I didn't know that landlocked Bolivia, which lost its coastline to Chile in 1879's Saltpeter War, has a 5,000 man navy. According to the NYT:
The current navy, though ensconced in society, is a relatively recent creation. In a fit of nationalism in 1963, President Víctor Paz Estenssoro decreed it back into existence.
Military officials were sent on educational exchanges to naval schools in Argentina, Brazil and the United States, institutionalizing Bolivia’s wish for a coastline...
The navy’s proudest outpost is found on the southern banks of Lake Titicaca, more than two miles above sea level.
A monument near the entrance to the Titicaca Naval Base depicts a Bolivian soldier thrusting his bayonet into the throat of a Chilean soldier beside the words, “What once was ours, will be ours once more.”
I get a deep pleasure out of contemplating examples like this of the bloody-mindedness of humanity as long as I'm confident that not even George W. Bush would get our country involved in a Second Saltpeter War.
He wouldn't, would he?
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
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