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> Uh what US warfare have you been watching? The one where the US tends to perform well against its adversaries. True in the Civil War. True in WW1. True in WW

> Uh what US warfare have you been watching? The one where the US tends to perform well against its adversaries. True in the Civil War. True in WW1. True in WW2. True in Korea. True in Vietnam. True in the Gulf War. True in Afghanistan. True in Iraq. And now just a smidgen of its old weapons are helping Ukraine humiliate Russia. The US was in Afghanistan for two decades with 1,932 soldiers killed by hostile action. Russia lost 15,000+ soldiers in Afghanistan in ten years (probably far higher given the information available and how we've seen Russia lie so dramatically about its losses in Ukraine). It's going to lose 100,000 soldiers in Ukraine in a little over a year. The US could have held Afghanistan perpetually with 15,000-20,000 soldiers on the ground. The Taliban is a joke of a fighting force, they never competed well with the US; but they have replacement numbers, and guerrilla wars are very time consuming to fight and require massive troop deployments to actually win (you have to suffocate every corner of the enemy presence, like battling an infestation). It wasn't worth it and voters decided that, it had begun to become an unpopular nation building exercise despite the very low losses for the US.

trhr 4y ago
- smegger001 4y ago
  > True in the Civil War. >You think so? Ya'll lost 200,000 men to Southern fever, steel, and shot. Next time it'll be 20 million. Know your limits, yankee, and stay north of Dallas. The south started with a treasonous surprise attack and had most of the the infantry that wasn't stationed in isolated western frontier territory or along the us-canada border, the countries war college at westpoint and many of the countries highest generals, once the north got its act together it started to burn the south to the ground. There is a reason the south still dreads the name Sherman. You got set on fire once when you started the fight with sucker punch, and you want to try to pick fight again?
  - BuckRogers 4y ago
    Well put. For our international observers I would note that the War of Southern Aggression that began with the treasonous attack on Fort Sumter is nearly identical to the behavior we're seeing out of similar origins today. New US states were increasingly free rather than slave states, and thus when democracy wasn't going the way of those who wanted to maintain slavery, they attacked their own government. The terrorist attack on January 6th was the exact same root cause, democracy not going the way some want it. Leading them to embrace terrorism and violence. After the Civil War, the KKK was created, which continued the terrorism of our citizenry for decades. Yet in that case, the KKK came after the failed attempt at succession, today MAGA came before the attempt. I describe myself as a 'pre-MAGA Republican who supports labor unions', but there's a rotten seed in American discourse today that was always there and it's largely the same people then as now. The south would have no chance in Round 2. Most of their money and manpower actually comes from 'Yankees'. Which historically when someone is called that, it's the easy indicator to who is loyal and true to the United States, a real American patriot. Whether spoken spoken by a Brit or Johnny Reb, you definitely want to be called a Yankee as it's a badge of honor that you are loyal to your nation. Those that are moving south are whose ancestors' allegiance was to the United States of America in the Civil War, and they still maintain that allegiance to this day in those families. They are not loyal to the defunct Confederacy and would not die for their Lost Cause.
    - trhr 4y ago
      > badge of honor that you are loyal to your nation. When ya'll roped us into fighting the British, that declaration you published called us the "united States of America." Not the "United States of America." That's a subtle difference, but an important one. When in the course of human events, one State does something another State considers intolerable, that State has every right to throw off the shackles of friendship and loyalty. We united our states out of a common interest, but we _never_ signed away our rights to a federal government. We started as, and remain, a republic of states. And yeah, you may be Athens with all your philosophy and fem lit universities up north, but before you go threatening war, remember which part of the country is Sparta.

trhr 4y ago

smegger001 4y ago
> True in the Civil War. >You think so? Ya'll lost 200,000 men to Southern fever, steel, and shot. Next time it'll be 20 million. Know your limits, yankee, and stay north of Dallas. The south started with a treasonous surprise attack and had most of the the infantry that wasn't stationed in isolated western frontier territory or along the us-canada border, the countries war college at westpoint and many of the countries highest generals, once the north got its act together it started to burn the south to the ground. There is a reason the south still dreads the name Sherman. You got set on fire once when you started the fight with sucker punch, and you want to try to pick fight again?
- BuckRogers 4y ago
  Well put. For our international observers I would note that the War of Southern Aggression that began with the treasonous attack on Fort Sumter is nearly identical to the behavior we're seeing out of similar origins today. New US states were increasingly free rather than slave states, and thus when democracy wasn't going the way of those who wanted to maintain slavery, they attacked their own government. The terrorist attack on January 6th was the exact same root cause, democracy not going the way some want it. Leading them to embrace terrorism and violence. After the Civil War, the KKK was created, which continued the terrorism of our citizenry for decades. Yet in that case, the KKK came after the failed attempt at succession, today MAGA came before the attempt. I describe myself as a 'pre-MAGA Republican who supports labor unions', but there's a rotten seed in American discourse today that was always there and it's largely the same people then as now. The south would have no chance in Round 2. Most of their money and manpower actually comes from 'Yankees'. Which historically when someone is called that, it's the easy indicator to who is loyal and true to the United States, a real American patriot. Whether spoken spoken by a Brit or Johnny Reb, you definitely want to be called a Yankee as it's a badge of honor that you are loyal to your nation. Those that are moving south are whose ancestors' allegiance was to the United States of America in the Civil War, and they still maintain that allegiance to this day in those families. They are not loyal to the defunct Confederacy and would not die for their Lost Cause.
  - trhr 4y ago
    > badge of honor that you are loyal to your nation. When ya'll roped us into fighting the British, that declaration you published called us the "united States of America." Not the "United States of America." That's a subtle difference, but an important one. When in the course of human events, one State does something another State considers intolerable, that State has every right to throw off the shackles of friendship and loyalty. We united our states out of a common interest, but we _never_ signed away our rights to a federal government. We started as, and remain, a republic of states. And yeah, you may be Athens with all your philosophy and fem lit universities up north, but before you go threatening war, remember which part of the country is Sparta.