"Nations are sovereign only because they have enough firepower to keep other nations from claiming them"
Please, Mr. Peter Trepan, that is a rather uncivilized approach at the concept of sovereignity! And on top of it, it's not really an accurate statement. Luxembourg's army could hardly instill fear into its European neighbours. Or take Costa Rica, for example. It's a free Republic since 1821 and it voluntarily abolished its army in 1949 - besides a brief incident with Nicaragua in 1955, no army has ever been needed and the country has been able to place its military budget into different priorities (education, welfare, etc). An uninteresting country to invade, you should say? That argument would contradict your own premise (Nations are sovereign ONLY because they have enough firepower to keep other nations from claiming them) - any neighbouring nation would like to extend its boundaries forcefully, according to your rationale. Also, Costa Rica has the highest expat-American citizen population in the whole world - that would make it tempting for the US or other governments to get a hold of it. They don't, however. Goes to prove that sovereignity has to do with more than simply "firepower", wouldn't you say?
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"Nations are sovereign only because they have enough firepower to keep other nations from claiming them" Please, Mr. Peter Trepan, that is a rather uncivilized approach at the concept of sovereignity! And on top of it, it's not really an accurate statement. Luxembourg's army could hardly instill fear into its European neighbours. Or take Costa Rica, for example. It's a free Republic since 1821 and it voluntarily abolished its army in 1949 - besides a brief incident with Nicaragua in 1955, no army has ever been needed and the country has been able to place its military budget into different priorities (education, welfare, etc). An uninteresting country to invade, you should say? That argument would contradict your own premise (Nations are sovereign ONLY because they have enough firepower to keep other nations from claiming them) - any neighbouring nation would like to extend its boundaries forcefully, according to your rationale. Also, Costa Rica has the highest expat-American citizen population in the whole world - that would make it tempting for the US or other governments to get a hold of it. They don't, however. Goes to prove that sovereignity has to do with more than simply "firepower", wouldn't you say?