Well, for one, they don't want the US to put a puppet government right next to their front door. Also, it's questionable who is the bad guy over there, both the government and the rebels are killing off and terrorising innocent people. In my opinion, as ridiculous as it sounds, Russia is taking defensive position(not saying they're right though).
Stop telling lies, I never mentioned Somalia. Even so, yes, Georgia is equipped like a 3rd world country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia...rces#Equipment
Most of it is relics from the cold war, dating back to the 1970's. Other things are "Donated" from other countries, in other words things they do not want anymore.
Second, why would you assume I am American? Look at my Avatar, that givies you an idea of where I am from and what I do for a living.
Third, fighting terrorism? I Did not see any Russian forces In Afghanistan when I was last out there. Although they have a lot of experience there, their tactics do not match ours, we do not poison wells or gas villages to pacify them.
Fair enough. I don't think Assad's government is in any way defensible, however, even if the rebels aren't exactly angels themselves. Its an ugly situations all around, and that's why I wouldn't want the US to intervene regardless.
As if that somehow makes it ok for other countries to do it, don't deflect perfectly reasonable questions with silliness like that.
Is there really a need to besmirch the efforts to avert such a national tragedy? Even with the horrible outcome, the attack at Beslan was on a completely and totally different level than, say, the recent shootings in Connecticut. Although, even with family in military careers, I find someone steadfastly defending the Russian military while ignoring its many faults a bit silly.
Edit: oh god, my 5,000th post... It has come, the dark times of a thousand posts of murloc has come! Woe is me...
Last edited by Kasierith; 2012-12-24 at 05:07 PM.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/75851.html
http://articles.businessinsider.com/...-rate-spending
America spends way more than anyone else but only gets average outcomes. Healthcare and College education is very good in terms of quality though. Prices are just bloated, and our early education system is nothing to write home about.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
It is a tragedy, one that I wish could have been avoided. Nonetheless, it proves my point of how inept the Russian forces are, Spetznaz are touted to be the best they have to offer, instead they lose loads of troops and end up killing 300+ hostages. They used tanks, rockets and incendiary devices against a target full of school children, how anyone can keep defending them is beyond my comprehension.
I always find it funny how these globabl politics discussions always end up like a chat over a table of Risk.
In my opinion, WW3 is very unlikely to ever happen, at least not in the way we imagine it might. Compared to 1000 or even 100 years ago, the world today is much more interconnected.
So much so infact that a large scale conflict is unlikely. Before WW2 or 1, countries were much less open to exchange, both cultural and economic. Today, you can easily talk about the emergence of a "world" culture, combining something from every corner of the Earth, and the amount of economic interdependence has also massively spiked.
I just don't see a large conventional war ever happening again on Earth. Who knows what the future holds though..
As i said the amount of tax money going into our military is nowhere near as much as the USA, but i refuse to believe that the military is patched together dirt.
---------- Post added 2012-12-24 at 06:13 PM ----------
Says you.
I'm sorry that i'm not top notched chippy like you.
That was somewhat my point. Trying to deflect any questions asking about the whole situation with 'well it's not like you guys and those guys aren't horrible giant assholes too!' is just idiotic.
I can understand the need to keep the status quo in Syria, since the rebel government is unlikely to be much better than Assad's, the problem is with civilians are pretty helplessly caught in the middle of it all. Like I said, it's a very ugly situation, and something that I really do not want to offer any opinion whatsoever on in terms of a potential solution, because frankly, I have nowhere near the sort of expertise or knowledge required to think of a solution for something so difficult.Well sadly enough this usually isn't emphasized enough. As soon as you talk about atrocities committed by the fundamentalist terrorists over there you are usually labeled as an Assad-apologist.