--- "Mark A. Hershberger" <mah@everybody.org> wrote:
>
> (My mother keeps telling me "Don't feed the trolls"
> but I never
> listen.)
>
> Michael Flora <michaelrflora@yahoo.com> writes:
>
> > "War is the health of the state" -- Randolph
> Bourne,
> > 1918
> >
> > "War has provided both ancient and modern
> societies
> > with a dependable system for stabilizing and
> > controlling national economies. No alternate
> method of
> > control has yet been tested in a complex modern
> > economy that has shown itself remotely comparable
> in
> > scope or effectiveness... 'war' is virtually
> > synonymous with nationhood. The elimination of war
> > implies the inevitable elimination of national
> > sovereignty and the traditional nation-state." --
> > Leonard C. Lewin, 1967
> >
> > "All we are saying is give peace a chance" -- John
> > Lennon (what a laugh!)
>
> Why is this a laugh? Is the nation/state that vital
> to the our
> continued existence?
>
> Mark.
>
I don't think that the traditional nation-state is
vital to our continued existence, but it IS vital to
the various military machines around the world (the
U.S. Pentagon, the Chinese Pentagon, etc.). They,
after all, are the Guys With Guns, and they have the
power to ensure that things don't change. I don't
think that anybody wants to see the world blown up
(except for a few crazies like Osama) but there are
plenty of people who benefit from keeping the world
right on the edge of being blown up.
M.R.F.
"Power grows from the barrel of a gun" -- Mao Zedong
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM).
http://calendar.yahoo.com
___________________
Nolug mailing list
nolug@nolug.org
Received on 06/08/03
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.2.0 : 12/19/08 EST