General van Uhm´s speech

**BD1** · 28 Nov 11,, 19:14

speech by dutch Gen. Peter van Uhm

the cynics will probably smile wearily that the good man is naive etc.

his son, 1st.lt Dennis van Uhm, was killed by an IED back in 2008.

**Mihais** · 28 Nov 11,, 20:11

Not naive.A good man,that commands a small army of a country that is far away from any outside threat.
When you are in such a position you can afford to have his particular sort of decency. He is right,but only right in his/theirs particular circumstances.

I may be biased,but the very constitutional background he/we defend is sort of shaking.Very few seem to have trust in the competence and decency of those we elect to represent us.But with a few exceptions(hard core leftards), most believe in the decency of their respective militaries. Military men fresh from the TO's look and sound believable.Politicians or financiers talking of making a better world receive a collective yawn.

I may be wrong and I hope I am.

**bigross86** · 28 Nov 11,, 20:16

A brilliant speech

**Red Team** · 28 Nov 11,, 22:13

Everything the General said makes complete sense. We often take our relatively peaceful lives for granted, and fail to recognize that not all the world is as lucky as we are. And that there will always be people who would, given the chance, take this peace away. Hence why, we should speak softly and carry a big stick.

S2 · 03 Dec 11,, 23:16

"...we should speak softly and carry a big stick."

To "...carry a big stick..." simply means we can afford to do so.

Need to use it when necessary. General van Uhm is the exception. The Netherlands has largely forgotten defending our way of life doesn't start on your nat'l borders. So too many other of our European and Japanese allies.

**Double Edge** · 04 Dec 11,, 00:58

Originally Posted by BD1

the cynics will probably smile wearily that the good man is naive etc.

Its not possible to become a general and remain naive.

He says maybe one day there may not be a need of armies, this he throws in because TED is a very liberal gathering by definition. He states the trend of violence has decreased since the last five hundred years due to a monopolisation of violence by the state as well as the rise of consitutional states and poses the question whether it is reasonable to expect this trend to continue into the future. If you are NZ or Ireland then maybe you can get away with spending less than other countries that live in a tougher neighbourhood.

Though that isn't the only thing he said, he said that to have peace that one must be prepared, properly equipped and must have respect for the forces. There are ideals and the reality that results from human failure is in between. His payload came in the second half.

This was a tailor made message to liberals to respect the forces more and to influence them into not supporting funding cuts.

**Doktor** · 04 Dec 11,, 02:04

So basically he is some 17 centuries late from famous Vegetius adage Si vis pacem, para bellum?

**Double Edge** · 04 Dec 11,, 02:34

Ha! thats DFI's motto.

Its rare to see the forces at TED. Not seen any at the US TED talks.

He's not late, he's updating his audience to the realities and he sugarcoated it. The general was not being naive but canny.

Though in fairness to the general i think he was rather trying to get across

Si vis pacem, para pactum or if you want peace, agree to keep the peace