Homestar Runner Wiki Forum

In case you hadn't noticed, the world is going crazy.

India is added to the list of countries attacked by terrorists. Over 200 dead.

North Korea launches missiles in the direction of Japan and\or the US... ostensibly to test the range they can send nukes. (See thread on this.) Also, it appears Iran was on hand to support the launches.

In retaliation for Hezbollah kidnapping two Israeli soldiers, Israel begins attacking Lebanon . Oh, and they also took out the Palestinian foreign minister's office.

In retaliation to Israel's retaliation, Iran states that they declare war on Israel and "all those who created [Israel] over the past 60 years."

Yikes. That's a lot of countries, Iran.

The author of the last article I linked to states



Yikes again. Things do not look good for the world these days.

_________________

Hmm..... I can't really see that the world is any worse than it has been for the past twenty or thirty years. India has been attacked by Kashmir separatists before, and the Arab/Israel feud has been going on for over seventy years.

Mind you, if World War Three were to break out, I think it would more than likely start in Israel.

I love the apparent apathy of this forum.

More news... two rockets hit an inner Israeli city.

link

_________________

I wouldn't call this WW3 so much as Arab/Israeli War pt. 2...
Of course, this all could just fizzle out, too. I'm not going to hold out too much hope though.
I don't know if many of you are into "Armageddon" type stuff, but it's interesting to note that this war isn't a sign of the end of the world. When someone brings peace to the Middle East, I'll start getting worried.

Lahi, there's no apathy here.... If you don't believe me, just say something positive about George Bush.

_________________
If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

Ha! There's been a simlupost incident here between me and lahimatoa.

But yeah..... this is Arab/Israeli War pt. Infinity-and-Beyond. Maybe it's the fact that we're desensitised to the Palestinian conflict, but it just doesn't seem alarming that there's more trouble between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

Israel hasn't really been fighting with Lebanon, just with Hezbollah and Syrians that are in Lebanon. A distinction without a huge difference, at this point, I suppose, as many Lebanese have long ago moved away. Nonetheless a disinction worth making, IMO.

_________________

I personally don't see a very big chance of a WWIII.

I feel that WWII was so incredible that the possiblilty of such an enormous war happening again is small. Japan is no longer a war nation, nor Germany. The United Kingdom isn't as powerful as it used to be, and most other nations aren't very powerful as well.

Infact, the only real superpower in the world is America. Some people even think it's a hyperpower. But if any nation besides America was to declare war, I don't think it would survive for very long.

I think the United Nations have been doing their job very well.

Umm, China would like to have a word with you.

They are the one country out there that could actually beat us, they won't, but they could. I think China is extremely important in this world, they are the only country that is on good terms with Kim Jong Il.

I don't ever seeing the world falling in to a Third World War. The Middle East has been like this for thousands of years. It is the world's powder keg. There will probably be a small war that won't last too long.

_________________

Rofffle, please step into my office.

What I have to say: The Middle East IS a large problem center and they HAVE been fighting for a long time, but that doesn't mean we should just ignore it and look on like it's not our problem.

_________________
Dag, yo.

You're right. In 9th grade a few years ago, my geography teacher (not Jay Bennish, BTW) said that the reason 9/11 happened was because the US supports Israel. Since the "alliance system" turned Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination eventually into WWI, our alliance with Israel may well pull us into this.

But there'd better be no nukes flying around the Middle East, if it even gets to that, or else the fallout will come back to hurt the whole region.

_________________

Actually, part of the problem Middle Eastern countries have with us is that we support Israel. If we just sat idly by and let them be decimated, they'd probably change their opinion of us.
I'm not in favor of doing that, though. I wouldn't feel right about abandoning Israel. Genocide = bad. So, what do we do? Who knows? Not me. Glad I'm not in charge for this one.

Here's a thought, how about the UN go in there and stop this crap? Didn't a UN Mandate create the current country of Israel? Seems like they'd be pretty inconsistent creating a soverign nation, then letting them be wiped off the face of the planet, doesn't it?

_________________
If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

Yep. Like my dad says about America, "The more you help, the more the people will hate you."*

*NOTE: The previous does not count when concerning dogs.

The UN is a peaceful organization. They don't use force in order to do what they would like to do. Because the UN belongs to all nations, they usually have to ask permission from a nation in order to do something.

It's terrorism. It's supposed to scsare us. If we completely ignore it, refuse to talk about it and keep it off the news, it will fail.

Me, I like to keep quiet about it and it will go away. Just like santa.

_________________

I hate to break it to you, but this isn't about terrorism. The Arabs want to obliterate Israel from off the face of the earth. If no one pays attention to them, they'll still want to kill every Jew on the planet.

Ignoring this is not the answer.

_________________

Yeah, but keep in mind that America has enough nukes to blow up the world 200 times. Nukes > Billions of scrawny conscripts.

_________________

Umm, don't know if you got the memo, but China's had nuclear weapons for something like 40 years. The US stockpile is around 5400 warheads, depending on what numbers you trust. For you "200 times" thing to be true, you would only need 27 warheads to destroy the world. China has Around 400 (again, depending on whose numbers you use). That'd be enough to blow up the world about 18 or 19 times. Of course, we know you'd need more than 27 warheads to destroy the world (well in a literal sense, anyway). Regardless, it doesn't really matter. The US will never again use a nuclear weapon unless we have one used against us first. (I'm pretty certain, no matter how itchy trigger fingers may become).

The point is, China, just like the US could still be liable for some serious property damage.

_________________
If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

Nucular weapons don't have the power to blow up the world 200 times. They would do an immense amount of damage, but they wouldn't blow up the world. The only way I can think of doing it would take all those nucular weapons and detonate them at the center of the earth. And even that might not be enough.

But back on topic.

Just because your nation is the most powerful doesn't mean it can't fall. Look at Rome for an example. The nation had taken over all of the known world, and their power was unmatched with every other culture who wished to face them. But it fell.

And the same can happen to America, or any nation for that matter. Look at Nazi Germany, and how their armies and weapons where, for a time, far greater then that of America. Or the USSR for another example. They where a super power for over 70 years, and they fell under a corrupt leader.

And finally, in my religion, I believe that no one here can stand up to God and defeat him. No matter how many weapons you have.

Look guys, I already know America has a lot of nukes. But i read that almost every coutry, excluding Africa, has at least 1 nuclear reactor. would that mean tha almost every country has a couple nukes, or just nuclear powered stuff?

_________________

Three things. First off, Africa isn't a country. Secondly, South Africa generates about 6% of their electricity using nuclear reactors. Thirdly, nuclear reactor does not equal nuclear weapons. Your standard nuclear fission reactor can run on relatively unpure uranium (compared to bombs, which require highly refined/enriched uranium or plutonium). There is a LARGE technological jump from reactor grade to weapons grade uranium. Even when you have the right fuels for a bomb, you have to do a lot of things to ensure you get a good blast...
But anywayds... it doesn't matter. Nuclear weapons or not any group, properly equipped, can be a large danger to a large number of people. Look what 12 guys with boxcutters did.

_________________
If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

Now, if I remember correctly (a pretty big if, mind you), America was far stronger then Germany. In fact, the entire reason why the Allies won the war in Europe was because of North America's military and industrial power.
Now, on topic, I can see how this can escalate into WWIII. Will it happen? Only time will tell. More likely, however, it will become an Arab-Israeli War.

_________________
GENGHIS KHAN!!!!!

Latest news: Israel jet blasts Lebanon for the second week.

Let's just sum up the situation: Israel's military campaign in Lebanon, launched after Hezbollah captured the two Israeli soldiers and killed eight, has killed a total 162 people, all but 13 of them civilians.

Wow.

I've tried very hard to understand Israel's actions since the beginning of the current Intifada. But their response in Lebanon is wholly disproportionate, and just baffling. How do the Israeli generals think that they will achieve peace for their citizens with indiscriminate blast-bombing?

Israel doesn't really care right now. Hezbollah's rocket attacks are against schools and other civilian population centers. Israel figures "If Hezbollah doesn't care about killing civillians, why should we?"
Not saying that's right, civillian casualties are always bad, but it's not like they're attacking people who strictly target the Israeli military. Even if Hezbollah was just attacking the Israeli military, Israel has a conscription based military, so attacking their military is still attacking their civillians in a way. It's different from the US or several other countries with a strictly volunteer military.

Either way, though, I really wish Israel would not attack civillian targets (although, who's to say the people killed have been civillians?).

_________________
If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

Talk about disproportionate... your post refers to Hezbollah's rocket attacks against Israel 0 times.



Hezbollah is storing and making weapons in civilian structures. It's like terrorists hiding in mosques in Iraq... what do you want Israel to do? Once you start using civilians as a shield, you can't complain about civilians dying. That's just how it is.

_________________

Actually, the second part of what I said was that just because some AP person is told that the dead are civillians doesn't make it so. It's like all of those "Baby Milk Plants" we bombed in the first Iraq war. These people are just out to do anything they can to discredit Israel.

You're right, though. When you start using civillians as human shields, civillians will usually die. It'd be nice, though, if they could limit civillian casualties (or at least start a propaganda campaign, something like "They make weapons where your kids play, knowing that we're going to bomb the weapons plants. They knowingly put your children in harm's way" or something like that.
Israel is not targeting civillians. They target those who would seek to harm them. Said people are cowards, and hide among civillians. There's no honor in that.
The enemies Israel fights actively targets civillians with their attacks. Again, a cowardly act.

If Israel begins actively targeting civillians, I will condemn them for it, be sure of that. Right now, though, they're targeting terrorists, which means they might have to kill the civillians that shelter them.

_________________
If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

I well understand what you're saying about the inevidibility of civilian deaths. But Israel is using air strikes on Lebanon. If they've actually declared war on the whole of Lebanon that may be an appropriate action to take. But they're supposed to be going after a relatively small and scattered (and Syrian, may I say) group. Air strikes are just way too indiscriminate to either be effective or responsible in this case, imo.



Ahem. I think you'll find that I did. Only you conveniently editted out the part where I mentioned Hezbollah's antics.......

True... I did miss that part of your post. My apologies.

However, if you view Israel's actions as only being in response to the kidnappings, you're uninformed.

_________________

No no - I was just saying that the kidnappings were a catalyst for this round of fighting, not the overall cause. The cause is..... well.... the same cause of the 1982 Israel-Lebanon conflict, and all the conflicts before. That is...... Israel's subborn will to exist.

I meant countries in Africa, (although I forgot about South Africa, its kinda not like Ethopia or Sudan or countries like that.)

_________________

Well, keep in mind, America's econemy would TOTALY fail without China. We wouldn't even have anymore American flags, because even those are made in China. And imagine what would happen if America did that. Everyone hates us. If we did something that horrible, it would be a war between America and the World. From my view, it seems like The World is stronger than one country.

And without China, every fast-food chain, every toy company, they would fail. Imagine how much money the U.S. makes of toys. If we didn't make so much money of them, we wouldn't make so many. And also, many other items are made in China, which would make the econemy drop more. We may have more bombs, but they control our money. That's why communism was known as a horrible thing, because it would give workers freedoms.

_________________