tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427940.post8830669037864035206..comments2023-12-05T07:50:19.855-05:00Comments on No Oil for Pacifists: "Oceana Was Always At War With Eurasia" of the Day@nooil4pacifistshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16688417615117569825noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427940.post-37220821216537605802009-12-07T14:07:39.659-05:002009-12-07T14:07:39.659-05:00Agreed.Agreed.@nooil4pacifistshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16688417615117569825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427940.post-47671986504005813182009-12-06T23:08:10.909-05:002009-12-06T23:08:10.909-05:00They won't care, they don't grasp the rele...They won't care, they don't grasp the relevance of mines in the efforts of a smaller, weaker force acting against a larger force.<br /><br />While this can be problematic for us (think IED), it applies much more critically to those who would be freedom fighters against a despot.<br /><br />A possible mine field represents a slowing factor for any well-equipped force, which can both set up an ambush and also assist in a tactical retreat from a larger force.<br /><br />The worst aspects of mine fields is their persistence -- long after wars are over and the questions they are central to the "vigorous physical debate" on have been settled, one way or another, they historically remain, and have certainly been at the heart of a great deal of utterly pointless human tragedy.<br /><br />By making mines self-deactivating after a time, you resolve the worst of this.<br /><br />People who argue against the use of mines are, as in most cases, woefully ignorant of their purpose, use, and effectiveness in some very important ways. The typical anti-mine individual is, as you would expect, a hypocritical pacifist who imagines all the world's problems would be solved if only people would decide to "coexist" -- It would, indeed be so, were that to happen. <br /><br />I'd invest in heavy-duty umbrellas for protection against aerial porcine fecal droppings before I'd buy into "coexist" as a reasonable expectation for human behavior, though. <br /><br />====<br /><br />Self-deactivation deals with the worst aspect of them, which is land sown with mines being used years later for various purposes, sometimes even with small children playing in a place where people have long since forgotten there were mines sown.<br /><br />It's one thing to be a soldier injured by a mine. It's quite another to be an innocent, uninvolved civilian, long after the battle is over, to lose a limb or a child to one.OBloodyHellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09992539380115488567noreply@blogger.com