Re: I agree...that's the point!

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Posted by Martin Schenkel from Vancouver BC Canada on May 22, 2021 at 21:20:17:

In Reply to: I agree...that's the point! posted by Boyd on May 22, 2021 at 18:11:39:

I don't think its necessarily weak government that has resulted in clouded deployment of troops, though perhaps it is a factor. The nature of warfare has also changed. Compare WW2 to the former Yugoslavia. In WW2, there was a clear cut enemy. Large scale conventioanl warfare allowed for the deployment of massed armies, maintaning a front line (easy to see the lines on a map). In Yugoslavia, there were multiple 'enemies', generally scattered around, fighting each other at the same time. NATO wasn't sent in to fight a large scale conventional war, and in a sense, the civil war going on in Yugoslavia was more of a political war, than a purely military war.

To me, it seems that the present and the forseeable future of warfare isn't large scale conventional war, such as WW1, WW2, or preparations for WW3 (NATO-Warsaw Pact), with clear cut enemies, and clearly defined front lines. It's all about civil wars now. Rebels fighting government forces in guerilla campaigns. Where politics is as important as armed force. Yugoslavia, Somalia, Rwanda, Angola, Timor, Sierra Leone, and so on. And the problem is, that many of these civil wars are the results of de-colonization in the post-WW2 era. Therefore, any nation going in to these conflicts isn't awalys welcomed with open arms, because of the fear of colonialism (and rightly so).

The 'Proxy wars' of the 1960s and 70s, which made it less chalenging for governments to get involved in these conflicts, are for obvious reasons no longer viable, with the Cold War now over. Your example of Blogistan, I think, is also no longer viable. Destroying a regime, no matter who, for purely economic reasons, is far too imperialistic. So what does one do? I don't envy the position of the UN, NATO, or any nation's government contemplating involvment in any present day conflict. There are right ways to do it, and I think Yugoslavia (with the exception of Kosovo) is a step in the right direction.

Maybe I'm just young and naive, but that's how I see it. I may be a civie, but I'm still a big supporter of the CF.

Martin

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