A Well Armed Militia Should Scare Off Predators
********Are you saying decentralized power is easier to beat? I'd argue for exactly the opposite. Hussein was the easy part; fighting decentralized guerrillas is another story.********
< I am not saying that decentralized power is easier to beat. I am saying that people living in dreadful living conditions far from standard of civilization is more difficult to subdue than these living in comfortable life condition. >
Howdy Woj
If you say so. But I've never seen any proof that "spoiled" Roman soldiers were unable to subdue poor Barbarians. The point remains that the best choice to fight a lion is for the monkeys to fight the war on their own terms. Throw coconuts from treetops, whatever, but don't face the big lion as a little lion.
Then it's the decisive point of the monkeys reaching to the little animals and explaining their case. The lion can only rule through the indifference of the little animals. *Ideally no violence should be required.*
Do you really need nuclear weapons as defense? I think it would extremely dangerous that even the ones defending from the lion should have it. NOBODY SHOULD HAVE IT. A well armed militia should scare off even the biggest of predators...
(Notice this is written by a lion, which makes it even more valuable, though these commentaries would make him a rather good lion)
"The people of Switzerland are to be envied for their many achievements, and the policy achievement of a plan for armed neutrality could be a model either in whole or in part for those seeking a rational approach to survival problems."
"The concept of armed neutrality was a policy favored by our Founding Fathers but the warnings and advice of Founding Father George Washington has been lost to Twentieth Century Americans."
[Not a bad stratagy to defend America from "Terrorism"... And even better would be to learn from Switzerland...]
THE SWISS REPORT
A special study for Western Goals Foundation
by General George S. Patton, U.S.A. (Ret.) and
General Lewis W. Walt, U.S.M.C. (Ret.)
Copyright L 1983 Western Goals
While Americans wrestle with the defense matters of growing costs, manpower needs, volunteerism vs. the draft, and even the matter of a national will, it is refreshing to note that there is one country that has adopted a formula that has resolved those same vexations. That country is Switzerland, and amazingly, the Swiss have successfully applied this national defense formula for centuries without the problems of popular division. To the contrary, the Swiss concept has promoted unity among the people of that small but mature nation.
The people of Switzerland are to be envied for their many achievements, and the policy achievement of a plan for armed neutrality could be a model either in whole or in part for those seeking a rational approach to survival problems.
The concept of armed neutrality was a policy favored by our Founding Fathers but the warnings and advice of Founding Father George Washington has been lost to Twentieth Century Americans. Perhaps even at this late date, we could find many answers to our current problems by observing the Swiss way of a total defense concept.
(snip)
Switzerland lies landlocked in Western Europe, a small densely populated nation of nearly seven million people. To the west lies France, to the south Italy and to the north and east, West Germany and Austria. By modern jet fighter, it is ten minutes from the Warsaw Pact nations of Eastern Europe. Since 1815 Switzerland has remained an inviolate island of peace in the midst of war. Even Adolph Hitler's Wehrmacht, which conquered all of Europe in the early months of World War II, chose not to attack Switzerland despite the fact that the small country was in the crossroads of Western Europe.
Switzerland is, of course, neutral, but it was not mere respect for its neutrality which kept the Nazi armies and others before it out of the tiny country. It was the determination of the Swiss people to defend their neutrality and the credibility of their means to do so. That determination remains alive today in the face of weapons of mass destruction. So, too, does the credibility of the means. Within 48 hours, the Swiss can field an army of more than 600,00 men, 100,000 more than the present army of West Germany. Today, it can provide shelter space for 85 percent of its civilian population and by the 1990s intends to have shelter space for the entire population. War supplies, medical supplies and food supplies are meticulously stored in more than 100 kilometers of tunnels. About 4,000 permanent obstacles and barriers and more than 2,000 demolition devices are now in place, ready to hamper and block an aggressor's progress. In short, Switzerland is an armed bunker.
Yet, there is _no_ standing Army, _no_ bunker mentality, _no_ enormous drain on the Swiss economy, _no_ militaristic threat to Europe's oldest and most fiercely independent democracy.
(snip)
THE MILITIA SYSTEM
The purpose of the military forces of Switzerland are two-fold: (1) to deter war by the principle of dissuasion; and (2) if deterrence fails, to defend the territory and the population.
"Dissuasion is a strategic posture which should persuade a potential aggressor to avoid armed conflict, by convincing him of the disproportion existing between the advantages gained from an attack on the country and the risks entailed. The risks which a potential aggressor must be made to perceive consists in the loss of prestige, military forces, war-potential and time, as well as in running counter to his ideological, political and economic interests."
The Swiss have no illusions about their ability to defeat a major military power. They could not have defeated the Nazi army which for a time considered invading Switzerland. They mobilized, however, and made it clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that if the Nazi army invaded, it would be fiercely resisted and that the tunnels and passes into Italy would be destroyed. In a classic example of dissuasion at work, Hitler's general staff recommended against an invasion on the grounds that the costs would be disproportionate to the gains.
The Swiss military forces are composed almost entirely of the militia. Only 800 out of 50,000 officers are professionals. They, and the recruits which happen to be training at any given time, are the only people in Switzerland on "active duty."
The Swiss militia system is unique and is not comparable to the present Reserve and Guard forces in the United States. The basis for conscription is the constitution, which mandates military service for every Swiss male from age 20 to 50 (55 in the case of officers). There are no exceptions. Conscientious objectors are given a choice between Army non-combat units and jail. Those physically unfit for military duty but employable are required to pay a tax. Women are not included in the compulsory military service system, but small numbers of them are accepted on a volunteer basis for non-combatant positions.
(snip)
At the end of the training cycle, the recruit, now a member of a militia unit with which he will stay in most cases for the duration of his obligation, returns home. *He carries with him his rifle, an allotment of ammunition, uniforms, military pack, and CBR mask*. He is responsible for the maintenance of this equipment and is inspected annually. Once a year he is also required to qualify with his personal weapon on a rifle range or face an additional three days of training. Once a year, he will report for three weeks of military training in a rugged field exercise set up as a problem the type of which his particular unit would face.
As you see this can scare off the wildest of predators, but, even better, they pursue this kind of neutrality in international relations, which can PREVENT conflicts...]
Today Switzerland maintains its neutrality, but practices what it calls solidarity -- participating in international humanitarian projects, offering its good offices in the resolution of disputes, and providing technical assistance to Third World countries. The Swiss participate in those international activities and organizations which do not require it to violate its policy of neutrality. Neutrality is central to Swiss thinking and, in fact, is the determining factor in the Swiss security system.
Some critics of the Swiss system have expressed the belief that the possession of nuclear weapons has made the strategy of dissuasion obsolete. These are, to be sure, those critics who view nuclear war as an offense for which there is no defense.
The Swiss do not agree. Recalling on of their strategic objectives as protection of the civilian population, the Swiss government has realistically assessed that objective in light of nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare. Their answer was to embark on an extensive civil defense program with the idea of accomplishing two of their strategic objectives -- protection of the population and maintaining freedom of action.
[Notice that the Swiss do protect or try to protect all, something telling of real democracy]
"Who wants to go back to the jungle?"
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