I refuse to blindly stand by the Stars and Stripes (now made by slave labor in China) in the latest pre-emptive strike against whoever it considers an enemy of it's globalist New World Order.

As for the Chinese Embassy, while it is my understanding that the US was deliberately trying to hit the building, it was because it was based on outdated intelligence that somehow had it listed as being a Serbia government target of some kind.

Quote:
Who cares about the history of the land? Who cares about the demographic implications 100 years from now? I live in the present, that is all that is real.


Kahless:

With respect, you view that region as an American and I can certainly understand your perspective. However, the problem is that in that region, the people have historically tended to be able to compress time in such a way that 1000 years ago is yesterday. Many years ago, some of our weekly magazines carried stories complete with interviews of people in the Balkans and it amazed many Americans that someone could speak of trying to settle a score that had offended a family member 600 or more years ago. The idea of avenging one's family honor runs deep there, just as it does in the Middle East. And this is something that we just have little to compare it to as we try--if we do--to understand that region or any other region of the world. We tend to view honor as something negotiable; avenging honro as something to "get over." We tend to think that there is little or nothing for which we should put our lives on the line or fight for. In this we are the odd men (and women) out in the world and in history.

In America, we tend to think that something six months to a year is old and we think that history is of little importance before our own births. But that isn't the way the rest of the world thinks. We've also got this myth that we are the vanguard of the world, that everyone wants to imitate us, that what we have built here over 200+ years can be easily trnasplanted to other nations, and that we can manipulate the world to get what we want and our vision of the world into place.

That's why we puddle along and are loathed in so many parts of the world.

Quote:
Then, with respect, why on Earth did Serbs murder my best friends family who were Orthodox Albanians? And 90% of Albanians in Kosovo are Muslim so I fail to see how the remainder 10% of Albainians can be grouped with the Muslims when they are not Muslim!


Unfortunately, whether someone is Orthodox or not matters little to many there. You've got to be "of my group and of my religion" to fit in. Otherwise you are the enemy whether we share the same religious beliefs or not. Marian had it right in another thread where he stated that Kosovo was a hornets' nest. I guess we'll find out. The Serbs probably did not distinguish: the family was Albanian and part of the group trying to take over their ancestral homeland.

That seems to be another area we just don't seem to get. Our history is that of people who pick up and go where the work is. Taht's what everyone's ancestors did to get here from all prts of the world. We simply don't attach a great deal of significance to home, hearth, land, or ancestors' patrimony. But we're the odd men out in those areas, too.

This may also explain why minority Christians in Moslem lands draw so little sympathy from our people. If you're an Iraqui, you must be Moslem; a Palestinian, you must be Moslem: don't confues the average American with distinctions or detail, they just don't get it.

BOB

[quote=theophan]
...why on Earth did Serbs murder my best friends family who were Orthodox Albanians?

This article about a forthcoming apology from the Australian government to the Aborginial people pertains and offers hope!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7216873.stm