This might become a bit of a rant, but I won't apologize.

Last year, I got to spend a little time in Flanders. Near where the trenches were. Where a generation of English and French and German  kids were sacrificed to an ancient folly, War. I asked my Flemmish friend how Belgium survived the wars. He replied that his country was very good at rolling over and playing dead. The enemies just pass through. Have for centuries, he said.
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Years ago, I worked on a project intending to build a financial management system using tiny message switching computers. One of the engineers assigned to reach this doomed destination confided to me that in theory the concept could work. “It’s like pulling a stagecoach with chickens, though,” he concluded. “You can do it, but the reins management will kill you.”
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