05-28-2004, 01:39 AM
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Confirmed User
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,852
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Is the US a warlike nation?
There was an interesting editorial in today's Sydney Morning Herald.
Here's part of it:
Quote:
Warlike US will shed its Utopian view
By Peter Hartcher
May 28, 2004
The United States is a martial nation. It accounts for 5 per cent of the world's population, 20 per cent of the world economy, and fully 50 per cent of global defence spending. It is structured for war.
In the 228 years since it declared independence, the US has made 200 military interventions abroad, says the Congressional Research Service, an average of one every 14 months.
It has much less experience in introducing democracy than it does in waging war, incidentally. It has made 16 attempts, of which four have succeeded, says the Washington-based journal Foreign Policy.
The journal defines success as the survival of a functioning democratic system 10 years after the first US intervention. The success stories? Japan, Germany, Panama and Grenada.
Of the 43 presidents in the history of the US, about a quarter, 11 of them, have been former generals or military leaders. This is not a judgement but an observation: with this structure, this history, and this tradition of leadership, the US is a martial nation. And whoever is elected president on November 2, this is not going to change.
As a junior alliance partner of the US, Australia needs to understand this fundamental fact of America's national character. Australians think that our diet of American pop culture brings us a sound grasp of the inner mind and soul of the US. We think we are the same. This is misleading and will lead to surprises and shocks in the years to come.
Australia has a very different structure: 0.3 per cent of the world population, 1.5 per cent of the world economy and 1.2 per cent of global defence spending. Australia has a very different history and tradition, too; it never waged war for independence, was never at war with itself, has not sought to assert military dominance over any region, and has no experience of being led by generals.
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You'll find the rest here:
http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/2...from=storylhs#
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