Thursday, November 25, 2010

Inter arma enim silent leges

"Bore, n.: A person who talks when you wish him to listen." - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

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"Where defence is put solely in the hands of a professional army, the army sooner or later becomes a law unto itself. It becomes a ruling caste"

--- Sinnathamby Rajaratnam, dinner for first-time National Slavery recruits at Kampong Glam, 1967


Military regimes around the world which do not practise conscription (list from Wikipedia):

Australia
Belgium
The Bahamas
France
Germany - from July 2011
India
Japan
Luxembourg
The Netherlands
New Zealand
The Philippines
South Africa
Spain
The United States


Meanwhile, paragons of democracy where military men stay out of politics - which practise conscription:

Algeria
China
Cuba
Iran
Libya
North Korea
Russia
Singapore
Syria
Thailand
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