare instances when anyone cared that they had rights at all.
Pretty much everything in your Constitution appeared earlier in laws and writings about laws in Europe, where lots of folks lived peaceful, orderly prosperous lives without suffering oppression. And their water was as clean and plentiful, although why you mention that I cannot fathom, but it was a Brit in Britain who first twigged to town water as a disease spreader. Until they got the news from 'over home' wells and disease in America were just as poluted.
When your country behaves exceptionally then it will be entitled to the descriptor, as long as it continues to do so. There certainly have been times in the past when it seemed exceptional in the generous way it opened itself to receive the poor and dispossessed of the world. But only if one ignores the suffering, deprivation and oppression of its own black citizens at that same time. Sadly, from the outside these days your country more and more often looks like all others in the Wealthy West, but with the taste to use its power and the self-importance that makes bullies.
'Exceptional' is a very low standard, that even Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia could claim. We look to America for better.
At least the U.S. tried to stop Assad from chemical warfare while everybody else stood around doing nothing. Hence, the U.S. stands alone. Hence, the U.S. is exceptional.
In preparation for dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, US military leaders had decided against a demonstration bomb, and they also decided against a special leaflet warning, in both cases because of the uncertainty of a successful detonation, and the wish to maximize psychological shock. No warning was given to Hiroshima that a new and much more destructive bomb was going to be dropped. The estimates of killed and wounded in Hiroshima are 150,000 and in Nagasaki 75,000.
May I suggest to you The Revolution, the War of 1812, The American Civil War.
In the later-most case I will agree that many "Canadians" volunteered for the Union Army, however the British Government very much sympathized with the Confederacy. Indeed but for the lost "Special Order 191" the British Government - which means "Canada" would almost certainly have recognized the C.S.A.
The estimates of just U.S. casualties in the invasion of the Japanese Home Islands were over one million.
May I suggest that if British Empire casualties were predicted at that level or Canadian casualties predicted at even half that level - you would be singing a very different tune!
Ok, but do you agree that the U.S. is giving Assad more than ample warning this time? BTW: Here is one of my favourite photos from WW II.
The liberation of Singapore.
Those estimates are from Downfall which was obsoleted by the Russian entry into the war. That plan assumes no allied air bases close enough to Japan to provide fighter cover for bombers and for landing ships.
The Russian entry meant Japan's mainland territory would rapidly be captured creating allied air fields much closer to Japan. Downfall envisioned that land remaining under Japanese control until surrender.
Ee-i-ee-i-o
You've beaten this into the ground countless times, and everyone with any historical training disagrees with you.
Even after the official surrender, units of the Japanese Imperial Army in Malaysia were still fighting to the death well into September 1945 and Malaysia is only one example. BTW: Russian blood is still human blood.
Bombs could have been dropped at military targets, but the decision was made to maximize a psychological shock at the expense of civilian population.
Exceptionally well calculated decision to kill hundreds of thousands of civilians.
There are many historical and military, not to mention military-historical journals. Perhaps you would like to submit a peer reviewed article for publication?
Hey, let's not have a rehash of World War II... that is not the subject of this thread.
This thread is not about history (except for the lessons to be learned from it, of course) but about current events, what is happening today: the conundrum that the USA has got itself into because of hypocrisy and its failure to live up to a standard that it, itself, created.
I am not anti-American. On the contrary, I am a great admirer of the principles upon which it is founded... but which seem to be more honored today in their breach than their observance.
My concern is about integrity and honesty, which are at a very low ebb in the government of the USA... and I think it is a sad reflection upon the power and sway that the capitalists and the military/industrial complex exercise -- so much so that Washington DC has become a veritable quagmire.
Perry
This thread is not about history (except for the lessons to be learned from it, of course) but about current events, what is happening today: the conundrum that the USA has got itself into because of hypocrisy and its failure to live up to a standard that it, itself, created.
I am not anti-American. On the contrary, I am a great admirer of the principles upon which it is founded... but which seem to be more honored today in their breach than their observance.
My concern is about integrity and honesty, which are at a very low ebb in the government of the USA... and I think it is a sad reflection upon the power and sway that the capitalists and the military/industrial complex exercise -- so much so that Washington DC has become a veritable quagmire.
Perry
