Text 4684, 101 rader
Skriven 2007-07-19 09:38:19 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
   Kommentar till text 4606 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
Ärende: FidoNews 24:29 [02/06]: General Articles
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18 Jul 07 01:06, Ward Dossche wrote to Ross Cassell:

 WD> Ross,

 RC>> The Hawaii thing didnt happen as horrendously as Wards sentence
 RC>> infers, but US involvement wasnt a glittery bright spot.

 WD> So ... Hawaii was not military occupied to protect US interests, i.e.
 WD> the pineapple business of mr.Dole?

Nope. Troops were disembarked from the USS Boston during a rebellion in
1893 by the queen's supporters, but they were ordered to be neutral and
only to protect the lives and property of Americans there. Among the other
foreigners there were Europeon and Asian businessmen, lawyers and
politicians who formed the Honolulu Rifles and then deposed the queen.

The queen abdicated her throne in 1894 and the islands were run as a
Republic until 1898, when it became a US territory. BTW, the Dole you
speak of is not the same Dole of Dole Pineapple fame. The Dole who became
one of the 13 members of the HR (above) was the brother of the Dole of
pineapple fame. Also, both Dole and Thurston were native born Hawaians of
American and Europeon decent. Thurston was the Hawaian Interior Minister,
who lobbied the US congress to annex Hawaii...


 RC>> Colonialism is something we learned from Europe, England being the
 RC>> worst about it I suspect. I still question their need for the
 RC>> Falkland Islands?

 WD> The Dutch were worse colonialists than the Brits.

Worst, as in what meaning of the word? They did a bad job of colonizing or
were more cruel to the natives than the Brits and Spaniards?

 WD> The Falklands initially were needed as a coaling station for the
 WD> British fleet (same as Hawaii essentially was a coaling station for
 WD> the American fleet).

Ummm, there's no coal on the islands. Perhaps you meant a fuel dump
station.

 WD> The last Falkland War was also essential because South Georgia is
 WD> close enough to Antarctica to be allowed into the discussions of the
 WD> Antarctic mineral treaty without the real need for a base (presence
 WD> is required in order to participate in the talks). With South Georgia
 WD> occupied again the Brits had a much better negotiation position.

That couldn't have been why, as South Georgia, South Sandwich, South
Shetland and South Orkney islands (all Brit territory in the same region)
are all further south than the Falklands.

 WD> Do not forget the mineral wealth of Antarctica ... at that time
 WD> mining operations were not yet forbidden and a lot of countries
 WD> wanted the scoop.

Fortunately, the costs involved in recovery were too high. That didn't
stop them from decimating the animal life though.

 WD> Besides, if you question the British presence on the Falklands, then
 WD> what are Americans doing for example on Diego Garcia or Ascension or
 WD> Keflavik
 WD> ... or Guantanamo?

Diego Garcia is a Brit territory. They cleared the island of the native
population in 1973. Under a 1966 agreement between the US and the UK, the
US has maintained a military base and other facilities there since 1973.

Guantanamo, a US military base, is a result of an agreement between the
Batista Cuban government before the communist takeover in 1959. Castro,
the communist leader of Cuba, hasn't asked us to leave.

Keflavik is no longer occupied by any US personell and the Keflavik Int'l
Airport belongs to the city of the same name.

Ascension is another Brit territory where the US and UK jointly
have a military presence.

 RC>> The Invasion of those places was supposed to have been a diversion
 RC>> to lure our forces away from Midway and other Pacific Outposts.
 RC>> Fortunately we didnt bite and successfully crushed the core might of
 RC>> Japanese Naval power at Midway, ...

 WD> ... don't forget to add "by sheer luck".

By sheer stupidity of the enemy.

 RC>> Speaking of ww2, did you ever see the Movie "The Final Countdown"?

 WD> Great movie ... I loved it. Saw it several times ... would've loved
 WD> the Japanese navy being crushed ... :-)

You can probably download it from Felten's pirate site.

                R\%/itt


"Beware the lollipop of mediocrity! Lick it once and you'll suck
forever..."

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