snoop dogg/the doors: riders on the storm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hsahbAEZpc
well, for some reason or another, if u go to some military academy, like to become an officer, they will teach you about famous battles of alexander and hannibal whom they reckoned two of the best generals/strategicians/warriors/tactical fighter dudes of ancient times......
if u talk to enlisted folk in navy and other forces, often they will tell you that officers are scum..... hence, perhaps the teaching of alexander and hannibal's battles to officers in military academies like west point and others is foolish given that there were no machine guns, tanks, etc......
if ur completely ignorant about hannibal and alexander, then join the club... reading about hannibal on wikipedia tells you he had his base in modern day tunisia, or thereabouts, however he made a long term base in spain, and then invaded the romans in today's italy, even holding out there on roman/italian soil for many long years causing many problems for the romans........
alexander was from macedonia and always went east -- he conquered the iranians/persians (darius) and just kept on going to india which is nuts... in the case of alexander it seems he decided to dedicate his entire life to warring and killing and conquest and had no intention to turn around....
on the other hand, hannibal, after a very long and successful campaign in italy... was able to return to tunisia and his base and return to politicking there and apparently was able to return to the romans as an ambassabor/non-warrior -- so some different circumstances there
both of them however, commanded large mobile forces...... these were forces without even gunpowder -- the chinese had it for a long time but seemed to only use it for fireworks - not cannons -- so it seems the first big famous general to use gunpowder as a weapon was the most famous of all: napoleon, who more or less treated europe like his bitch to bitchslap with the help of his right hand, france........
what can today's military academy students learn from alexander and hannibal??? given that there are now bombs, air-craft carriers, long-distance missiles, satellites, etc... you would have to say: not much at all.... not much point studying that stuff at all....
if u can imagine the times of alexander or hannibal -- killing is like an abattoir or slaughterhouse where cows are killed: people will be killed bloodily with swords, spears, pikes (super long spears), from horseback or elephant back with afore-mentioned weapons... you could also use archers... the english, or rather, the tribes and peoples to inhabit today's england, 1000 years ago, were famous for there use of long-bows and archery.... these weapons were definitely formidable... in fact, if you were to pit a force of archers and cross-bow archers and swordsmen against modern day soldiers with machine guns -- you could definitely win in the right circumstances: eg., a forest that you had better re-reconnoitered....
i know what you're thinking: why don't all these war dudes just get a grip and go bowling or something and make love not war? if only..... you know how it is buddy: in one lifetime you want to be a doctor, the next a singer, the next a gardener -- the games and past-times of the human soul on Earth never end..... soldiering is just the next level up from policing.... it's police versus police or just force versus force.... brute force will meet brute force and even then it's not over -- even if you win a battle -- your peoples' interests might come off worse due to a worser diplomatic/trade exchange
in this sense, alexander 'the great', was unique: he didn't care about making everyone like he was when he started, the way the spaniards wanted the south americans to be like them, or the english wanted other peoples to take on their language and manners and customs.... he got to a point where he decided to take on other conquered peoples' customs, for example, he began to dress as an iranian, even though he was a madedonian? why? because he was a reformer
jim morrison: not to touch the earth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBJ5tHbjybs&feature=fvst
according to plutarch's history of alexander: his own macedonians grumbled about the absorption of foreign cultures, on the other hand, it wasn't unusual to take on some aspects of foreign cultures and for alien cultures to intermix in these 'olden times'.... this is not, however, why the military academies of the world drool about hannibal and alexander, it's because they kicked arse, militarily... again, the question becomes: how is this relevant, given today's technological advances?
both were able to marshall and command large forces that remained obedient to them, and both were able to fight pitched battles that they consistently won against stronger forces.... that's why
however, as mentioned, it seems, to this un-schooled ignoramus, that alexander never wanted to 'return home' -- whereas hannibal did and was happy to, although he was of course willing to risk his life along the way
this brings up another important point: how and why to risk your life? everyone risks their life everyday: life is dangerous - some pervert could kill your kids, a beautiful blonde could ruin your marriage with a flick of her hair and destroy your children's lives, you could get cancer! in the 'old days' before modern medicine and doctor phil, the average lifespan was alot shorter..... hannibal and alexander weren't about to throw their life away on some pub brawl -- if they died, they were gonna die for what they would consider a good reason, in this respect you can label both of them self-gloryfying murderous bastard cowardly pieces of shit, and you might be right.... that's for you to decide...
now let's imagine warring with alexander, in persia....... and remember, in those days, there were no snipers and over the horizon radar and long distance bombers and stealth bombers.... war was a bloody business and very much up close
can u imagine it? if so, wouldn't your best friend be the terrain and the weather? visibility and conditions like tree coverage, hills -- where to put your men? what protects them? where can they escape to? what can they kill with? from where? how far? where will their food come from? how far? for how long? how can food be guaranteed?
already you see that conquest here, in the case of alexander, is dependent on building relationships with conquered town and peoples so that supply lines: food, clothing, etc, is guaranteed... in fact, in these days, part of normal war was a siege... you are seeing that now with today's iran.... the americans AND the europeans are laying siege to iran with economic sanctions... it is not dissimilar to alexander setting up his caravan and tents outside a large metropolis, sending a messenger within to plot demands: surrender by day two or alexander will have ALL of your adult men over 25 slain - no exceptions buddy........
in alexander's camp, you were gonna get drunk, that's for sure, so nowadays, alexander's best soldiers would undoubtedly come from the english who naturally are alcoholic binge drinkers and closet barbarians (germans) who would love to go around killing and slaying and laying siege to places... (maybe)
you can imagine alexander's excursions as a glofified NRA hunting trip that never ends where the beer is always on tap... warring, boozing, partying nights.... helping the underdog to come on top and all that crap (reform)
with a democracy, waging war isn't so easy -- you ever played that sim game by sid meier 'civilization'? if you're a 'beltway' washington reporter - left or right leaning, you should spend a few hours playing that game -- it will show you basic principles that are important to understand... you cannot wage war as a democracy without running into dragnets..... you see in the case of vietnam, the americans have the stomach to do very dastardly things -- i will not post clips of youtube agent orange survivors today, but this is america's doing, and this is 'evolution' -- it IS tragic -- it is tragic -- it is tragic -- tragedy is real -- it's not a joke -- tragedy is life's way of shaking you by the collars and yelling 'wake up!!!' in your face so the spittle splashes you..... too often, we are unaware of the consequences of our own actions -- and not so much on an individual level, but moreso on a macro/group/global level
you see the iranians have pre-empted the EU and decided to stop their supply of petrol to the europeans -- europe imports about 20% of her petrol from iran -- this then is important....
diplomacy is a very important element in war and this falls, in america, to the department of state -- not to the department of defense, however, both departments fall under the realm of the presidency and the 'cabinet' and 'joint chiefs' -- generally, in obama's 'white house' we have the usual right-ist kind of dept. of defense that is willing, as always, to do the ugly terrible things to impose brute force.... but we have the department of state and also the media -- very much to the left and here's 50 cents 'hate it or love it'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY0Ag0fMxz8
returning to alexander... you have to wonder if he gave a shit or how much he could keep in touch with old macedonia... what did alexander care for macedonia? life would go on there well enough without him, despite he was its head of state and prince.... alexander was free to go forward and press a bloody killing force all the way to india! ludicrous!
recently we mentioned we tried again assailing solzhenitzyn's 'gulag archipelago' - however it is hard to stomach, maybe only a russian can read it, solzhenitzyn's humanity is undeniable, however he glosses over the rape of german women after conquering german territory as if it wasn't shit... you see how war doesn't change? we once knew an african in bulgaria who had been in war(s) in africa and his body was scarred with bullet wounds, africa, of course, has most of the world's conflict these days, and don't forget, that the killing, violence and murder in mexico increased proportionally to the war in iraq so that there was more death in mexico than iraq! you can spin lefty sob-stories about the sad bloodshed in iraq all day long if u like, but you would be turning a blind eye to reality in mexico if you do so... are they related? some say violence begets violence, and Jesus taught to 'turn the other cheek' -- to the extent of even letting Himself be crucified.... this is a very scorpionic thing to the benji... how can a libra, like Jesus, who would approve of the nice things of life, like democracy, peace, stability, prosperity, how could he admit something so scorpionic and radical as his own crucifixion! why not use that power to dissappear???? just to become some dumb drama story for the idiot brute european masses while the chinese ignore it all for millenia??? how to make sense of it all?
you either turn the other cheek, or you don't... for example, after 9/11, america could have turned the other cheek -- it wouldn't have been hard, however, bush made the case for saddam being a nutcase and being emboldened by 9/11 and possibly further attacking a confused and scattered america by sending a barge of some sort to american shores and exploding a bomb there -- of course, it would have meant his own annihilation, however, bush was able to make a case for too much chaos cause of 9/11 and not turning the other cheek on an international level -- this of course, meant war
so is that right? you either go to war, or you turn the other cheek... Jesus said if someone asks for your coat, give them your shirt too... of course he meant it in a sense of neutralizng aggression and swallowing your pride, with the emphasis on swallowing your own pride -- and this is a great stumbling block for every man: swallowing his own pride.... a man will even convince himself he is humble out of a sense of pride..........
and now to star wars... not reagan's missile defense... but george lucas' movies.... can alien civilizations capable of intergalactic faster than light travel be expected to kill and destroy? or would they only turn the other cheek? benji guesses that even they would fall short of Jesus' mastery and would actually opt for the logical and orderly use of force such as is used by the police... can u imagine the police turning the other cheek and letting criminals run loose and burning everything and taking control? it's hard to imagine, right? but we dare not label Jesus a doddering softy idiot by turning the other cheek??... perhaps turning the other cheek was only appropriate for Him and His own personal Path and Development as an individual Soul personality --- this is a difficult issue -- there are strong arguments to be made for and against the use of force and violence -- for turning the other cheek and for keeping criminality and chaos in check....
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