Tunesia, Egyt and now Yemen: a domino effect in the Middle East?

@JTT,

Obviously. That's as stark a fact as you can get.

A Foreign Secretary here once did make a speech about an "ethical foreign policy" but it was in the first flush of his appointment which had gone to his head in the same way that I have heard that a Major in an 'ology can do.

It enthused a few liberals at the time.

It is a great shame that the things you often refer to take place. Preventing them in future is what I assume everybody would wish and is working towards and it is the intractable nature of the case that these things happen in the way of getting there. World Democracy is the obvious answer. Selfish nationalism the real culprit.

I don't know why our governments are doing what they are in Libya. I could speculate but I would rather hope that the reasons they give are the correct ones. I see no reason to think they are not.

1 Reply

@spendius,

Quote:

I could speculate but I would rather hope that the reasons they give are the correct ones. I see no reason to think they are not.

Two words that should make you wonder why you would have ever written the above.

Blair - Iraq

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@JTT,

Not at all. I don't believe these things happen at the behest of any individuals. That would make elections like a lucky dip.

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@spendius,

President Truman didn't personally decide to use the A bomb.

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@spendius,

Quote:

President Truman didn't personally decide to use the A bomb.

Yes, he did. You remember where the buck stops, do you not?

He did have a lot of advice of a large number of morally depraved individuals but then there has never been any shortage of folks like that in the US.

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@JTT,

Gibbon wrote, in a note at the end of Chap 38--

Quote:

The merit of discovery has too often been stained with avarice, cruelty, and fanaticism; and the intercourse of nations has produced the communication of disease and prejudice. A singular exception is due to the virtue of our own times and country. The five great voyages, successively under-taken by the command of his present Majesty, were inspired by the pure and generous love of science and mankind. The same prince, adapting his benefactions to the different stages of society, has founded a school of painting in his capital, and has introduced into the islands of the South Sea the vegetables and animals most useful to human life.

I presume you would remark, knowingly, "Oh yeah!! and the missionary position, barf barf.

You seem to be imagining that "morally depraved individuals" are not created by a socialisation, that they appear as tallness or shortness does in the human race, and that they serve no economic function, and that they are chosen for high office by freely cast votes for no other reason than that they are set by those voters to wreak havoc in the world as a matter of course as one might set a vicious dog on an innocent little fox.

If that be the thrust of your position then it would serve your purpose better if you focussed your attention on the socialisation and the electoral process which guides these blind forces into ways you, rightly, disapprove of.

1 Reply

@spendius,

Quote:

If that be the thrust of your position then it would serve your purpose better if you focussed your attention on the socialisation and the electoral process which guides these blind forces into ways you, rightly, disapprove of.

With all due respect, Spendi, I'm doing all I can, and wish to do at present. If you believe it's "rightly", maybe you should take up the charge yourself.

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@JTT,

Simply because I don't adopt your methods does not mean that I don't do my bit in the same direction. I'm unpopular too you know.

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@spendius,

I didn't say "my charge", Spendi. I'm happy to hear that you do your bit.

Quote:

I'm unpopular too you know.

I think that you would find, if there was a tracking process, that these "unpopular" ones get quite a few hits.

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Gaddafi crossed the border into Tunisia.

Quote:

Pro-Gaddafi forces clash with Tunisian military
Reuters

By Tarek Amara – 2 hrs 15 mins ago

DEHIBA, Tunisia (Reuters) – Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi fought a gun battle with Tunisian troops in a frontier town on Friday as Libya's conflict spilled over its borders.

NATO accused Gaddafi's forces of mining the harbor of the rebels' besieged western outpost of Misrata, to block aid ships. Libyan state television said the port, providing a lifeline to the eastern rebel heartland, had been rendered "non-functional."

"Any attempt to enter the port will be attacked, regardless of the justifications," it added.

Pro-Gaddafi forces shelled the town of Dehiba, damaging buildings and wounding at least one resident, and a squad drove into the town in a truck chasing anti-Gaddafi rebels.

Tunisian deputy foreign minister Radhouane Nouicer, speaking on Al Jazeera television, said casualties had been inflicted, including a young girl.

"We summoned the Libyan envoy and gave him a strong protest because we won't tolerate any repetition of such violations. Tunisian soil is a red line and no one is allowed to breach it," he said.

1 Reply

@cicerone imposter,

Im getting a kick out of Ahmedinejad. Hes in a corner because with all Irans bullshit backing of the "ordered rebellions" in the other countries have now come next door in Syria and Iran has been a major patron of the SYrian regime. OOPS.

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@farmerman,

Quote:

Im getting a kick out of Ahmedinejad.

I can't do that. Is it any good?

Quote:

because with all Irans bullshit

Everybody knows it's bullshit fm. The Iranian bullshitters know it's bullshit. There's no such thing as a "talking head" that isn't bullshitting.

How old are you for ****'s sake. Do you think you have discovered something original?

1 Reply

@farmerman,

It's this kind of ha ha finger pointing that is so hard to take, Farmer. If y'all had cleaner hands, if you actually made some real attempts at cleaning up your own backyard, this wouldn't be so damn hypocritical.

You know full well that the US has done nothing but threaten and provoke Iran since they booted out the US's brutal dictator. For christ's sakes, you supported Iraq in a war against Iran, including supporting the use of banned chemical weapons, another war crime.

It's so ironic how you folks can go on and on about freedom and how you got it for yourselves on your own terms but you seek to deny everyone else in the world their choices.

Iran doesn't park its warships on the front steps of the USA, does it?

But if, that's a big IF, you were to honestly look at the historical record, you'd find that the US has pointedly denied people freedom in order to steal the wealth of a host of other nations;

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, Tunisia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Iran, South Vietnam, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Greece, etc. etc.

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@JTT,

Don't forget little, harmless, Cuba.

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@cicerone imposter,

Dam did we still Cuba's resources also?

I really am way behind and need to catch up!

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@spendius,

Quote:

How old are you for ****'s sake.

For God's sake Spendius I have never heard god's name called that before!

Is this a new term used to describe god in your country or have you all been using this term for years?

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@reasoning logic,

Quote:

Is this a new term used to describe god in your country or have you all been using this term for years?

You really do need to catch up, RL. That's been a common collocation for decades.

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@JTT,

The latest news has shades of "we have guns and you have bows and arrows so get off our land".

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AJE is reporting that the youngest son of Gaddifi and three of his sons were killed in a Nato air strike tonight.

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@realjohnboy,

Is that why he's asking for a cease fire?

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Tunesia, Egyt and now Yemen: a domino effect in the Middle East?

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