Saturday, June 25, 2011

Who's the dumb one again?

In other news, OJ finds the real killer.
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4 comments:

Tecumseh said...

Obama’s over-emphasis on Afghanistan has committed the U.S. and the world to a gigantic state-building mission on inhospitable terrain. That mission is ending in predictable disappointment. Duh.

6/25/2011 6:25 PM
Mr roT said...

Not the right lesson to learn, methinks:

Caesar's speed also concerns itself at times with massive construction and, concerning that construction, a reader will do well to keep in mind that Caesar comments frequently on many details of construction in all his books. This is because building skill is an important ingredient in his renowned speed and his ability to conquer. Reflect, for instance, on the length and height of the wall that the Roman army builds in less than a month. Caesar's troops have the impressive ability to build roads, warships, transports, bridges, forts, and siege works of an amazingly durable quality with both speed and accuracy. Note that immediately after the Romans conquer a region they begin road construction, assuring fast communication and movement of troops and supplies. Some authorities have estimated that nearly 14,000 miles of roads were built in Gaul alone and some of these same stone roads and bridges are still in use. Furthermore, many modern European highways are built on old Roman roadways because Roman roads were straight, cutting through hills rather than going around them.

6/25/2011 7:33 PM
Tecumseh said...

The Romans were great engineers, indeed. Nowadays, it would take something like 10 years to build 1 mile of highway, what with all the EPA regulations and whatnot. To build the Via Appia it would take centuries.

6/26/2011 2:01 AM
Mr roT said...

We're better engineers and we burn diesel, not barley, for the work.

I am not sure of my point here, but I think that the nation-building thing is not the difficulty. Wars are expensive. Thucydides makes money the most important thing already in 400BC.

I wonder if "nation building" as intended by the new shitheads really means bull like building a just, civil society, by greasing the right palms.

Then, of course, it could get a lot steeper than the construction projects.

Honestly I don't know, but building the schools and roads seems right. Probably it's handing the goodies over to the locals too soon that's wrong.

6/26/2011 4:19 AM

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