This could be costly ignorance on your part. It is the US that isn't exactly known for it's outstanding educational system. Of course that brings with it the ignorance we see now. The former communist republics AND Inda AND China AND most European countries have far better eductation than the US, especcially in the exact sciences. A math test would be more than just adding and substracting, and it does take intelligence to do math. It seems you are not in the category. Ursa..
The question is not whether they really were within Iranian waters or not (we will never know that) but why this 'mistake' took place. Putting all the improbable evidence side by side my theory is that they were lured into Iranian waters by the allied side themselves, maybe to test the waters or to start a propaganda war. As before the Iran prez is far smarter than most take him for and plays the dealt card back. He is now forcing the allies to strike, before they are ready. There are not enough troops available. He has the strait as a bargain chip. The US is completely alone in the world right now, the Russians are doing their own powerplay (and have masses of oil) and the Chinese will not move unless the import taxes against them are lifted again. Regardless of anything said in the UN, there is no real sympathy for the US anymore, and most countries in the world would rather see the US weakened. The role of policeman has not been played well. I think Iran has the US by the balls. Of course a monkey can make dangerous moves when squeezed down there. This is a disastrous path that started 7 years ago. It may end in the US becoming the fallen empire it is destined to become someday. Ursa..
Don't know if this link has been posted before on the thread, apologies if it is a duplicate http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=3990
The United Nations (hardly a bastion of US support) says they were in Iraqi waters. There was no "mistake" about where they were. The Iranians knew the Brits wouldn't do squat, so they grabbed a crew. Nobody but clueless dolts think he's dumb. Proof positive that some loser is thinking with his kidneys about world politics is when he says Ahmadinejad is a dummy. He's a nasty person with an astonishing lust for power, but he's not stupid. Take the current hostage situation. Why would he give them up for nothing? The Brits sure as Shiite aren't going to do anything, and neither is anybody else without lots of advance notice. All he really has to fear is the Terrible Strongly Worded Memo from the UN. And they are reluctant to use even that weapon (probably because it's such a joke). Not enough to invade. Blow up their one gas refinery and set up a real embargo that blocks gasoline from getting in. Actually, tell em behind the scenes that this happens in 30 days unless they release. That gives them time to impress the idiot Arab Street with their power and chutzpah, but still resolves the crisis. This is a win/win for the morons on both sides, so I'm looking for this. We won't know that such was the deal, nor will we ever know the timetable, but there's a decent chance the hostages to be released in the very near future with no strikes against Iran. Unless the West is as clueless as Jimmy Carter was. In which case, Iran will hold onto the hostages for a long time with no serious repercussions. But there will be no military strike. That reveals more about you than you may care to admit. It's not US troops being held in Iran. If they did try to grab US Forces, you can bet the ROE would authorize deadly force to stop them. And if they succeeded anyway, the US would do just what I said above (or something like it) - tell em to let em go after a bit or something really bad happens.
majorUrsa I dont agreed with you comments. France just send a ship at that zone yesterday..this is not like Irak war.. you dont have idea about the real EEUU military power!!! NO IDEA! NO IDEA!!! EEUU will always have haters.. everything you said here was said when vietnam,korea,reagans years etc etc.. russia will do NOTHING! cause everytime the Oil and Nat Gas goes up, they make Billions!! the saudi put 1 trillion Oil dollar profit in US banks after 2003 Irak invansion.. Today, EEUU is the 3 Oil producer in this planet. By 2020 they will barerly will produce Oil, probably 0 Mexico and canada are at their Peak and soon they will be fucke'd up too! irak an venezuela have the 2 biggest proven Oil natural oil reserve. america Now Own de 2 one.. america consume 25% world Oil and own 25% world GDP that's what I call "oil efficiency" guess who is saving the american ASS TODAY! where america will get their Oil to retain today world status as a worldpower??? IRAK!! the problem here is europe and our coward attitude.. EEUU will always be the world police, until the EU adopt a "problem solver-lets make money on the way"attitude the american have..WE and the Rest of the World NEED America! PERIOD!!! Europe is a socialist society today and we have a feudalist monarchy in 2007!! europe will become a big historic museum, when those islamic inmigrants take the resto of europe (20 years from now). They are the ones who will always save our ass like WW1 and WW2 and Vietnam and kosovo etc etc etc.. if Iran gets Nuke, who in this world will stop the rest in the middle east to become one??? can you imagine what will happens to our live if Iran start selling Uranium to terrorists cell?? europe very day becomes more and more an slamic continent. listen, we are in the seventh year of a new century, and even after the wake-up call on 9/11, Westerners are still relearning each day that the world is a dangerous place. When violence comes to downtown Madrid, the well-meaning Spanish chose to pull out of Iraq â only to uncover more serial terrorist cells intent on killing more Spaniards. To get their captured journalists freed, Italians paid Islamists bribes â and then found more Italians captured. When Germany, Britain, and France parleyed with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (the âdirect talksâ that we in the states yearn for) to try to get Iran to cease its plans for nuclear proliferation, he politely ignored the âEU3.â The European Union is upset that Russian agents murder troublemakers inside the EUâs borders, and so registers its displeasure with the Cheshire Vladimir Putin. The latest Iranian kidnapping of British sailors came after British promises to leave Iraq, and after the British humiliation of 2004, when eight hostages were begged back. Apparently the Iranians have figured either that London would do little if they captured more British subjects or that the navy of Lord Nelson and Admiral Jellico couldnât stop them if it wanted to. The rationalizations are limitless, but essential, since no one in Europe â again, understandably â wishes a confrontation that might require a cessation of lucrative trade with Iran, or an embarrassing military engagement without sufficient assets, or any overt allegiance with the United States. Pundits talk of a military option, but there really is none, since neither Britain nor Europe at large possesses a military. What does the future hold if Europe does not rearm and make it clear that attacks on Europeans and threats to the current globalized order have repercussions? If Europeans recoil from a few Taliban hoodlums or Iranian jihadists, new mega-powers like nuclear India and China will simply ignore European protestations as the ankle-biting of tired moralists. Indeed, they do so already. Why put European ships or planes outside of European territorial waters when that will only guarantee a crisis in which Europeans are kidnapped and held as hostages or used as bargaining chips to force political concessions? Europe is just one major terrorist operation away from a disgrace that will not merely discredit the EU, but will do so to such a degree as to endanger its citizenry and interests worldwide and their very safety at home. Islamists must assume that an attack on a European icon â Big Ben, the Vatican, or the Eiffel Tower â could be pulled off with relative impunity and ipso facto shatter European confidence and influence. Each day that the Iranians renege on their promises to release the hostages, and then proceed to parade their captives, earning another âunacceptableâ from embarrassed British officials, a little bit more of the prestige of the United Kingdom is chipped away In the future, smaller nations in dangerous neighborhoods must accept that in their crises ahead, their only salvation, even after the acrimonious Democratic furor over Iraq, is help from the United States. America alone can guarantee the safety of the noble Kurds, should Turkey or Iran choose one day to invade. America alone will be willing or able to supply Israel with necessary help and weapons to ensure its survival. Other small nations â a Greece, for example â with long records of vehement anti-Americanism should take note that the choice facing them in their rough neighborhoods is essentially solidarity with the United States or the embrace of Jimmy Carter diplomacy or Stanley Baldwin appeasement. Quite simply, there is now no NATO, no EU, no U.N. that can or will do anything in anyoneâs hour of need. I bet that 10-15 years from now, George W Bush will be remembered just as Truman is today!! im tired of see the socialist media... deficit only matter if the president is republican, war are bads only if a republican is in power.. democratas have been involved in every single major war in america and they put 2 nuclear bomb in japan.. But we, humans, tend to forget things. long live America!! im a european in the eeuu.. this is the greater country in the world! cause america is the world, every culture is here, every religion and is the most tolerant society ever.. even more than the romans.. europe wnats to do Now what americans did 200 years ago.. and we did it the wrong way (everything!! ) if we, europeans realize that america IS our friend, and we wrok thing together, then we the western will be an awasome power.. but we,europeans dont have balls (and no money) to do that.. the the cheapness to be a power player today is critizied america for everything!! forgetting that we built that country.... america is NOT an Empire by anyways.. they will become one soon.. this is just the start.
Fun links, looks like between the Navy and Air Force there are over 10,000 planes, I wonder how many are fighter jets? http://www.navy.mil/navydata/navy_legacy_hr.asp?id=146 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force
I would like to see a source cited for this claim. As far as I am aware maritime boundaries are established by bilateral negotiation. They are not set by the security council. Please back this claim up.
This is a disastrous path that started 7 years ago. It may end in the US becoming the fallen empire it is destined to become someday. Ursa.. [/B][/QUOTE] Well GW Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, Feith and friends have certainly speeded up the process! I believe strongly that we are at a point of no return. The integrity of the USA on the world stage is irreperably compromised. (To think that all that outrage during Clinton's presidency was about whether he had an affair or not. We are played like violins by the media are we not?)