Re: Communication and Travel

On 16 Jun 98 at 10:28, Thomas Barclay wrote:

[snipped stuff that I'm not responding to]

> > >Plenty of wars are over simple hatred. In fact, probably the
majority 
> > >of todays wars are, or have that as a major factor. Religious
hatred, 
> > >class hatred, racial hatred, or a combination. I guess the Iraqi 
> > >invasion of Kuwait was one of the few invasions recently was
largely 
> > >for (oil) resources.
> > 
> > Yeah.  Doubt it.  If you check, actually in most cases the ethnic or

> > religious issues (I will not dignify the 'class' nonsense with a 
> > response) are actually just an aggravation of land or other resource

> > issues.
> 
> Have to concur with John here. Most wars (a few in the middle
> east being exceptions) have been about power, land, money, or
> resources - all of which are by some factor exchangable for the
> other. A lot of times hatreds are fanned by those in power to suit
> their needs and to drive the war (by provocateurs), but you'll find
> that even the most severe religious dictatorships often have very
> secular concerns and act in a suprisingly rational (strictly from
> the perspective of the acquisition of resources/power) way.  

Hmm, Ok, I'll put it a different way. Most wars /are/ really about 
political power, political expediency, or resources. 
Governments tend to have wars:
To distract the people from internal problems by giving them 
something to focus on. (Argentina invades falklands)
To gain real power, (land, resources, access to ports, etc)
At the whim of some great ideological masterplan. 

However they are usualy 'sold' to the people as being about whatever 
reasons they will go for. Be they ethnic, or religious, or the 
apparently spurious 'class' reason. Odd, I seem to remember the 
french revolution being largely against class. The three do tend to 
get used in combination however. Those <insert religion>, <insert 
race>, <insert optional 'upper class or corrupt nobility'> are taking 
away all our <resource>, <freedom>, <women>, <jobs> etc. etc.

> On a personal level, I don't want to be the poor gruntie in front of
> a horde of screaming fanatics who hate me, but in the larger
> picture, my commanding general probably realizes these fanatics have
> been whipped into a froth by someone for very
> political/economic/military secular ends....

<nods>
Then again, since when did the government care what the poor 
'gruntie' thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Richard Slattery	     richard@mgkc.demon.co.uk
The basis of action is lack of imagination. It is the last resource of
those who know not how to dream. 
     Oscar Wilde
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