Serbia F 117 A - Fragment of the tail-fin

[Piramida]

Dear Members

I really had no intention of getting involved in this discussion, but this last post truly disturbed me. If I understood it correctly slava1stclass seems to be implying that all Serbs are barbarians and murderers, that kind of remark offends me greatly and I think that racial hatred is definatly not the way to go.

As far as the bombing of Yugoslavia is concerned, it was a pointless conflict that could have been easily avoided, unnfortunatly the guys at the top didn't seem to want that. One thing is sure there were civilian casualties and even if there were a hundred it was to many. But the thing that is really disturbing is the lasting impression of fear that it left on many hundreds of thousands more. It was an experiance that I wouldn't want anybody to have to live through.

So please lets stop quarreling about these useless thing and just appreciatte Mr. Zulu's post for what it is: a part of a inanimate object

Ivan

[Ed_Haynes]

It is sad how quickly such discussions can turn so nasty, even among an international community of gentlemen.

When we get into a situation of dueling patriotisms and scarcely disguised racism there is much danger. We have strayed far into that minefield, I fear.

Christian has presented an interesting piece of tangible military history and a version of the history behind it. Like it or not, that is a historical understanding we need to know. And if it is a version of the history that we have been taught not to know, maybe it is all the more important.

Can we please try to set our passports and their peculiar printing aside and see what has been presented here as just what it is, without becoming all jingoistically patriotically defensive. OK, maybe we can't. Thinking at a level of universal humanity may be impossible, especially for those suckled on military service.

This is why I don't talk about a lot of contemporary phaleristic issues I'd like to talk about. Depending on sensitivities, you can get yourself punished or spanked or even banished from a forum (this has happened to me twice, a result of talking the unacceptably radical position that there is no rate of exchance on human life, based on nationalality or race).

Edited January 4, 2007 by Ed_Haynes

[Nick]

We are an international forum and we must remember that we are here to discuss militaria and military history without getting tied down with the baggage of personal beliefs, morals, politics and national loyalties. I accept that at times this can be hard to accomplish and passions can run high especially with members who have served in their own countries military as well as various conflicts around the world since WW2. I respect that many members are proud of their service and have patriotic feelings of loyalty to their own country and beliefs. But your own individual national pride may not be shared by other members and we must be respectful towards those members by not carrying and flying our flags blatantly in their faces.

Depending on sensitivities, you can get yourself punished or spanked or even banished from a forum (this has happened to me twice, a result of talking the unacceptably radical position that there is no rate of exchance on human life, based on nationalality or race).

I can assure members that such humanitarian beliefs will not lead to banishment on GMIC. I run this forum to a set of guidelines which are based on common sense, decency and are founded on the principles of western democracy and British Law. I like most (but I accept, not all) of you have a patriotic loyalty to my country of birth, but I am hopefully educated enough to recognise some of the dangers of nationalism and when posting on GMIC view things objectively like all military historians should. I would ask you all to do the same and we will hopefully continue to have some enlightening and interesting discussions in the future.