Some of us are sucking f**king masochists who want to be called dirty things while being choked and slapped around like torture victims. But, that's just some of us. Personally, I don't give a f**k either way.

One thing I have noticed about Americans since being here (Japan) is that Americans are rude, obnoxious, and outright ignorant overally. An individual can adjust and easily move past that, but as a society, its really obvious in comparison to other countries. Which is I why I get sick to my stomach from extreme disgust when Americans preach about morals and politics. After my nausea subsides, I laugh hysterically on the inside.

I know what you mean and I agree with what you're saying, it seem quite contradictive in the long run.

Morals are overrated.

sure, america is messed up, but its not as bad as irac and iran and all those countrys that wemon cant come out of there house unless they have every limb covereda dn if they look at a man that isnt their huspant they get stoned to death....so compared to that america seems pretty cool to me.

that's the most interesting spelling i've read in a while

ummm thanks...even though its not a complement

What I love is how whiners say there's going to be a draft so they want to move to Europe. And they'll often name countries they want to move to, yet those countries have compulsory military service!

Enjoy your nanny states, high taxes and lack of freedoms. Hopefully the US won't be joining you within the next 20 years.

Too bad Norway isn't a psychotic imperial nation.

I want to move to Iceland and they don't have a compulsory military service! In fact, the United States is their official protector if they ever get invaded (which they won't), so they don't even need a military service! That's what I like, no military.

Yeah but Kenya pisses all over Norway.

Military presence is necessary in this day and age.

Take Japan as a prime example. They have a small defense force, but because of their location, their allies and their success in the global market; they're targets. Without US forces in Japan, North Korea would give China the militaristic backing they need and both countries will run a train on that peaceful country.

Small? They have more active soldiers than Israel... After the US Pacific fleet, they've got the 2nd best Navy in the Pacific. They've even have an aircraft carrier (they call it a destroyer to get around their constitution).

I have a feeling we're in Japan more for Taiwan than for Japan. China's always sending their subs out whenever we do exercises in the Pacific and they surface them nearby the CVBGs to embarrass us. And we really can't do anything because we're not going to fire on them during peace time, and the enviromentalist f****ts won't let the Navy use their sonar because it kills whales or something.

China does NOT want North Korea fighting any wars. Otherwise they're going to have one hell of a refugee problem. North Korea likes to threaten Japan, but they're too much of pussies to even properly test their missiles in Japan's direction because they're afraid that Japan will shoot down the test missiles and embarrass them.

Asia = Giant pissing contest. They fight over the stupidest shit, like territorial claims over rocks in the middle of the ocean that are under water for half of the day.

Not for every country...that's my point. Iceland doesn't need their own military. They're tiny, no one's ever invaded it (other than its original colonization), they're not aggressive. They kind of just sit there, like Canada. Canada's military is there for the purpose of helping other countries fight their wars, but they don't start wars, and people don't start wars with them. I like that idea, nonaggression. It's good.

Facts, Kryo. Keep in mind that I'm part of a unit (and work in the 3d MLG Chief of Staff's office) that oversees the Pacific Theater of operations for Marine Corps and Naval personnel. I'm pretty sure I have a decent idea of what the hell I'm talking about working with Intel, Operations and MAGTF planning.

Japan really can't pose a viable threat for anyone if something popped off. Their Naval guard is solid because its an island. Of course they won't have ground troops ready to be forward deployed. Its unfair to compare Japan, a dormant country in hostile times, to Israel. The Israeli military has been involved and engaged in constant conflict for years. Japanese men aren't required to serve in the military, and with the US supporting them, the country remains out of harm's way.

China doesn't want North Korea fighting any wars because they are trade partners with most of the free world, thanks to their British and US ties. But honestly, if you're being bullied by a country with a Napoleon complex, and the firepower to back it up, without anyone to lean on, you might just have to give in. North Korea can't lay a finger on Taiwan in this day and age because every US military unit in this area would "reach out and touch them."

The sonar kills these dugong manatees, apparently.

Whatever.

Fail. That is all that I need to say in response to that post.

It a personal opinion, and you really can not hate on someone for having said opinion. Sure, certain aspects of America sucks, but our country is one of the best out there. We may not have free health care and we may not hate the best economic system, but I can stand on the street and protest that if I choose too. Freedom of speech and all that is taken for granted is what America as a country has to offer. I don't care who you are, or where you live, but the US is the only place for me.

It isn't like the US has a monopoly on Freedom of Speech - it's abundant in most other industrialized countries. Some might say it's even more abundant in other countries.

Yea, not so much. I would fly to other countries to test that. I can stand up in class and tell a teach to go "f**k off" in proper context, and with a good attorney get away with it.

I actually know for a fact you can do that. I would be more than willing to test that theory in the UK, Canada, and or any other country that thinks they protects freedom of speech more than the US does.

I didn't post anything factually incorrect. I'm just trying to put things into perspective.

Japan is fine on their own (so is Israel, but more on that for another day). Just yesterday they scrambled 22 aircraft to intercept a Russian Bear flight. The usual Western response is no more than 5 aircraft.

Why is it unfair to compare it to Israel? In fact, the fact that Israel is constantly fighting (as you mentioned) makes it even worse. Japan has more than four times the budget of Israel, and has more active duty personnel than Israel. Japan hasn't gotten into any major conflict since WWII, Israel has been in a million wars with its neighbors. Japan has enemies nearby, but the Pacific between them, and Japan has invaded all of these countries in the past. Israel is surrounded by enemies, and has been invaded several times by them.

Yet for some reason, Israel doesn't need us to build bases on their land to protect them, yet Japan needs us to build bases to protect them?

China and North Korea can't do jack shit to Japan. China has little to no blue water navy capability, which is needed to launch an invasion. North Korea's invasion capability? Don't even joke around like that. North Korea threatens people because they're starving to death. It's not a "we're going to invade you" mentality, it's a "if we go down, we'll take you with us, so give us food dammit!" mentality.



Who said anything about North Korea wanting Taiwan? China's pissed at the Taiwanese independence movement. We had a carrier group pass through the Taiwan straight as a f**k you to China for not letting the shitty kitty dock there. China does not want the US in the Pacific, because the US Pacific fleet would be an enormous obstacle if China wanted to take military action against Taiwan.

But don't take my word for it. Look at Japan's military capabilities. Look at Taiwan's. Look how far away Japan is from China (please don't suggest that NoKo can invade Japan). Now tell me the distance Taiwan is from China. Tell me how many people vocally protest the presence of US bases in Japan, and compare it to how much fear Taiwan has that the US will abandon them.

Consider those facts, and tell me if you still think Japan needs us more than Taiwan needs us.

Considering that's not what freedom of speech is intended to protect, that doesn't really matter anyway, even if you couldn't get away with it in Britain (which, I'm not so sure you couldn't).

The US just withdrew from that agreement a year ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agreed_Minute

Gotta send more human fodder to blast away innocents for fat-cat bank accounts. f**k Iceland!

Well then, no military whatsoever! Even better!

Can't wait till I get to Iceland.

Have fun in Iceland when Germany is ready for round 3.

There will always be people who say they hate America.
But if they were to go back where they came from they would probably be even more miserable and they know it.

There are reasons why we come to America. Every immigrant and all of our ancestors and the people who choose to come here today have hundreds of reasons.

There will never be a perfect freedom and people will one day find that out. There will always be injustice and if you create inner peace then none of this sh*t really matters..

My opinion is deal with what you've got... or get where you want on your own.