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Pendragon
08-30-2011, 06:16 PM
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=afyLWnoS2WlA

“War is obsolete,” Turner said. “The last time someone surrendered was Japan and that was 60 years ago. The Afghans will never surrender. We will just get tired and come home. We’ve already given up on Iraq and there’s oil in Iraq, there’s no oil in Afghanistan.”

Turner quit the media business three years ago when he left the board of Time Warner, based in New York. The company bought Turner’s cable channels, also including TBS, TNT and Cartoon Network, in 1996, making him its largest individual shareholder. Turner lost $7 billion when Time Warner’s stock collapsed in the wake of the 2001 merger with AOL, the Internet business it is now shedding.

Discussing the growing value of cable networks in the U.S., Turner said, “I feel like a dummy.” Mocking himself, he sings, “You let the big one get away.”

Turner, who founded CNN in 1980, said that if he got his wish to run the network again, he would increase coverage of countries including China.

“If I had the money, I’d think seriously about getting control of Time Warner and getting CNN to focus on serious journalism,” Turner said in a separate interview from his eighth-floor office at Turner Enterprises Inc. in downtown Atlanta. “They’re doing a good job but they could do better.”

I have always been a fan of Ted. Now in his older years he is fighting to make the world a better place. He's seen it all.

Mister D
08-30-2011, 06:46 PM
“War is obsolete...”

What a profoundly unserious man. Well, when the next conflict breaks out perhaps Turner should step into the fray and remind everyone of his brilliant thesis.

Pendragon
08-30-2011, 06:50 PM
“War is obsolete...”

What a profoundly unserious man. Well, when the next conflict breaks out perhaps Turner should step into the fray and remind everyone of his brilliant thesis.


It is obsolete. It accomplishes nothing.

What have we accomplished in Iraq?

What have we accomplished in Afghanistan?

MMC
08-30-2011, 11:34 PM
“War is obsolete...”

What a profoundly unserious man. Well, when the next conflict breaks out perhaps Turner should step into the fray and remind everyone of his brilliant thesis.


It is obsolete. It accomplishes nothing.

What have we accomplished in Iraq?

What have we accomplished in Afghanistan?


There is much that has been accomplished Pen. but you can ask that question with Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Oman. Bet you cannot come up with the same answer.

wingrider
08-30-2011, 11:47 PM
this is what war accomplishes

THE KINGSTON TRIO ~ Where Have All The Flowers Gone ~ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55FZnYhCM-Y#)

MMC
08-30-2011, 11:52 PM
Beastie Boys ft. Edwin Starr - War (in a world gone mad) 2.0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc0HpiqTylk#)

This is what the Beastie boys and Edwin Starr has to say about War. O0

Mister D
08-31-2011, 07:43 AM
“War is obsolete...”

What a profoundly unserious man. Well, when the next conflict breaks out perhaps Turner should step into the fray and remind everyone of his brilliant thesis.


It is obsolete. It accomplishes nothing.

What have we accomplished in Iraq?

What have we accomplished in Afghanistan?


Even if you were correct in saying we haven't accomplished anything in Iraq or Afghanistan how does that make his statement any less ridiculous? Perhaps he should have said he doesn't think we have accomplished anything in the Mid East? At least that would have been arguable. There have been dozens of wars in the last 20 years. Apparently, not everyone got the memo. Or maybe Turner is just a a dumb ass? Yeah...

Juggernaut
08-31-2011, 07:18 PM
Turner is wrong, why do these people continue saying we cant beat the Afgans when were only fighting the Taliban and a few dozen Al Qaedan's who have lost ground? What we need now is for Obama to get his head out of his arse and start using Afgan troops and to change rules of engagement so soldiers can fight without the silly rules when civilians are close. Over 1000 have died since the Obama surge. Less than 650 died during the Bush years. Inexperience!

Mister D
08-31-2011, 07:21 PM
Turner is a loon and is known as a loon.

Conley
08-31-2011, 08:07 PM
Not sure if Turner meant this or not, but two drawbacks to conventional war these days : the scope of the weapons -- just wait until Iran gets nukes, Pakistan we already know how fragile that situation is. Also, with multinational corporations and political leaders making so much money through them, stability and personal fortune outweigh the interests of the nation of the nation they represent, at least in their minds.

Mister D
08-31-2011, 08:19 PM
Not sure if Turner meant this or not, but two drawbacks to conventional war these days : the scope of the weapons -- just wait until Iran gets nukes, Pakistan we already know how fragile that situation is. Also, with multinational corporations and political leaders making so much money through them, stability and personal fortune outweigh the interests of the nation of the nation they represent, at least in their minds.


Still, there is a great deal of violence in the world. Most of humanity hasn't gotten the memo. Turner just wanted to criticize American involvement in the Mid East. He could have found a more sensible way of doing so.

Conley
08-31-2011, 08:22 PM
Not sure if Turner meant this or not, but two drawbacks to conventional war these days : the scope of the weapons -- just wait until Iran gets nukes, Pakistan we already know how fragile that situation is. Also, with multinational corporations and political leaders making so much money through them, stability and personal fortune outweigh the interests of the nation of the nation they represent, at least in their minds.


Still, there is a great deal of violence in the world. Most of humanity hasn't gotten the memo. Turner just wanted to criticize American involvement in the Mid East. He could have found a more sensible way of doing so.


Yeah, that's probably true.

The Hutu and Tutsi showed you could do plenty of damage just with machetes :(

But war has changed...enemies that don't wear uniforms, Presidents that make the decision on their own (well only one so far, but now that the precedent has been set)...

Mister D
08-31-2011, 08:29 PM
Not sure if Turner meant this or not, but two drawbacks to conventional war these days : the scope of the weapons -- just wait until Iran gets nukes, Pakistan we already know how fragile that situation is. Also, with multinational corporations and political leaders making so much money through them, stability and personal fortune outweigh the interests of the nation of the nation they represent, at least in their minds.


Still, there is a great deal of violence in the world. Most of humanity hasn't gotten the memo. Turner just wanted to criticize American involvement in the Mid East. He could have found a more sensible way of doing so.


Yeah, that's probably true.

The Hutu and Tutsi showed you could do plenty of damage just with machetes :(

But war has changed...enemies that don't wear uniforms, Presidents that make the decision on their own (well only one so far, but now that the precedent has been set)...


Has war changed or has you average westerner finally realized that our cultural conceptions of war and how it is practiced do not necessarily apply to everyone else? What Turner is trying to criticize is Clauswitzian theory but that is unique to the west. Is it not a tad presumptuous for us to assume that this the way it is?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_von_Clausewitz

Conley
08-31-2011, 09:47 PM
Interesting stuff...I'm not defending Turner's words, just stating that for the United States, war has definitely changed dramatically over the last thirty years.