[I Suck At Geography]

I learned geography just by looking at the globe. From there I moved up to full Atlases to get a better graps of more detailed information. Sporcle and other resources like that can be good to learn more obscure things like Tuvalu but I don't think it should be the first resource you go to if you really have no idea about the geography of entire regions.

[The Legion Rides To War]

Very good. Keep it up.

[American Vaudeville]

Who is the authority in Islam to declare holy war? They have no Muslim pope or anything like that. The Shi'ites have a limited hierarchy but as far as Sunnis go there is hardly any structure. Some people looked to Bin Laden as a religious leader so he therefore had the authority in their minds to do what he did.

I'm pretty sure Bush isn't the first person to declare war on something that isn't another state. What about the war on crime, war on drugs, etc. It's a figure of speech. He didn't convene congress and send an official declaration of war to all terrorists everywhere.

Also, from what has been said by the media, Bin Laden was unarmed but he was resisting. What would you have done if you were one of the Seals dropped deep into a potentially hostile city, already lost one of your helicopters, you're inside this fortified compound with god knows how many potential enemies and you've already had to take out a Bin Laden's son/other supporters to get this far and now the man himself is fighting back? Saddam was taken alive because he immediately surrendered upon being found. That was not the case here. Besides, this was supposed to be a discussion about excessive celebration not an argument over America's foreign policy.

[American Vaudeville]

I don't think your definition of murder is correct especially after your justification of the killing in your first paragraph. The killing of another person is simply homicide. Murder is unlawful killing.

I also don't agree with your comparison to rallies in the Middle East and other regions where they burn American flags and images of US leaders in effigy. Showing patriotism and proudly waving your own flag is not the same as burning another nation's flag in hatred.

All that being said, I am not among those who were dancing and chanting.

[The Real]

What is this suggesting, rationing?

[Economics and the Price of Peace]

Basically, the strategy made sense. Having NPO come out early would be injurious to the coalition effort especially since there would be no further support once they and their allies were in. It was corroborated by the "It would be a trap if NPO entered." What I am referring to is the general desire to go all out or not go in at all which the NSO seemed to have from what leaked. There would be no point in them going out and getting their own bloc killed without support.

...

As I said, the strategy of not chaining NPO in early on was employed. Legion not going in despite a direct hit on their ally supports it. I bring it up because it continues to be disputed as to why the NPO was attacked.

So you're saying NPO was preempted because DH didn't want everyone else on their side to commit to the war and then have NPO jump in last, right? It wasn't because DH believed NPO was about to declare on either them or their allies at that moment but just further down the line they might join the fight once everyone else was involved.

If that is the case then why even attack them? DH could have just as easily stayed in reserve, ready to counter NPO if they should jump in. NPO thus would not be able to enter the war last and steamroll in unopposed. It's not like DH's allies on the NpO front were getting trashed or that numbers down the line looked bad for them.

Others will of course argue with me but I don't see the threat from NPO as imminent and certain and thus not even worth considering a preemptive strike. In this case deterrence would have worked as well if not better than attacking NPO.

[The Mechanics of Victory]

That was my entire point. If you wanted to hide in peace mode legitimately, calling in your allies confuses the issue. It's the sort of theoretical tactic that only works if you perform it with 100% accuracy, or as close to it as you can. If you only put half your alliance in peace mode, what's left outside gets absolutely wrecked. The correct execution of this tactic would have been to hole up into peace mode, tell their allies to intercede, and wait and see what happens. If GOONS does nothing, then the moral high ground is justified, namely that they would not have and could not have intervened in the VE-NpO front. If GOONS wants to engage further and declare war on NPO's allies as a chaining pre-emptive, well, then you've really got a case. This half-hearted approach that was actually executed smacks of either treachery or extreme ignorance, one or the other. Whether they intended to or not is still up for debate, but the result of the matter is that New Pacific Order and The Legion left their allies to get reamed while they retreated.

You're saying NPO should have completely ducked into PM and then ignore DH. Their allies then do not join the war but simply stay in a constant state of readiness in case DH then preempts them?

[The Mechanics of Victory]

What would be the point of NPO telling its allies to stay out of the war? If I remember correctly NPO was attacked for doing just that and staying out of NpO's war. If NPO's allies stayed neutral, how long would it take for DH or one of their allies to preemptively attack alliances that were clearly staying out of the conflict?