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Thread Statistics | Show CCP posts - 1 post(s) |
Vogue
Skynet Nexus
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Posted - 2010.12.07 12:09:00 -
[1]
Or the USA will use its economic leverage to coerce Sweeden to get to Assange. Something along the lines of creating a disadvantage to Sweeden though a trade deal. With one hand the USA giveth and with the other hand taketh.
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Vogue
Skynet Nexus
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Posted - 2010.12.07 17:59:00 -
[2]
Good quote: "There is nothing new in this world except for the history you do not know" - Harry S Truman
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Vogue
Skynet Nexus
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Posted - 2010.12.08 13:12:00 -
[3]
A general problem with trying to keep a historical record of events and politicians nowadays is the photocopier and electronic communications. The historical record for figures such as Winston Churchill and say F D Roosevelt is relatively succinct. It is easier for historians to assess. But now with emails and photocopiers there is a mountain of historical record for historians and journalists to try and make head or tail of. 250,000 emails from George W Bush's two terms in office were released into the public record.
USA, the UK and probably other countries have like a 30 year rule for sensitive government information. After such a length of time the passions and strong emotions surrounding political events settles to allow a more dispassionate analysis by historians, journalists and the public.
But with wikileaks we are getting political information that is hot straight from the oven.
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Vogue
Skynet Nexus
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Posted - 2010.12.09 12:44:00 -
[4]
Edited by: Vogue on 09/12/2010 12:46:11 Edited by: Vogue on 09/12/2010 12:44:30 USA maintained its hegemony in the world since the end of WW2 and through the cold war. And through that ensured its ideal of relative peace in the world. Wikileaks has given me confidence in the capability of the diplomatic apparatus and state department in assessing global political issues and developing frameworks to deal with them. USA does some shady business. But if wikileaks happened in the 1960's then a lot of stuff that would have come out could have started WW3.
But I think being #1 in the world makes some people a bit giddy or drunk with that power. I am sure this was the case with the British Empire. This seems to be the case with US Republicans who live in a hazy bubble of American exceptionalism. That is what USA does is best and there are no other examples in the world that can better them. They say the US health system is the best in the world. But the UN has ranked it 39th in the world. This Illiterate patriotism is ill focused and arrogant. If you think your country is #1 and that's it you loose humility, balance of perspective.
I think the current US administration is dealing with global issues the best it can. And fully utilizing the diplomatic tools it has available. The previous two administrations under George W Bush ran the White House like an idealogical fort. Ignoring and not using diplomatic tools that the state department and other government entities provided.
Now China and other countries don't want to follow mechanisms for doing global politics that have been established as part of US global hegemony. China and USA's economies are symbiotically linked. However at present relations between the two countries are very frosty.
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Vogue
Skynet Nexus
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Posted - 2010.12.10 16:45:00 -
[5]
Technology is a two way street. Where it gives us greater access to information and news. It can also be used to monitor us. And as Aldous Huxley said we are saturated with media with a lot of it glib and hyperbole. As a result our attention spans have decreased.
As far as governments and IT go they always fall behind the corporate sector as innovation is harder. I have worked in the public sector and they do want to innovate but I have found that once a new system is in often it lacks maintenance as the project managers want to move on the the next ooh shiny project. So a lot of systems over several years end up running slow and become buggy because of lack of maintenance and political turf wars. But western government are some good stuff for public facing websites.
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Vogue
Skynet Nexus
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Posted - 2010.12.10 18:07:00 -
[6]
Edited by: Vogue on 10/12/2010 18:09:23 Edited by: Vogue on 10/12/2010 18:08:43 TLDR international politics: A country wants to dispense a variant of the 'truth' that complements their own quest for power consolidation and growth of power. So with Wikileaks you are seeing countries jockeying for positions that complement their own objectives in this regard.
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Vogue
Skynet Nexus
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Posted - 2010.12.10 23:04:00 -
[7]
One county's hero is another county's info-terrorist. USA is lauding Liu Xiaobo with a nobel prize on top as a cherry. China is doing an emo rage against this. USA is branding Julian Assange USA's most wanted. While countries that want to poke USA in the ribs are lauding Assange as a crusader.
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Vogue
Skynet Nexus
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Posted - 2010.12.12 17:00:00 -
[8]
Edited by: Vogue on 12/12/2010 17:06:36 Every form of rule is a tyranny. True absolute freedom is anarchy. USA offers the most enlightened tyranny. China is slowly and surely expanding its strategic reach around the world. Now you could call China amoral as its doing business with a lot of dodgey regimes in Africa and elsewhere. But Africa has always being ignored because most countries in that continent are hopelessly corrupt. Whereas the US lead west wants countries to get their 'democracy' goody bag with t-shirt pens and stickers. How corrupt democracies are that sign up for this scheme is superfluous to the USA.
There is a tyranny in the world now that has not one single master. It is globalisation. It has turned out not to be the win win the west has hoped for. But as far as emancipating the poor in this world it is more effective than the 'democracy goody bag' scheme. And whiny white liberals blaming famine and starvation on the white man. This is why I think China doing business with countries apolitically is not such a evil. After all it was Vietnam's recent emergence as a exporting economy that pre-empted USA's new fresh start diplomatic relations with it.
The worse deal in this world is if you are a small country stuck on strategic fault lines. This includes the Russian periphery where Russia and US proxy forces play power games. And somewhat from that around China - North Korea, Japan.
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Vogue
Skynet Nexus
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Posted - 2010.12.12 20:24:00 -
[9]
It is a tribal world. The, I shall say, progressive friction of people wanting a better deal in life by leveraging power through groups - ethnic, social, corporate, national, financial, etc. I really hope the world can continue with the relative peace it has enjoyed since the end of WW2. A peace which also unfortunately includes a decadent sense of false entitlement. The human condition is weird. We are though a predatory species - two eyes forward not sidewards. It takes a bloody war sometimes to club sense into us.
There is no such thing, in a political context, of a leader of men who wins points for telling us there is trouble ahead so we must sacrifice a little now for long term gain. So the human race will have its paradigm shifts and sometimes run into a brick wall. Greed is a huge constant in human affairs. I hope the world can learn and adapt without large scale war.
So I hope in 2050 there are Americans, Europeans, Asian and other people around the world ranting at each other in various mediums of discussion. But these did not start a war
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Vogue
Skynet Nexus
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Posted - 2010.12.12 21:59:00 -
[10]
10 print "" 20 goto 10.
/Looked for turtle images but cba
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Vogue
Skynet Nexus
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Posted - 2010.12.14 22:05:00 -
[11]
Winning hearts and minds
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Vogue
Skynet Nexus
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Posted - 2010.12.16 17:58:00 -
[12]
It is globalisation that takes western country working class jobs. Britain did it anyway pre-emptively in the 1980's. It was brutal as Thatcher removed the inefficient rot in mass manufacturing in the UK. Not a lot was left over. The working classes went in one of two directions in the 80's in the UK. Those that were skilled in trades - carpentry, plumbing etc prospered. Those that were unable to adapt or re skill from loosing a manufacturing job got a worse paying service sector job or rotted.
In a country such as Britain which has relatively high population density for a small land mass it is easier to find new employment in a local area. But I suppose in the USA which is a huge country in comparison it is very hard for to relocate if your job was in manufacturing or labour such as mining. And in Europe we have a bigger welfare state.
I think USA will always be a major world economy and player. But I suspect by 2050 it will like the scenery in the film minority report.
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Vogue
Skynet Nexus
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Posted - 2010.12.17 12:10:00 -
[13]
I like this quote: "In the last few years, the very idea of telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth is dredged up only as a final resort when the alternative options of deception, threat and bribery have all been exhausted."
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Vogue
Skynet Nexus
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Posted - 2010.12.18 22:44:00 -
[14]
Edited by: Vogue on 18/12/2010 22:46:26 USA could save $300 billion a year by reforming the tax code. US Health insurance company's make far to much money at the expense of those who pay for it. If your going to pay taxes you surely would want that money used most efficiently. Not to a lot of US politicians who want to 'bleed the beast' of government. Hmm what else. If Americans stopped driving big fuel inefficient vehicles they could half their $28 billion in oil imports.
Introduce a new type of tax rebate. The US government will give you a rebate - free money! If you reduce your household debt. If you have zero household debt and have less than $600,000 in total assets you will every year get say a $10,000 rebate. The government will actually profit from this. Consumer spending goes down. Households live within their means. The cycle of US consumers buying imports from China, Japan and the rest of the far east will decrease. China will buy less US treasuries. US's trade balance will improve. US consumers living less on credit -> buying goods from the far east on credit will improve US's debt situation.
USA needs a ruler with absolute authority to do all of this. Shutdown congress and senate for 3 years while all these things get done. At the end of the dictatorship USA will be leaner and fitter. I am willing apply for this position provided a KFC is installed in the White House
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Vogue
Skynet Nexus
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Posted - 2010.12.18 23:12:00 -
[15]
Edited by: Vogue on 18/12/2010 23:12:45 I shall repost what I said a year ago:-
Margaret Thatcher said once 'there is no such thing as soceity'. Which bites but it is true. I am 34 and when i was a kid my mates parents used to leave their front doors open. We used to run around and go into our mates houses and if we showed some courtesy we were welcome. Nowadays most neighbours just dont talk to each other.
The BBC did a social experiment once. They got someone to pretend to collapse in a village and in a city. In the village the locals responded immediatley and offered to help the 'collapsed' person. But in the city the faux collapsed person was ignored. The moral is as most of us live in large urban sprawls we find it hard to associate in a genuine way with such a large number of people. Sociologists say that an urban area of up to 20,000 people is the most we can handle in feeling truely a part of.
And to that end to really create heartfelt societies we should have a 'campus' style of living. Have communities that have small local shops (France supports shops in rural towns and villages). Schools, hospitals. And similar type amenities that can be walked to, or by bus or a short drive away. Legislate to have the soulless shopping on the outskirts of cities shut down.
Yes services could become more expensive. But people really need to start thinking in terms of 'social capital'. Money is important as its an enabler to a better lifestyle. But its a narcissistic lifestyle if its the new opium for the masses - unadulterated consumerism.
I am liberal about many things. But i beleive in such things as national service. The boom of financial prosperity has given people a false sense of entitlement. There should be an ethos that 'citizenship' should be earned and not given.
Me for president!
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Vogue
Skynet Nexus
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Posted - 2010.12.23 14:17:00 -
[16]
What the wikileaks saga has revealed about human nature is that there is no desire for universal truths when there are no universal global political wants. Countries wants different things so they will spin the wikileaks story line that complements their political objectives.
Also you don't have to be a conspiracy nutcase to beleive that the notion of 'free press' in the west is a smoke screen. Journalists love the theatrics of politics and getting access to the big players more than giving objective observations to the public.
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