Some light reading suitable for bedtime

[David Morton]

ClubOrlov: How to start a war and lose an empire

 

[John]

Wasn't that a very interesting read, and so well written that even I could understand the folly that is Americas politics.

john

 

[roaldin]

Vote all you want. The secret government won’t change. - Ideas - The Boston Globe

Tim.

 

[Keith]

Yes, an interesting and thought provoking read, but not a very stellar response from across the pond?

I would have thought that a rebuttal using a graph or two would have been ideal...

 

[Larry L.]

Yes, an interesting and thought provoking read, but not a very stellar response from across the pond?

I would have thought that a rebuttal using a graph or two would have been ideal...

Hmmmmmmmmm...one minute you condemn comments of a political nature made by those from "across the pond" - especially when/where American politics is concerned...and complain when none is forthcoming the next. :squint:

Yeeeew be a difficult bird to 'figger' out, Keith! :sad:

 

[Robert May Eng.]

Wasn't that a very interesting read, and so well written that even I could understand the folly that is Americas politics.

john

The " I am going to beat you up aint we boys " tactics have only really had repercussions on the boys.

Bob

 

[Charlie Farley]

I understood it wasn't worth continuing to read this article after this quote,
very early on..
" Trouble is, there are no Russian troops in Ukraine "
I guess any true rebellion of a few miners, office workers, cleaners etc, can buy an advanced mobile missle system on eBay and fully understand and successfully operate it first time, including its associated supplementry support vehicles. Presumably they watched a " how to operate " 3 minute instructional video on Youtube......yea right, i was also born yesterday...
" Ah look....a Malaysian airliner, hmm, must be a capitalist plot...kill it."
Either this idiot is poorly informed ( and he therefore shouldn't even get out of bed to write an article, as such) or by that quote i am fully aware who is paying his utility bills etc, hint...it's east of Berlin.
This reminds me of the so called " Russian Friendship " magazines they pushed through the open windows of our car, as my Father drove us back and forth to Berlin, through the Helmstadt corridor, in the mid 1970's.
Full of bullshit then......some things don't change.

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

After seeing a war on poverty, a war on cancer, a war on drugs, and a war on terrorism, I have come to the conclusion that if you want to make anything flourish, at least over here, the best way to do that is to declare war on it.

I hereby declare war on men my age having sex with young women a third to half of my age.

 

[Jack]

Jim, I use Ben Franklin's formula. Works well!

 

[Keith]

Hmmmmmmmmm...one minute you condemn comments of a political nature made by those from "across the pond" - especially when/where American politics is concerned...and complain when none is forthcoming the next. :squint:

Yeeeew be a difficult bird to 'figger' out, Keith! :sad:

Well not really Larry. Its the off message political ranting. This is definitely on message so acceptable. Get it?

By the way, I don't think this guy likes Americans much does he?. Quite honestly, a lot of it is hogwash.

 

[Larry L.]

...I don't think this guy likes Americans much does he?

'Comes as no surprise, does it? As I've mentioned before, many in the world love to hate America and Americans...............until America and Americans are needed to bail their butts out with $$$s, military forces, disaster aid/assistance, or some combo thereof...all on our dime, of course.

And, no, I will not "walk that back". Anyone who reads the above knows what I stated is absolute gospel. Whether they'll actually admit it or not is quite another matter.

'Rant over...

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

Jim, I use Ben Franklin's formula. Works well!

Remind me of that, exactly, would you?

 

[Howard Jones]

Ya............ YA! what is Bens formula? The hell with this other crap HOW did he do it?

 

[Keith]

'Comes as no surprise, does it? As I've mentioned before, many in the world love to hate America and Americans...............until America and Americans are needed to bail their butts out with $$$s, military forces, disaster aid/assistance, or some combo thereof...all on our dime, of course.

And, no, I will not "walk that back". Anyone who reads the above knows what I stated is absolute gospel. Whether they'll actually admit it or not is quite another matter.

'Rant over...

Have you ever looked at the possibility that there may be an element of truth in the criticism of the USA? Surely America has indeed "bailed people's butts out" but at a price. It was never done for free, and what if the butt bailing was a consequence of a mess of US making in the first place?

I only ask these questions because the UK has been here before, post WWII, and to some degree it's still going on. The USA has been the natural successor to this process.

 

[Pat]

Keith, what about the UK role?
At the core of the current unpleasantness in Iraq, like Syria, was a consequence of World War One and of the infamous, in Arab eyes, agreement between Sir Mark Sykes and Francois-Georges Picot which led to the division of the former Ottoman Turkish domains by the two leading European powers, Britain and France. That agreement, now almost a century old, appears in tatters, as both countries are broken, exhausted by years of war and sectarian division for which there is no easy repair. All of this would not matter were it not for the fact that Islamic State has set as its goal the destruction of the century-old Sykes-Picot imperial diktat and its replacement by a Sunni caliphate stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean.

If you look at the UK role in the Versailles Treaty or Chamberlain's surrender of Czechoslovakia with the Munich Agreement, arguably it has some accountability for the bloodshed of WW2.

History certainly would indicate there is plenty of blame to go around, and the U.S. certainly has it's share. They have an old saying here that suggests people in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks and perhaps the somewhat tedious read extolling the virtues of Mr. Putin's government has some credibility issues on it's face.

As far as the trappings of socialism, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need". So how's that new EU tax surcharge on the UK going? It's only fair that you share the prosperity right?

 

[Larry L.]

Have you ever looked at the possibility that there may be an element of truth in the criticism of the USA?

>I< criticise the U.S.A. (assuming you mean its GOVERNMENT). There's no nation on Earth that's not deserving of legit criticism re: one thing or another...but, that's not what we're referring to here, is it.

Surely America has indeed "bailed people's butts out" but at a price.

And just who was it that usually paid the majority of that price one way or another?

...what if the butt bailing was a consequence of a mess of US making in the first place?

That's another popular sport both abroad and here at home: no matter what, 'Blame America First' - for e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g...deserved or not. After all, America is always the root cause of any problem if one only digs down far enough, right?

It was never done for free...

I think we need to define exactly what you are referring to here. E.g.: What did the U.S. charge Indonesia for its tsunami relief operations?

 

[Jack]

Remind me of that, exactly, would you?

Your age divided by two, plus ten

 

[Keith]

Keith, what about the UK role?
At the core of the current unpleasantness in Iraq, like Syria, was a consequence of World War One and of the infamous, in Arab eyes, agreement between Sir Mark Sykes and Francois-Georges Picot which led to the division of the former Ottoman Turkish domains by the two leading European powers, Britain and France. That agreement, now almost a century old, appears in tatters, as both countries are broken, exhausted by years of war and sectarian division for which there is no easy repair. All of this would not matter were it not for the fact that Islamic State has set as its goal the destruction of the century-old Sykes-Picot imperial diktat and its replacement by a Sunni caliphate stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean.

If you look at the UK role in the Versailles Treaty or Chamberlain's surrender of Czechoslovakia with the Munich Agreement, arguably it has some accountability for the bloodshed of WW2.

History certainly would indicate there is plenty of blame to go around, and the U.S. certainly has it's share. They have an old saying here that suggests people in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks and perhaps the somewhat tedious read extolling the virtues of Mr. Putin's government has some credibility issues on it's face.

As far as the trappings of socialism, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need". So how's that new EU tax surcharge on the UK going? It's only fair that you share the prosperity right?

The UK role in many debacles is a given, not that it was obvious at the time perhaps - it is or was a direct consequence of 'Empire'. Once the support (enforcement?) mechanisms had been blown away and the weaknesses exposed, down comes the structure. Lines in the sand have caused untold bloodshed, but I wonder, for millions of people who aspire to Western levels of civilisation, yet do they constantly bicker about the culture it eminates from. Much of the criticism concerning the USA seems entirely unwarranted and yet it continues unabated and I wonder why. There seems no rhyme or reason to it.

As for Putin being an innocent bystander, yeah, right.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

You know I think Putin is a very astute leader with the best interests of his country ( and himself ) at heart. Better than Obama and Abbott .

 

[Larry L.]

You know I think Putin is a very astute leader with the best interests of his country ( and himself ) at heart. Better than Obama and Abbott .

Whew! You came awfully close to using "astute" and "Obama" in the same sentence! :stunned:



'Sorry.....................carry on...