12 Myths of 21st Century War

[Mark O'Neill]

I love Ralph to death and was with him last week, but that's kind of Limbaughism--throw out a bunch of positions that no one really holds and then beat the stuffing out of them.

Nailed it correctly! He must have been feeling that it was time to up his 'Google' quotient.

[Ski]

This was obviously written for his target audiance - the American Legion.

Peter's scholarly work is quite good, it's pieces like this and most of his "work" in the New York Post that damage his credibility. I guess one has to feed the family, and writing in a style that guarantees conversation (or as Mark O'Neill cleverly states "Upping his Google quotient") is a good way to sell himself.

Which is sad, because I think his more scholarly work stands on its own merit.

C'est la guerre.

[goesh]

13.) Wars are fought primarily by young, impoverished men who see a steady paycheck with education benefits and an enlistment bonus as a ticket out of desitution.

[Kitsune]

I would be hard pressed if I had to name one guy who I despise more than Ralph Peters. Admittedly, there are times when he sounds quite sane and some of the things he says make a certain amount of sense (like his attitude towards the Saudis).

But then. When he talks about Europe. It starts.
All of a sudden, a bottomless pit of prejudice opens up in Mr. Peters. "Europeans have perfected mass extermination", "Europe, this most cruel of continents", "Europe is not to be trusted and will always have to be watched", "'Eurabia' is only a myth, because once the Europeans get really pissed at the Muslims they will probably eradicate them in a second Holocaust", "I could even imagine that US forces will have to secure the Muslims exit from Europe" etc, etc. It is just incredible.

When you read one of his books, you get the impression that this is a man who perceives the world through a filter of incredibly strong prejudices and generalisations. America is best. Automatically, because it is American. Everything from Europe is automatically...not so good, because it is European. Actually, it is completely disgusting if it has to do with Germany (one of the two countries he hates most of all), or France (apparently the country which he does hate most of all) in particular. Those two nations are the enemy, and he leaves out no chance to heap his neverending scorn on them, wether in his factional or his fictional work.

This '12 Myths' article is one of his typical works. He presents some nonsensical statements just to blow them out of the water himself.
Stuff like "war doesn't change anything", "victory is impossible today", "there's no military solution; only negotiations can solve our problems", and "when we fight back, we only provoke our enemies" - who in the world is saying such things?

The statement "the United States is more hated today than ever before" is presented so that he can state, once more, that the USA is the greatest nation, ever, and that essentially everyone in the world wants a greencard. And the notion that "the Middle East's problems are all America's fault" is brought up so that he can enlighten us about the real culprit - Evil Europe, this most cruel of continents, which apparently deliberately drew the borders of the Middle East with the aim to create the maximum amount of strife and bloodshed for all eternity. Out of sheer malice, of course.

Now, Ralph Peters is just one man and this warrants the question why it should be so important what this guy thinks. Actually, it is not. But unfortunately, he is not alone, because he and his views seem to be quite popular, especially in the US Armed Forces - and that is a problem, indeed.
It can only be hoped that his prejudiced way of thinking does not spread.