(Nov. 14, 2015 8:31 PM)Cake Wrote: (Nov. 14, 2015 6:44 PM)BUMP KING Wrote: (Nov. 14, 2015 6:27 PM)J.I.N.B.E.E! Wrote: Ugh... just war...
Neo I don't think words can describe, but using the worst swear words is a way of putting it at the very least.
Don't worry Jinbee, officially the west doesn't consider it a war their involved in... as we are there bombing their homeland and they are bombing ours ...
I know we aren't supposed to discuss politics, but i'm pretty sure France is going to put boots on the ground (doesn't necessarily mean they'll declare war, thats just a formality) soon, and that means the west will follow.
The problem with terrorism is that you can't actually declare war on them; as individuals or a group, they aren't necessarily tied to any national government (regardless of what power claims they make) and therefore can't be the target of a war. You could, in theory, declare war on their "host" nation, but that's a political and PR nightmare because the people living in that nation, and the country's official government, may not side with the terrorists at all, meaning that you end up disrupting the lives, directly or indirectly, of all the innocent or friendly people that happen to get caught up in the war zone. Furthermore, the terrorists could just move somewhere else, leaving your whole military action as a complete waste of time and money that also trashed your reputation.
TL;DR Politics are messy, war isn't simple, terrorists suck.
I worded that wrong, I was pretty frustrated when I wrote it. I live in the US. Which is pretending as if they have the situation under control and that the middle east instability isn't as big a threat as other issues.
They aren't just like the Taliban or even Al-Qaeda or other terrorists, they have a large portion of Syria and Iraq that is completely under their control. The current administration is acting as if it isn't our fight, when they are attacking our allies and corrupting our social media, and making the US government look weak and ignorant (John Kerry: Oh Jihadi John is dead, We're winning. Next day Paris is attacked.). Isolation isn't going to make it go away.
As for our reputation... the proud American power is getting overshadowed by Russia's show of strength and again, ISIS is trying and succeeding to make fools of us. NATO is has been revealed useless for protection, look at Ukraine. We were supposed to be stabilizing Iraq, what happens? We give them weapons and say, have fun. Next thing you know ISIS is running around with tanks and Hum-Vee's. We pull out and say, well, let these people settle it themselves. Thats not how it works, Russia jumps it at the first chance they get to have more influence in the area. Russia doesn't want to stop ISIS then leave the democratic rebel's the country, the ones they are also bombing, they aren't stupid. They are going to leave puppet dictators that control the oil. RUSSIA DOES NOT LIKE THE US, we have been competing since before WW2, they don't want to be peaceful because we ask, they aren't going to share their spoils of war with us. OK, let's send 50 special forces to train the Kurds and give them weapons. Now how has this honestly ever worked out? The Kurds aren't loyal to the US. They just want ISIS to gtfo. How long until the Arabians see the shift of power and say, well, let's get in good with the Russians, sell them our resources. The Russians protect their allies, they are protecting Syria from ISIS AND the rebels. The US economy isn't as strong as it used to be, this could turn very bad for us. We lose money either way, atleast we can possibly gain something one way.
Yes, innocent lives will be disrupted. But you have to look out for yourselves and your people as well, the US forgets this sometimes
So much rests on this presidential election, people are going to vote for the most ruthless, gung hoe to kill everyone presidential candidate available.
It's the cold war all over again, not that it ever really stopped.[/spoiler]