On the other hand, I am a German. :) And France was a really important trade partner to Germany both before WW1 and WW2. IIRC the most important before WW2. So trade and profit in itself doesn´t seem to be enough to avoid war. Especially if one side can point to alleged grievances not solved by the last peace treaty.
And concerning South America. You´re trying to tell me that all of the countries there are now stable democracies? No chance that any of the countries there will revert back to military dictatorships?
Simply put, I don´t want a shooting war with either Russia or some South American country. I think we should just pay the insurance policy (defense budget) to ensure that both of them aren´t tempted to try their luck.
We don´t have to be strong enough to conquer them. We simply have to be strong enough to defeat them if they attack us.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
... where it seems that the primary role of either of these vessels is not in defending against an attack but in instigating an attack. I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
