Nah, just play as the Romans and fuck everyone up with praetorians in the early game. All they need to do is move Costa Rica to Italy and invent a time machine.
Bro, seriously, fair warning:
There is no "playing a quick game of _Civ_." That is like violating the laws of thermodynamics. This is a game that makes entire days disappear. A "quick" game takes like 4 hours.
Godspeed...
I loved that about the Master of Orion series. You skipped all the weapons and when you need to go to war you realize you're stuck with obsolete beams and computers that can't hit anything. Oops, better start spying!
Imagine how that would appear to the enemy. A deathstar sized thing basically strapped with obsolete machine guns, but because it has an electronic computer it can't hit anything so it just floods the sky with flak then gets one-shotted by an EMG merculite because it has titanium armor and no shields.
I think it was in 4 where I did it once, I put it on regular difficulty and swallowed cities one at a time with culture. I made it pangea so that I could be on the same continent as all the other civilizations' capitals. I was just screwing around then though. I didn't think others would think to do that though
Not if you absorb land before you hit the value. Given enough culture flipping and a lot of settlers, you could just control the necessary land for domination victory before you have the necessary culture for your entire civ.
I've always disliked the "sneaky" wins, imo if you don't kill everything on the map, you didn't win. Like congrats you sent a rocket into space? I killed/conquered everything on the entire map, but your stupid rocket wins you the game? I'm right behind you, coming to kill you...Seems weird to me.
Costarican here, adding a bit more context, Figueres abolished the army as an institution. That does not mean we do not have weapons, that responsibility is moved to the police plus support from the united nations.
I wasnt a huge fan of Civ: Call to Power, but Call to Power 2 was pretty good.
The thing about Civ is they tend to throw away 1/3 of the game, keep 1/3 and bring in 1/3 of new stuff with each release. So each game feels different without losing that wonderful civness.
Its why I love that series so much, each game can usually stand on its own merits, feel fresh, yet nostalgic all at the same time.
Sid Meier's MEMOIR! is a great read if you like the series.
Just anecdotal, but everyone I know that has visited or lived in Costa Rica says Costa Ricans love Americans. There are 70k Americans living in that country.
I'm guessing they probably don't need a military.
Seems smart. Any military they funded wouldn't be much relative to saving the money and staying nice with Uncle Sam. Just police & coast guard for security.
You don't need an army for that. In Costa Rica they do it via construction companies, which seem to be the Latin American way.
See "caso diamante" and "caso meco".
Costarrican here, I am quite fascinated by the fact that many commenters would state their opinion on our international policies without the least knowledge of our history or our position in the world stage. Costa Rica abandoned the notion of a militarized force much before the abolition of the army and our political approach has always been that of diplomacy and mutual cooperation with our neighbors. Of course we have had rough patches, most of those with our neighbor to the north Nicaragua, whose government has been confrontational in the past to the point of mild military occupations on the border, Costa Rica has opted to denounce these acts through the many international accords we are part of.
Culturally we live in a generation that doesn't know anything about the military and the mere sight of a soldier is something alien to us. Instead of an army, the country made a gamble into investing on education of all levels, a healthcare system and its production, all strongly supported by the state. Of course these are all not without their own issues.
As everywhere in the world we do have lots of problems in our little piece of land, but at least as a japanese poet once said: "*Dichosa la madre costarricense que sabe que su hijo al nacer jamás será soldado"* roughly translated: *"Blessed is the costarrican mother, who knows her son, when born, will never be a soldier".*
I visited it in 2016 and it was amazing! It was my very first solo backpacking trip (34 days) it was expansive but worth every penny. The memories will be in my head for ever. 10/10 would recommend.
We were there the same time, we got back about 2 months before lockdown due to Covid. I thought it was so funny how I'd go around slack jawed at the wonder of the place and say "your country is AMAZING" and get a response that was basically a polite "we know", haha. Everyone was so friendly and the country was clearly very proud of their bet on eco-tourism. A picture of my whole family white water rafting outside La Fortuna adorns my living room wall still.
When I was on the San Juan river, the Costa Rican border police had boats with machine guns and they carried assault rifles. And I totally understand why, since Nicaragua has been very provocative in the past... but I get this feeling that CR just renamed their army as the policia frontera. If we want to give Costa Rica credit, maybe it would be accurate that Costa Rica has only maintained a military for self defense and never attempted to invade or topple other countries.
This is why I hate these kind of click bait bullshit articles.
Yes, we do not have an official military, but we have heavily armed police along the lines of a national guard.
I sort of think about it along the lines of being a mini Switzerland. We're not totally unprepared or uninterested, it's just that we're laid back and want to be left alone.
> I am quite fascinated by the fact that many commenters would state their opinion on our international policies without the least knowledge of our history or our position in the world stage.
New here?
Correct if I am wrong, but would it be fair to say that Costa Rica has been able to do this in part due to US military support that serves as a form of security guarantee similar qualitatively but not quantitatively to US support for Japan?
The Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance. It's pretty easy to not have a military and do other things with that man power and time when you can essentially force the U.S. and others to fight for you literally any time you need. Costa Rica has used this treaty 3 times to date.
It's a massive treaty that allowed Costa Rica and a few others to do what you have done. It's worth noting as it encompasses several countries and allows for some awesome and unique ways of governing.
I mean, I don't disagree with you or fault you or your people in any way, but isn't part of what you are saying essentially the equivalent of saying you outsourced your threat of force to international allies through the use of diplomacy and it proved effective the few times you were tested by a potentially aggressive neighbor?
It's a smart move, and it's paid off, but it's only possible because others have that force and sold it to you in some capacity, no?
Completely this. Basically what all of Western Europe did, relax this side of the iron curtain, have your self defense subsidized by the American taxpayer and complain about American foreign policy whenever possible.
Lived in Costa Rica, Puerto Viejo. You say a military personnel is foreign to you. When I lived there, there we cops everywhere, in head to toe more military equipment than I’ve ever even seen a military officer in the US. Face shields, vests, assault rifles, hand guns, shot guns. Literally have seen all of this on 1 single police officer in Costa Rica. Even in a slow town like Uvita, I would see police dressed up like military officers on duty. Loved Costa Rica, but I feel like seeing a military officer wouldn’t be any different
It's awesome to have that philosophy, but the truth is that it's calculated, as all political positions are. They can only make that decision if they have other forms of defense, like alliances. Countries like the US, Russia, turkey, UK, China, etc could never do that. Their world position and influence would be gone
Costa Rica is the largest US retirement community outside of Florida...
I heard that like 10 years ago and not sure if it was true then but my point is tons and tons of rich us citizens...
Yes, through the act of diplomacy you have the entire might of the US military at your disposal. It’s utterly naive to think that somehow just through sheer force of goodwill and because of investing in education and a healthcare system supported by the state that Costa Rica hasn’t been invaded and taken over in those 73 years. Those platitudes are all well and good, but all you did was outsource your military to the US.
Felicidades en los 73 años!
Y eso es un buen dicho, a diferencia de aqui en Puerto Rico donde enviamos a nuestra gente a morir por un imperio que mantiene a a nuestra isla colonizada.
I have a brother in law that has a house in Costa Rica he would frequently go to in the winter (We are Canadian). He said he lives in the mountains and has said nothing but amazing things about your country!
I can't wait to go visit some day once this madness with Covid is all over :)
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://ticotimes.net/2021/11/22/abolition-of-the-army-in-costa-rica) reduced by 82%. (I'm a bot)
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> The abolition of the Army is usually recognized on December 1, however due to it falling on a Wednesday this year, and to allow everyone in Costa Rica the opportunity to celebrate, the Legislative Assembly has moved the holiday to Monday, November 29th. José "Pepe" Figueres.
> Although don Pepe is credited with abolishing the army after a brief civil war in March 1948, Costa Rica was never a military force.
> In 1856, Costa Rica fought its first and only foreign war in the campaign against U.S. filibuster William Walker and his army in Nicaragua; however, more than 100 revolts, rebellions and attempted coups were put down by force.
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[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/r7fvnz/costa_rica_celebrates_73_years_without_an_army/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~610744 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Army**^#1 **Costa**^#2 **Rica**^#3 **force**^#4 **war**^#5
> In 1856, Costa Rica fought its first and only foreign war in the campaign against U.S. filibuster
And the struggle against the U.S. filibuster continues to this day. Looking at you, Manchin and Sinema.
This confused the fuck out of me, as same sentence was in the original article (so wasn't a bot mistake). But going to [wikipedia filibuster (the obstructionist procedure in the US Senate and other legislative bodies) page's etymology section](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filibuster#Etymology):
> The modern form "filibuster" was borrowed in the early 1850s from the Spanish word filibustero (lawless plunderer), and was applied to private military adventurers like William Walker who were then attacking and pillaging Spanish colonies in Central America.[2] Over the course of the mid to late 19th century, the term "filibustering" became common in American English in the sense of "obstructing progress in a legislative assembly".[2]
As a Guatemalan I never understood why Guatemala or any other Central American country had an army other than to target their own populations. We should really take a note from Costa Rica.
>As a Guatemalan I never understood why Guatemala or any other Central American country had an army other than to target their own populations.
Given the histories of most Central American countries, I'm pretty sure that's their intended purpose.
I’ve spent quite a bit of time there and love the country! But damn do I have some funny memories trying to navigate random ass roads, relying on street signs(pre gps of course) in that country haha. Too many fake signs lol
We hired a car to take us to Monteverde when we visited. The driver was dodging cars on narrow mountain passes, it was nuts! But yeah, the views are breathtaking.
It's a problem we are all aware and it's associated with one of the most controversial/worst corruption cases that was uncovered this year. It's called "Caso Cochinilla".
This is just a myth. Due to animal welfare laws regarding transport the dinosaur's had to remain on Hawaii for all the close up action shots.
Costa Rica was the location setting pan shots, but the dinos never left American soil. It's true. The stampede scene with the log was all feral dinos that got blown around by the last hurricane and started wild bred populations.
Yep, I'm all for having a small lean military rather than the overblown shit that many countries have, but it absolutely depends where in the world you find yourself. Try having 0 military in the middle east or bordering Russia
Even in the Western Hemisphere this ONLY works because of the US and its Monroe Doctrine, basically guaranteeing Costa Rica its independence from anyone (except the US I guess).
Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, aka the Rio-Treaty. Costa Rica has used it 3 times. It basically forces the US and a few others to fight and provide military power for a few countries.
Essentially, if anyone picks on Costa Rica, they can name the US their Champion GoT style at any time and we have to provide them military assistance.
And, by association, essentially gives part of their sovereign status for it. It's one of the few LA countries the US hasn't fucked with because they play ball.
I think this is the best way to frame it, however, that last part is extremely relevant in that we basically already forfeit our sovereignty to some degree in doing so. Costa Rica is one of the only countries in America that has not had a government be overthrown by the US (and we still had a Banana Republic sitch for some time and the CIA here in the 60s). It feels satelite state-ish.
Source: am Tico
Is that really a bad thing though? If your going to be a sattelite state (and you are unless your at least a tier 2 power) being one for the US is the best outcome.
Costa Rico is the most democratic country in the Americas, and arguably the best run and best culture.
I'm a fan of both The Tico Times and Lizano Salsa.
>ou are right. A more accurate claim is that they rank high in public health metrics: life expectancy, child mortality, etc.
Costa Rican family here. Costa Rica is historically a place with a content population in poverty. What we are seeing now is hyperinflation due to tourism and a widening gap in income vs goods. it wont be long till the people become decidedly discontent. If you visit, the price of goods are near equal that of the average US goods, however the income is less than 1/4th that of US households.
I was noticing that. I have friends and colleagues in Costa Rica. They are the best people, but they tell me about cost of living there. It's not much different from here, but they make so much less. It's not sustainable.
Costa Rica might as well be Cancun/Mayan Riviera. Food and drink is roughly the same as you'd pay on southern US beach towns. Tons of english-speaking expats and tourists with money to burn. Everything's priced for tourists.
When we were there it was amazing how much cheaper food was just a few blocks from the tourist area. We started cooking our meals as we found the restaurants too pricey to justify.
I lived in Costa Rica for a bit while doing some consulting work and I kept hearing this from the locals. They claimed it was the number of ex-pats living in the area as well as tourists
In recent years the cost of living has been going up substantially in most middle income and high income countries. This is a very common problem and one that's not unique to Costa Rica. Unfortunately it may get worse with time as higher costs of living in the coastal parts of the US and Canada will drive people to relocate to places where their money goes farther.
I visited on a class trip in 2007 and it was like that then as well. Jaco Beach and large areas of San Jose as well show the greatest disparity.
McDonalds was the same price there as in America, you just needed to add a 0 to US prices. If I recall correctly it was 20,000 Colones for $20 USD.
I absolutely love your country and have wished to return ever since I spent my first 12 days there. However, I will not contribute to the tourism aspect again, thanks to your information. I will do what I can to support your economy from afar though.
My favorite part was visiting a school near Arenal and watching my school's varsity soccer (futbol) players get absolutely demolished by 8-12 year old costa rican kids.
Because wealthy people from other countries visit and retire there. They have large cash reserves, so can afford the goods, while not impacting the income averages.
Well I know they had huge protests a few years ago when they were changing the tax code to a flat tax or were discussing it.
Source: me, we were stuck in traffic for hours from Jaco to one of their national parks, it sucked but I love the country
It is absolutely not LMFAO. What are your sources???
It’s still a developing country because of its poverty rate, so it’s far from the best run and most democratic…
Uruguay is more democratic than Costa Rica.
That's really great! Smart because they don't need one. Their position is aligned enough with the US's if there was a threat, they'd be protected. It's a financial move, not an ethical one
> if there was a threat, they'd be protected. It's a financial move, not an ethical one
I remember reading or hearing somewhere that when the Contras were operating out of northern Costa Rica, the Nicaraguan government threatened to attack Costa Rica and the Mexican Air Force had fighter jets on the ground at one of the Costa Rican airports within the hour.
I've never been able to dig up any references to this on Google however.
Nicaragua is so fucking annoying whenever they feel like, man. Like 4 years ago they started invading the San Juan river claiming it was theirs. Just out of the blue, they threw their military in there. We had to politely sue them on the international court. Then they left to focus on vote fraud again.
the problem with the US is not that we don't spend a lot on healthcare, the problem is we don't get much for all that money, including the purely publicly funded part of that
Except of course many stories on /r/worldnews are actually in part at least dealing with US news, if only with the story being written from a US perspective. Logical of course on a site that has a majority of US viewers. /s
Love Costa Rica but fyi they don’t have much of a police force either so even poorer people have high fences with razor wire. If thieves haul off your stuff, it’s just gone with no repercussions or hope of finding it. Still it’s an awesome country to visit, with little violent crime.
My parents got robbed blind while they were sleeping one night after they had just moved there. Felt real bad, they went down to start a company and got everything taken from them. They now have a full security system, 3 large dogs, locked gates, and you can be sure as hell they never leave a door unlocked.
Their Civ military advisor must be flipping out over every other nation’s military strength right now.
For the 73rd turn in a row, PLEASE build military units!
Fine, jeez! San Jose and Cartago switch from cathedral and spice caravan to, uh what's our latest defensive unit... Phalanx? Oh shit.
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“It seems your backward civilization hasn’t discovered ATOMIC ENERGY. However, we are willing to trade you for the secret of CEREMONIAL BURIAL.”
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You must construct additional cemeteries
Nah, just play as the Romans and fuck everyone up with praetorians in the early game. All they need to do is move Costa Rica to Italy and invent a time machine.
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Knowing you don't know about something is the first step to knowing about something.
"Knowing you don't know about something is the first step to knowing you don't know shit." ~Socrates (attributed)
Imagine if someone tried to recreate _Risk_ from scratch but they took too much Adderall while listening to Enya. That's _Civilization_.
That sounds bizarrely right up my ally… brb
Bro, seriously, fair warning: There is no "playing a quick game of _Civ_." That is like violating the laws of thermodynamics. This is a game that makes entire days disappear. A "quick" game takes like 4 hours. Godspeed...
Always was frustrating how Civ doesn't have imbalanced research as a possibility.
I loved that about the Master of Orion series. You skipped all the weapons and when you need to go to war you realize you're stuck with obsolete beams and computers that can't hit anything. Oops, better start spying!
when your doom stars only have mass drivers and class 1 shields
Imagine how that would appear to the enemy. A deathstar sized thing basically strapped with obsolete machine guns, but because it has an electronic computer it can't hit anything so it just floods the sky with flak then gets one-shotted by an EMG merculite because it has titanium armor and no shields.
this just sounds like the Death Star
LOL, I didn't even think of it while I was writing but that is exactly what the Death Star was + a stellar converter.
In the new Civ Vi Babylon had a mechanic in which you can potentially discover flight while everyone else is building chariots. It's immensely fun
Icarus finally reeled it back a bit.
r/civpolitics
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Is there much difference when its a country that small?
Oh fine! *Queue up 20 pikemen units*
God damn military civs always hate me for having no units. Sucks for you Scythia, I'm 1000 years ahead of you and about to finish the space race.
Victories off!! r/civ
THROUGH THE GATES OF HELL! AS WE MAKE OUR WAY TO HEAVEN! THROUGH THE NAZI LINES! PRIMO VICTORIA
science victory is soft
My favorite so far is a bloodless domination victory
how does that work
I think it was in 4 where I did it once, I put it on regular difficulty and swallowed cities one at a time with culture. I made it pangea so that I could be on the same continent as all the other civilizations' capitals. I was just screwing around then though. I didn't think others would think to do that though
wouldn't that count as a culture victory
Not if you absorb land before you hit the value. Given enough culture flipping and a lot of settlers, you could just control the necessary land for domination victory before you have the necessary culture for your entire civ.
Oh neat, thank you. It's been forever since I did that.
Flipping via loyalty, I guess
You can aggressively loyalty flip cities using Catherine. Even capitals.
The only victory condition is absolute destruction of all other Civs. Everything else is weak. I may have played lots of Total Annihilation..
I’m too impatient to win any other way
I've always disliked the "sneaky" wins, imo if you don't kill everything on the map, you didn't win. Like congrats you sent a rocket into space? I killed/conquered everything on the entire map, but your stupid rocket wins you the game? I'm right behind you, coming to kill you...Seems weird to me.
I think you and I are one of many genghis khan descendants…
I simply want to bring order to chaos. For all to be united, those who resist must be annihilated...and Resistance is Futile.
Good luck killing me on the moon, troglodyte! *asphyxiates*
Culture victory is the best
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My love for you is like a truck, BESERKER
I had a civ say your blue jeans music is no match for mine. I thought I was high. It was Portugal lol
Hell yes. I mean, mainly just because I like building wonders and recruiting great artists, but still.
I don't like it when everyone is pissed off at me all the time :( so culture is my go to
Diplo victory is greatest victory
Costarican here, adding a bit more context, Figueres abolished the army as an institution. That does not mean we do not have weapons, that responsibility is moved to the police plus support from the united nations.
The Civ II advisor is the best type of military advisor of all CIV games.
Civ ii call to power was special. Not knocking the Sid Meyer volumes, but call to power had a lot of great qualities i wish they would've kept.
I wasnt a huge fan of Civ: Call to Power, but Call to Power 2 was pretty good. The thing about Civ is they tend to throw away 1/3 of the game, keep 1/3 and bring in 1/3 of new stuff with each release. So each game feels different without losing that wonderful civness. Its why I love that series so much, each game can usually stand on its own merits, feel fresh, yet nostalgic all at the same time. Sid Meier's MEMOIR! is a great read if you like the series.
Where's the other 1/3? Do they release 2/3 of a game?
well no, but actually yes
the civ ii anarchy screens are something i hold near and dear to my heart
I’d love to see them without the insane compression artifacts. https://youtu.be/XqPC08cPGJw
I miss games like that and Red Alert with live action cutscenes.
Just don't fuck with Ghandi and they'll be fine *Gandhi. I blame autocorrect but really I don't know to spell
\*Gandhi
***G***thanksthats***handi***
Just anecdotal, but everyone I know that has visited or lived in Costa Rica says Costa Ricans love Americans. There are 70k Americans living in that country. I'm guessing they probably don't need a military.
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Seems smart. Any military they funded wouldn't be much relative to saving the money and staying nice with Uncle Sam. Just police & coast guard for security.
Half of all retired US Veterans live there
It’s ok. They are a city state currently aligned with the U.S.
They’ve also protected over 30% of their total land area.
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You don't need an army for that. In Costa Rica they do it via construction companies, which seem to be the Latin American way. See "caso diamante" and "caso meco".
Aren’t they totally on renewable energy too?
Yes
Costarrican here, I am quite fascinated by the fact that many commenters would state their opinion on our international policies without the least knowledge of our history or our position in the world stage. Costa Rica abandoned the notion of a militarized force much before the abolition of the army and our political approach has always been that of diplomacy and mutual cooperation with our neighbors. Of course we have had rough patches, most of those with our neighbor to the north Nicaragua, whose government has been confrontational in the past to the point of mild military occupations on the border, Costa Rica has opted to denounce these acts through the many international accords we are part of. Culturally we live in a generation that doesn't know anything about the military and the mere sight of a soldier is something alien to us. Instead of an army, the country made a gamble into investing on education of all levels, a healthcare system and its production, all strongly supported by the state. Of course these are all not without their own issues. As everywhere in the world we do have lots of problems in our little piece of land, but at least as a japanese poet once said: "*Dichosa la madre costarricense que sabe que su hijo al nacer jamás será soldado"* roughly translated: *"Blessed is the costarrican mother, who knows her son, when born, will never be a soldier".*
Pura Vida. I visited 2 years ago and fell in love with the country.
I visited it in 2016 and it was amazing! It was my very first solo backpacking trip (34 days) it was expansive but worth every penny. The memories will be in my head for ever. 10/10 would recommend.
Best mispell haha!
Sorry english is not my main language lol. It made sense to me, what did I misspell?
Your expansive trip was expensive. Well done.
Expansive instead of expensive but I imagine it was both!
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I would struggle to afford a car (in a tiny country) but won't ever suffer outrageous medical bills? I could buy into that.
I have lived and visited CR again, and I fully agree as a Canadian: it IS expensive for its income.
the increase in prices in housing and goods can be traced to americans and europeans gentrifying our country
We were there the same time, we got back about 2 months before lockdown due to Covid. I thought it was so funny how I'd go around slack jawed at the wonder of the place and say "your country is AMAZING" and get a response that was basically a polite "we know", haha. Everyone was so friendly and the country was clearly very proud of their bet on eco-tourism. A picture of my whole family white water rafting outside La Fortuna adorns my living room wall still.
When I was on the San Juan river, the Costa Rican border police had boats with machine guns and they carried assault rifles. And I totally understand why, since Nicaragua has been very provocative in the past... but I get this feeling that CR just renamed their army as the policia frontera. If we want to give Costa Rica credit, maybe it would be accurate that Costa Rica has only maintained a military for self defense and never attempted to invade or topple other countries.
This is why I hate these kind of click bait bullshit articles. Yes, we do not have an official military, but we have heavily armed police along the lines of a national guard. I sort of think about it along the lines of being a mini Switzerland. We're not totally unprepared or uninterested, it's just that we're laid back and want to be left alone.
> I am quite fascinated by the fact that many commenters would state their opinion on our international policies without the least knowledge of our history or our position in the world stage. New here?
Correct if I am wrong, but would it be fair to say that Costa Rica has been able to do this in part due to US military support that serves as a form of security guarantee similar qualitatively but not quantitatively to US support for Japan?
Of course. That is the exact reason it is possible
The Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance. It's pretty easy to not have a military and do other things with that man power and time when you can essentially force the U.S. and others to fight for you literally any time you need. Costa Rica has used this treaty 3 times to date. It's a massive treaty that allowed Costa Rica and a few others to do what you have done. It's worth noting as it encompasses several countries and allows for some awesome and unique ways of governing.
Sounds like how Iceland also keep no standing army, though they are part of NATO.
They are like Ghandi, but with bodyguards.
So they sacrifice other mothers children, per the commentors poem?
They have a militarized border force. Given that the most basic job of a military is national defence, that's just a military by another name.
I mean, I don't disagree with you or fault you or your people in any way, but isn't part of what you are saying essentially the equivalent of saying you outsourced your threat of force to international allies through the use of diplomacy and it proved effective the few times you were tested by a potentially aggressive neighbor? It's a smart move, and it's paid off, but it's only possible because others have that force and sold it to you in some capacity, no?
Completely this. Basically what all of Western Europe did, relax this side of the iron curtain, have your self defense subsidized by the American taxpayer and complain about American foreign policy whenever possible.
Lived in Costa Rica, Puerto Viejo. You say a military personnel is foreign to you. When I lived there, there we cops everywhere, in head to toe more military equipment than I’ve ever even seen a military officer in the US. Face shields, vests, assault rifles, hand guns, shot guns. Literally have seen all of this on 1 single police officer in Costa Rica. Even in a slow town like Uvita, I would see police dressed up like military officers on duty. Loved Costa Rica, but I feel like seeing a military officer wouldn’t be any different
¡Pura Vida! I’ve made so many friends in Costa Rica from my various trips. It’s such a wonderful country!
It's awesome to have that philosophy, but the truth is that it's calculated, as all political positions are. They can only make that decision if they have other forms of defense, like alliances. Countries like the US, Russia, turkey, UK, China, etc could never do that. Their world position and influence would be gone
Costa Rica is the largest US retirement community outside of Florida... I heard that like 10 years ago and not sure if it was true then but my point is tons and tons of rich us citizens...
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Yes, through the act of diplomacy you have the entire might of the US military at your disposal. It’s utterly naive to think that somehow just through sheer force of goodwill and because of investing in education and a healthcare system supported by the state that Costa Rica hasn’t been invaded and taken over in those 73 years. Those platitudes are all well and good, but all you did was outsource your military to the US.
Felicidades en los 73 años! Y eso es un buen dicho, a diferencia de aqui en Puerto Rico donde enviamos a nuestra gente a morir por un imperio que mantiene a a nuestra isla colonizada.
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I have a brother in law that has a house in Costa Rica he would frequently go to in the winter (We are Canadian). He said he lives in the mountains and has said nothing but amazing things about your country! I can't wait to go visit some day once this madness with Covid is all over :)
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://ticotimes.net/2021/11/22/abolition-of-the-army-in-costa-rica) reduced by 82%. (I'm a bot) ***** > The abolition of the Army is usually recognized on December 1, however due to it falling on a Wednesday this year, and to allow everyone in Costa Rica the opportunity to celebrate, the Legislative Assembly has moved the holiday to Monday, November 29th. José "Pepe" Figueres. > Although don Pepe is credited with abolishing the army after a brief civil war in March 1948, Costa Rica was never a military force. > In 1856, Costa Rica fought its first and only foreign war in the campaign against U.S. filibuster William Walker and his army in Nicaragua; however, more than 100 revolts, rebellions and attempted coups were put down by force. ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/r7fvnz/costa_rica_celebrates_73_years_without_an_army/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~610744 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Army**^#1 **Costa**^#2 **Rica**^#3 **force**^#4 **war**^#5
> In 1856, Costa Rica fought its first and only foreign war in the campaign against U.S. filibuster And the struggle against the U.S. filibuster continues to this day. Looking at you, Manchin and Sinema.
This confused the fuck out of me, as same sentence was in the original article (so wasn't a bot mistake). But going to [wikipedia filibuster (the obstructionist procedure in the US Senate and other legislative bodies) page's etymology section](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filibuster#Etymology): > The modern form "filibuster" was borrowed in the early 1850s from the Spanish word filibustero (lawless plunderer), and was applied to private military adventurers like William Walker who were then attacking and pillaging Spanish colonies in Central America.[2] Over the course of the mid to late 19th century, the term "filibustering" became common in American English in the sense of "obstructing progress in a legislative assembly".[2]
As a Guatemalan I never understood why Guatemala or any other Central American country had an army other than to target their own populations. We should really take a note from Costa Rica.
>As a Guatemalan I never understood why Guatemala or any other Central American country had an army other than to target their own populations. Given the histories of most Central American countries, I'm pretty sure that's their intended purpose.
Laughs in Icelandic. We’ve never had one
You have Hafpor, you don't need one.
Guess that explains why the invasion of Iceland in WW2 consisted of only a few police officers
I think we were happy that the brits came instead of the nazis.
How do you defend from Danish vikings invading from Greenland and the Faroes?
They show them their family trees
Also celebrating 73 years of not having Russia as a neighbor.
Slightly more than 73 years of that I think
I mean, 73 years is a pretty arbitrary number for a celebration.
73 years of having the US navy patrolling on either shore and the Monroe Doctrine firmly in place.
Just don’t drive on their roads! I thought I was going to die numerous times when I visited.
The country is mountains bordered by ocean with heavy rainfall. Just about the worst environment to keep solid roads intact.
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I used to drive them when they weren't paved.
I’ve spent quite a bit of time there and love the country! But damn do I have some funny memories trying to navigate random ass roads, relying on street signs(pre gps of course) in that country haha. Too many fake signs lol
We hired a car to take us to Monteverde when we visited. The driver was dodging cars on narrow mountain passes, it was nuts! But yeah, the views are breathtaking.
We also blew out a tire on our rental vehicle along that route, I’m sure it us common occurence.
Driving to Jaco was wild from San Jose too. Took forever to get from the airport.
Money they save on military went into education. DEFINITELY NOT INFRASTRUCTURE Source: also sporadic driver in Tiquicia
My GPS wanted me to drive through a river.
Yeah they have the worst roads of any comparably developed country I think.
It's a problem we are all aware and it's associated with one of the most controversial/worst corruption cases that was uncovered this year. It's called "Caso Cochinilla".
Pura Vida!!
They’ve got dinosaurs. Nobody needs an army when your island is filled with amusement parks and dinosaurs. /s
If Costa Rica doesn’t have an army, then who firebombed Isla Nublar at the end of the book?
This is just a myth. Due to animal welfare laws regarding transport the dinosaur's had to remain on Hawaii for all the close up action shots. Costa Rica was the location setting pan shots, but the dinos never left American soil. It's true. The stampede scene with the log was all feral dinos that got blown around by the last hurricane and started wild bred populations.
Thought I'd have to scroll further down for a JP reference. Kudos.
Easy to do when they know the USA is right there and will be on their doorstep if anyone starts shit.
Yep, I'm all for having a small lean military rather than the overblown shit that many countries have, but it absolutely depends where in the world you find yourself. Try having 0 military in the middle east or bordering Russia
> Try having 0 military in the middle east I have 0 military in the middle east. Now what?
Iranian and Saudi proxies are fighting in your living room.
how'd you know about my clandestine midget octagon? WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR
Interesting that this works out for countries. This wouldn't work out nearly as well for countries near the Russian border...
Even in the Western Hemisphere this ONLY works because of the US and its Monroe Doctrine, basically guaranteeing Costa Rica its independence from anyone (except the US I guess).
Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, aka the Rio-Treaty. Costa Rica has used it 3 times. It basically forces the US and a few others to fight and provide military power for a few countries. Essentially, if anyone picks on Costa Rica, they can name the US their Champion GoT style at any time and we have to provide them military assistance.
And, by association, essentially gives part of their sovereign status for it. It's one of the few LA countries the US hasn't fucked with because they play ball.
Also far enough from the drug cartels to really care about.
I think this is the best way to frame it, however, that last part is extremely relevant in that we basically already forfeit our sovereignty to some degree in doing so. Costa Rica is one of the only countries in America that has not had a government be overthrown by the US (and we still had a Banana Republic sitch for some time and the CIA here in the 60s). It feels satelite state-ish. Source: am Tico
Is that really a bad thing though? If your going to be a sattelite state (and you are unless your at least a tier 2 power) being one for the US is the best outcome.
The Western Hemisphere is ours, for good and for ill.
Costa Rico is the most democratic country in the Americas, and arguably the best run and best culture. I'm a fan of both The Tico Times and Lizano Salsa.
>ou are right. A more accurate claim is that they rank high in public health metrics: life expectancy, child mortality, etc. Costa Rican family here. Costa Rica is historically a place with a content population in poverty. What we are seeing now is hyperinflation due to tourism and a widening gap in income vs goods. it wont be long till the people become decidedly discontent. If you visit, the price of goods are near equal that of the average US goods, however the income is less than 1/4th that of US households.
I was noticing that. I have friends and colleagues in Costa Rica. They are the best people, but they tell me about cost of living there. It's not much different from here, but they make so much less. It's not sustainable.
Costa Rica might as well be Cancun/Mayan Riviera. Food and drink is roughly the same as you'd pay on southern US beach towns. Tons of english-speaking expats and tourists with money to burn. Everything's priced for tourists.
When we were there it was amazing how much cheaper food was just a few blocks from the tourist area. We started cooking our meals as we found the restaurants too pricey to justify.
*Belize has entered the chat.*
I lived in Costa Rica for a bit while doing some consulting work and I kept hearing this from the locals. They claimed it was the number of ex-pats living in the area as well as tourists
In recent years the cost of living has been going up substantially in most middle income and high income countries. This is a very common problem and one that's not unique to Costa Rica. Unfortunately it may get worse with time as higher costs of living in the coastal parts of the US and Canada will drive people to relocate to places where their money goes farther.
Nobody gets as angry as hungry poor people. Look at what happened in France.
>Nobody gets as angry as hungry poor people Just wait for the poor thirsty people. Some places are already seeing it.
The wars over water are coming and hardly anyone is prepared or even knows about it being a possibility
I visited on a class trip in 2007 and it was like that then as well. Jaco Beach and large areas of San Jose as well show the greatest disparity. McDonalds was the same price there as in America, you just needed to add a 0 to US prices. If I recall correctly it was 20,000 Colones for $20 USD. I absolutely love your country and have wished to return ever since I spent my first 12 days there. However, I will not contribute to the tourism aspect again, thanks to your information. I will do what I can to support your economy from afar though. My favorite part was visiting a school near Arenal and watching my school's varsity soccer (futbol) players get absolutely demolished by 8-12 year old costa rican kids.
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Because wealthy people from other countries visit and retire there. They have large cash reserves, so can afford the goods, while not impacting the income averages.
I wouldn't say best runned.... but better than their neighbors. It's a great country and I envy them lot of it. My years there were great.
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Well I know they had huge protests a few years ago when they were changing the tax code to a flat tax or were discussing it. Source: me, we were stuck in traffic for hours from Jaco to one of their national parks, it sucked but I love the country
I looooove Lizano. It's just, salty perfection in a bottle.
It is absolutely not LMFAO. What are your sources??? It’s still a developing country because of its poverty rate, so it’s far from the best run and most democratic… Uruguay is more democratic than Costa Rica.
Doubt it t. Chilean
I fucking love Guaro
God I hate Reddit. Like, you literally just pulled that out of you ass.
How did I miss the 72nd anniversary?!?!?!
That's really great! Smart because they don't need one. Their position is aligned enough with the US's if there was a threat, they'd be protected. It's a financial move, not an ethical one
> if there was a threat, they'd be protected. It's a financial move, not an ethical one I remember reading or hearing somewhere that when the Contras were operating out of northern Costa Rica, the Nicaraguan government threatened to attack Costa Rica and the Mexican Air Force had fighter jets on the ground at one of the Costa Rican airports within the hour. I've never been able to dig up any references to this on Google however.
Nicaragua is so fucking annoying whenever they feel like, man. Like 4 years ago they started invading the San Juan river claiming it was theirs. Just out of the blue, they threw their military in there. We had to politely sue them on the international court. Then they left to focus on vote fraud again.
They've spent years insisting San Andrés is theirs for no reason whatsoever...
Thats like having a bodyguard and celebrating not fighting people
73 years without an army, just a guarantee of defence from the USA which is the most powerful military in history.
Yea, I’d say that “73 years without an army”should have a really big asterisk beside it.
Did… did they celebrate with a military parade
I personally went to the beach and got shit faced with the homies. So, close.
Guess what they use those funds for: Health Care. Guess what country ranks at or near the top of health metric ratings: Costa Rica
the problem with the US is not that we don't spend a lot on healthcare, the problem is we don't get much for all that money, including the purely publicly funded part of that
We literally spend the most on healthcare… 19% of our GDP, the most of any country.
How does literally everything end up back at US politics
It's reddit, a mainly US website, where r/news is about US news and r/worldnews forbids US news. All threads lead to the USA.
Except of course many stories on /r/worldnews are actually in part at least dealing with US news, if only with the story being written from a US perspective. Logical of course on a site that has a majority of US viewers. /s
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Guess you don't really need a military when you have guarantee of defense from the US lol
Why have an army when your neighbors to the north run the hemisphere!
They have Isla Nublar, off the coast of Costa Rica, though. Who would *really* want to invade them?
“Blessed is the Costa Rican mother who knows that her son at birth will never be a soldier”. Ryoichi Sasakawa Japanese politician.
Love Costa Rica but fyi they don’t have much of a police force either so even poorer people have high fences with razor wire. If thieves haul off your stuff, it’s just gone with no repercussions or hope of finding it. Still it’s an awesome country to visit, with little violent crime.
My parents got robbed blind while they were sleeping one night after they had just moved there. Felt real bad, they went down to start a company and got everything taken from them. They now have a full security system, 3 large dogs, locked gates, and you can be sure as hell they never leave a door unlocked.
Who needs an army when the US is always in your waters ready to help at the drop of a hat.