tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-44069403926336847332008-03-24T12:45:00.000-07:002008-03-24T12:45:00.000-07:00Saudi trembles Peter. What you don't get is that modern warfare doesn't need big armies anymore than the battleship Missouri. Obsolete. Terrorism, and ballistic missiles are enough. Look at Hezbollah vs. Israel. True Israel did stupid things, was unprepared, poorly supplied, and had bad tactics. But the mighty Merkiva tanks were destroyed by dug in Hezbollah fighters with state of the art anti-tank missiles. Israel suffered more casualties than Hezbollah.<BR/><BR/>Technology gives everyone an even shot, regardless of size of the economy.<BR/><BR/>And Obama could certainly give away the store against a tough guy like Ahmadinejad. Dinner Jacket could run the US out of the Persian Gulf, our presence there a National Security objective since FDR. Dinner Jacket and Iran want oil much higher than it is now, we want it lower. Whoever controls the Gulf militarily has a good shot at getting their way. So yeah, Obama's weakness matters. Along with say, missile defense. Which Putin hates.<BR/><BR/>Let's review: Obama made his way talking, the other two by killing people. Putin is also highly intelligent and educated (speaks several languages, is good at judo). Obama is a drama queen.<BR/><BR/>Ded -- the Catholic Church certainly *HAS* moved out of the Middle Ages. That's why the Pope's critique against Islam riled them up so much (the Pope argued Christianity requires both faith and reason, Islam merely submission to God as a "Master" and therefore interfaith dialog was pointless).<BR/><BR/>Your larger point that the cultural heritage of the West has been debased or ignored is correct though. About half of Britons think Sherlock Holmes and Biggles were real, while Winston Churchill was fake.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com