On Tue, 26 Apr 2005 19:10:02 +0000, Noah Little wrote:

Paul Elliot wrote:
Jeroen Wenting wrote:
Well, the UK snip
They're no different from the rest of the Euro-socialist countries. The
Netherlands have just about disbanded their armed forces, and so have
(among others) Denmark and Belgium.

Fools!

Remarkable. Even rabid anti-gun folks I know are not willing to post
signs on their homes announcing "There Are No Guns In This House."

That would be because there are those who would view that as an invitation
to all sorts of mischief. Few (probably none) small nations can afford the
sort of army that can go out there and play globocop, and given a
situation with only very dependable neighbours unlikely to drop by and
invade, there's not much point in keeping around a powerful army. No army
The Netherlands could muster could ever take on one of the big guys, and
the smaller nations do not present any kind of threat at this time, so
what's the point.

Mind you, the recent defence cuts around here were decidedly uninspired,
not to say bloody stupid, but that wasn't the point.

Rob