Re: [HIST??] Culture shock

Someone replied to John:
> > The IF writeup OTH was mostly denigrating and would
> > encourage a culture of disrespect and contempt for
> > their fighting abilities.  That would end up biting

  If I were an army writer, I'd have toned it down a bit, myself--I'd
rather have my boys on the battlefield find out I was a pessimist, not
an optimist.  John also makes the assumption that a culture which has
X characteristics NOW also has those same characteristics THEN (not
just the Arabs, also the Americans, Canadians, etc).  Okay, it's
superficially plausible--but that doesn't make it correct.  Certainly
other cultures have changed substantially in 150 years time.

John replied:
> The IF is hostile to all major powers.  All of 'em.

Not true.  The IF is not hostile to the FSE.  And they don't
necessarily let animosity interfere with business--I don't have the
timeline handy but I'm sure there have been periods in which the IF
didn't *like* the NAC, NSL and/or ESU but might have gotten training