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Everyone knows we don't have that capability.
Yes, shoot a missile into the ocean and kill many fish, contaminating the waters with deadly radiation, and make us wipe out your own country. Yay!
Nukes really oughta be destroyed. We have enough clean bombs to wipe out a small country like NK if we want to.
And today...
Iran detains some local staff at British Embassy
Looks like Ahmadinnerjacket found his scapegoat. Damn those devious Brits! No wonder they make the best badguys in movies. ;)
Zakaria: Iran regime has become a 'naked dictatorship'
Moussavi attacked Ahmadinejad repeatedly for his aggressive foreign policy. So we now know the answer to the question, "Are there moderates in Iran?" Yes, millions of them.
I never doubted there were. For that matter, I do not doubt that every country has its fair share of moderates. Now if we can just engage them instead of the yahoos (our country included) that are usually in power.
Patrick Curtin
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Battles Case Subscriber)
[sarcasm] Yay for justice. [/sarcasm]
Take heart in the fact the the youth are the majority in that country, CF. Dictatorships cannot operate for long with the majority of people arrayed against them. Their system will eventually collapse under its own hypocrisy. Hopefully afterwards they can move on a build a new one that is a little more free.
Take heart in the fact the the youth are the majority in that country, CF. Dictatorships cannot operate for long with the majority of people arrayed against them. Their system will eventually collapse under its own hypocrisy. Hopefully afterwards they can move on a build a new one that is a little more free.
I disagree.
The killing power of the Machine Gun and the Tank can keep a dictatorship in power for a very long time.
Patrick Curtin
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Battles Case Subscriber)
I disagree.
The killing power of the Machine Gun and the Tank can keep a dictatorship in power for a very long time.
Well, perhaps you are right. Although machine guns and tanks didn't help the Shah's dictatorship back in the late Seventies.
One lesson that this uprising has impressed on me is that it will be increasingly hard for dictatorships to do their dirty work under cover of darkness. The whole world was witness to the Iranian people's anger thanks to YouTube and Twitter.
When you empower the individual with the tools to communicate to the outside world the State cannot hide behind its propaganda and claim that nothing is going on. If Iran continues to oppress its people, it will become more and more a pariah. Eventually the youth who drove the movement will either overthrow the government or change it through strength of numbers.
Well, perhaps you are right. Although machine guns and tanks didn't help the Shah's dictatorship back in the late Seventies.I disagree.
The killing power of the Machine Gun and the Tank can keep a dictatorship in power for a very long time.
Did a great job for China in the 1980s though.
When you empower the individual with the tools to communicate to the outside world the State cannot hide behind its propaganda and claim that nothing is going on. If Iran continues to oppress its people, it will become more and more a pariah.
Unless ... you have vast, untapped economic potential ... like say China.
As for "hiding behind propaganda and claiming that nothing is going on", do some research on how Israel is treating its Palestinian population. Hiding behind the Propoganda seems to have worked okay for quite some time.
Patrick Curtin
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Battles Case Subscriber)
Meh, I just extracted myself from one contentious debate, I really have no wish to begin another. There is always the hope that liberty will triumph over tyranny. It doesn't always happen, but it is nice to imagine. I hope that the Iranian people stand firm and grab control of their destiny, whatever that destiny shall be.
The glass is still half empty.Correction: the glass is pretty much completely empty.
Well, at times like this ...
"Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life!
That might be what the Iranians are sending in return. It was confirmed yesterday that the UAE had intercepted a North Korean flagged freighter that was carrying non-nuclear weapons bound for Iran. I just saw the ticker during Sen. Kennedy's funeral so I don't know anything more, but just the thought of the two working together is disturbing to say the least.
Here is the story from France 24, the French version of CNN The crates containing the weapons were labeled "machine parts."
Did we not learn in Iraq that there is no such thing as "a quick take-out"?Um, I think we should have learned from Korea there is no such thing as "a quick take-out".
If not, then we should have learned it from World War I or the U.S. Civil War.
They would if we were to threaten to make Wal-Mart start buying American. :)South Korea would have to wait for the radiation to die down...Right, because China would let us do that.
If we tried that, all China would do is recall our debt.
The hard truth is that we no longer have direct control over our economy - our 1.6 trillion dollor debt does.
All China would do is recall our debt.They would if we were to threaten to mak Wal-Mart start buying American. :)South Korea would have to wait for the radiation to die down...Right, because China would let us do that.
Now, now, there is enough blame to go around. After all, President Obama hasn't exactly been slow on borrowing money from China either.
Now, now, there is enough blame to go around. After all, President Obama hasn't exactly been slow on borrowing money from China either.All China would do is recall our debt.They would if we were to threaten to mak Wal-Mart start buying American. :)South Korea would have to wait for the radiation to die down...Right, because China would let us do that.
True. Lots of people, both Republican and Democrat, had a hand in this mess.
I am blaming the Republicans more - mostly because, in the last eight years - they have been free with spending, but not so clear on how they planned to pay for it.
I'm pretty much fed up with politicians of all strips. they all seem more interested in keeping power than they are in actually doing anything. They will not even follow their own principles if they feel it will cost them votes. I've already gone down to my local courthouse and changed my affiliation to non-affiliated because they have all become asses in my opinion.
Edit: Somemore of my thoughts on the subject. They are somewhat partisan because they were written before I really became fed up.
Commentary: World should shun Iranian leader
My usual news outlets have all but dropped this crisis. I really wish the best for the Iranian people. I have no doubt, if I were to meet them face to face, we would be more similar than disparate.
Patrick Curtin
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Battles Case Subscriber)
My usual news outlets have all but dropped this crisis. I really wish the best for the Iranian people. I have no doubt, if I were to meet them face to face, we would be more similar than disparate.
It's not as sexy as health care reform, or Afghanistan surges.
CF, you might like this book: >Children of Jihad< Written by a young American who basically bummed around Iran and some of the Arab countries trying to get a feel for the culture at 'street level'. Insightful read into the Muslim youth culture and how they truly act amongst themselves. I found it at my local library.
Thanks for the link.
I am very curious about Islam. I have some exposure to it from religion classes, but I am curious to see how it plays at the table…as it were.
I do not believe I have known any Muslims in real life. I have known one or two Jews, some Mormons, Buddhists and quite a few Hindus.
My Muslim dance card is frighteningly empty.
Amanpour: White House 'confused' on Iran
It seems to me, Ahmadinejad is dancing a little Texas Two-Step.
Patrick Curtin
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Battles Case Subscriber)
Thanks for the link.
I am very curious about Islam. I have some exposure to it from religion classes, but I am curious to see how it plays at the table…as it were.
I do not believe I have known any Muslims in real life. I have known one or two Jews, some Mormons, Buddhists and quite a few Hindus.
My Muslim dance card is frighteningly empty.
Muslims are like any other religious group. They have their liberals, moderates and conservatives. The problem is that the Wahabbi brand of Sunni Islam practiced by the extremists has begun to spread around the Muslim world because we pay so much money to the House of Saud for our oil. They dutifully pay off their nation's religious extremists to keep them from formenting rebellion to their autocratic rule. The extremists then use this payola to fund many charitable works in areas that Western countries don't have a strong presence. Along with the food comes the Qu'ran and a message of holy Jihad against the decadent infidel West. The money also creates networks of radical madrassas and mosques that form the legitimate political backbone for the extremist movement.
The problem with the Muslim world isn't that they have extremists, the problem is that their extremists are well funded and powerful. Imagine a Western world where the more radical Christian sects received billions from the government to keep them quiet, which they then used to advance their agenda across the world and to crush other more moderate Christian groups. It's a sad state of affairs, but it is what it is. Hopefully if we can pull off an alternate to fossil fuels we can dry up this neverending source of terrorism funding.
It makes me chuckle at those PSA ads saying that if you smoke pot you are supporting terrorism, when the ad should have had a picture of an SUV and a gas pump instead.
Patrick Curtin
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Battles Case Subscriber)
That is my general assumption. In my experience, people are people. I just find different cultures, including religion, fascinating.
The Islam faith and the Midlle Eastern culture is very fascinating. I had the good fortune to study them and the Arabic language at length in my younger years as a 98G trainee in the Army. Islam at its height stretched from the Pyrenees Mountains in Northern Spain to Indonesia.
During the European Dark Ages they were the center of scientific learning, which many of our scientific terms in mathematics (Algebra), chemistry (alchemy). and astronomy (Algol) still echo. They also preserved and translated the books of classical antiquity, many of which filtered back into Europe centuries later through Muslim Spain (al-Andalus).
The early Muslims were instrumental in trade, giving us the loan words for rice (riz) and sugar (sukir). Until the Portugese cicumvented the Horn of Africa they were the masters of Europe-Asia commerce via the Silk Road.
The Qu'ran is good reading, just as the Bible is, even for pagans like me. Also there are many different beautiful Islamic poetical traditions, from Omar Khayyam, to the Sufi masters of Persia and India to Kalil Gibran in modern days.
It is sad that we stand on such a divide, and that a handful of religious extremists have poisoned our percptions of a fifth of the world's population.