I was having trouble getting my head around being at war with anything other than a country.
The world has changed very rapidly in the last few years.
The idea of a country becomes less defined. i.e. look at the European continent attempt to form the "European Union". In essence, they are trying to unify from the economic point of view to prosper in the face of super productive entities such as the USA and Asia as a whole.
Currency pegs is another example. (i.e. Argentina and Ecuador)
So, in our world the idea of a country is based more on an ideal, rather than geographical boundaries. In this case, it is Western Capitalism ~vs~ Fanatical Violent "Ideals".
but there's a similarity between pirates and terrorists in that they are networks of outlaws
Well... not quite.
They are tyrants who in many instances they impose the law. i.e. Castro HE is the LAW in Cuba. Che Guevara tried, but failed. Muammar Qaddafi is another example and so is Saddam Hussein. There are many others less known.
They are successful in becoming the state because the infrastructures are either weak, corrupt or simply overcome by their terror. Once they have succeeded they present in the eyes of the world as "diplomats" i.e. Yasser Arafat, who succeeded in presenting himself as such and he does not even have a country.
The western world becomes naive in recognizing such bastards in the level of a diplomat in a misguided attempt to reach a "compromise" (like Chamberlain did with Hitler prior to WW2).
So, we pay the price of such idiocy.
Claims that "innocent children" will pay. Once I had a long conversation with a Palestinian adolescent. I could not convince him that there were better venues of negotiation than a machine gun. There was NO argument possible that would be valid.
I thought the piracy model might inform the discussion of how we go about a war with terrorists
They are simply not the same. Both of them are animals, but they are different breeds.
Piracy is more individualistic in their aims and less organized. Terrorism is closer to a country because it is based on ideals AND as stated earlier, it can be stronger than a single nation, not to mention that as we have witnessed lately, they have the protection of a state, (or THEY are the state themselves).
I don't have a history background and thought someone else on the thread might have some insights about how we had previously conquered piracy.
Well... I may step on some toes here... but weren't Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh pirates at one point? -gg- [Ah yes, they had the blessing of some Queen...]
ebs.hw.ac.uk
nps.gov
The only pirates of late that I am know of were some groups in the Indonesia's high seas that were attacking smaller sailboats of rich tourists... I can't remember but I know I read it somewhere. They were of no great significance, certainly not in the level of Bin Laden, Qaddafi, Castro and their cronies.
someone else on the thread might have some insights about how we had previously conquered piracy.
Destroy the bastards, they do not understand any other language. |
