So the one I expected and continue to expect people to make a mistake on is the Kyoto Protocol choice. The reason that one isn't correct (it almost is!) is that there is a member of NATO (Turkey) that isn't even a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol, and so, like the US, hasn't ratified it. Every other member of NATO besides the US and Turkey has ratified it, however.
The point of the post is to mock the pentagon's contention that there's a military advantage (morale) in the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, when every other member of the most powerful military alliance in the world allows openly gay soldiers. I figured this would surprise many people. In truth, very few countries in the world explicitly prohibit openly gay soldiers -- in most places where it's legal to be openly gay in civilian life, they figure that if you're willing to die, that's enough. Many of the handful of countries that do specifically legislate against gay soldiers have bans on homosexuality in civilian life as well, and of the very short (less than ten) list of countries that make an actual distinction between civilian and military ethics on homosexuality, it's still pretty ugly company when it comes to human rights issues -- North Korea and China are on the list, for example...
The point of the post is to mock the pentagon's contention that there's a military advantage (morale) in the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, when every other member of the most powerful military alliance in the world allows openly gay soldiers. I figured this would surprise many people. In truth, very few countries in the world explicitly prohibit openly gay soldiers -- in most places where it's legal to be openly gay in civilian life, they figure that if you're willing to die, that's enough. Many of the handful of countries that do specifically legislate against gay soldiers have bans on homosexuality in civilian life as well, and of the very short (less than ten) list of countries that make an actual distinction between civilian and military ethics on homosexuality, it's still pretty ugly company when it comes to human rights issues -- North Korea and China are on the list, for example...
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