Search found 1537 matches

by orathaic
Tue Mar 19, 2024 9:22 am
Forum: Politics
Topic: Trump v. Biden - How worried should I be?
Replies: 86
Views: 1522

Re: Trump v. Biden - How worried should I be?

If you want to discuss the past litics of the bible, feel free to create a thread, and we can focus on bashing the bible bashers there.

That is off topic for this thread.
by orathaic
Fri Mar 08, 2024 9:50 am
Forum: Politics
Topic: Yes, Prime Minister
Replies: 10
Views: 334

Re: Yes, Prime Minister

Small difference? It went from a clear majority (45 to 38) in favour of national service to an even clearer majority (48 to 34) against. A 21 point swing is pretty significant in any context, and if error bars are big enough to hide it then it's pointless doing any polling at all. Elections are typ...
by orathaic
Fri Mar 08, 2024 9:47 am
Forum: Politics
Topic: Trump v. Biden - How worried should I be?
Replies: 86
Views: 1522

Re: Trump v. Biden - How worried should I be?

with the downside risk that Trump actually achieves some of his plainly stated goals (an end to rule of law vis-a-vis the President, an end to term limits, etc.) I'd actually really like to see where Trump has said these things. People talk about it all the time, but he didn't do it when he was Pre...
by orathaic
Fri Mar 01, 2024 11:34 am
Forum: Politics
Topic: Yes, Prime Minister
Replies: 10
Views: 334

Re: Yes, Prime Minister

Enjoyable, very small difference though.

How big do you think the error bara are?

Can we compare the same question to just asking 5 unrelated questions in advance of the final ones?
by orathaic
Mon Feb 19, 2024 12:59 am
Forum: Politics
Topic: War, what is it good for?
Replies: 985
Views: 87347

Re: War, what is it good for?

No one? That seems odd in itself. You do not get to be a prominent Russian politician by being nice. He may well have been a better man than Putin (which is a very low bar) and he was certainly charismatic, but I struggle to believe fully in the saint like champion of western style democracy narrat...
by orathaic
Sat Feb 17, 2024 1:43 am
Forum: Politics
Topic: War, what is it good for?
Replies: 985
Views: 87347

Re: War, what is it good for?

I totally agree that we have a special obligation to speak out about our own country's misdeeds like I said, Chomsky's argument there. I would suggest this argument should apply beyond just military aid - we are heavily complicit in the crimes of Saudi Arabia and China by maintaining deep trade and...
by orathaic
Sat Feb 17, 2024 1:23 am
Forum: Politics
Topic: War, what is it good for?
Replies: 985
Views: 87347

Re: War, what is it good for?

I don't for a moment believe that the powers that be in Russia would think twice about murdering Navalny if it was in their best interests, but I'm not at all convinced that it was. The timing of his death, if it was murder, seems a little odd. Why now? It's not as if he's been a threat recently. T...
by orathaic
Fri Feb 16, 2024 9:19 am
Forum: Politics
Topic: War, what is it good for?
Replies: 985
Views: 87347

Re: War, what is it good for?

But you are right, we should also criticise the Chinese treat of Uighars and Tibetans and anyone other 'unruly' group within their borders, the genocidal Russia behaviour (stealing children, changing their dates of birth, and giving them to Russian families for adoption - which entirely fits the def...
by orathaic
Fri Feb 16, 2024 9:06 am
Forum: Politics
Topic: War, what is it good for?
Replies: 985
Views: 87347

Re: War, what is it good for?

The second argument is weaker here, but it is a responce which Chomsky often uses as to why he criticised the US more than the abused of (say) China. As a US citizen living in a fairly democratic country, his voice can actually make a difference by criticizing American policy, while he can't make a ...
by orathaic
Thu Feb 15, 2024 6:07 pm
Forum: Politics
Topic: War, what is it good for?
Replies: 985
Views: 87347

Re: War, what is it good for?

There is a good reason to hold Israel to close scrutiny, A) as a relatively liberal country, they may be more likely to be affected by what we say. B) among the most advanced weapon systems in the World, Israel has more power, and thus capacity to abuse that power, so should be called to account. I ...
by orathaic
Wed Feb 07, 2024 4:45 pm
Forum: Politics
Topic: War, what is it good for?
Replies: 985
Views: 87347

Re: War, what is it good for?

Carlson being a paid mouth piece for Russian propoganda and not in the US national interest, because he holds some serious political sway with, one hopes a minority. However that minority appears to hold far too much power at the moment - which is an actual problem for the US (and anyone else who op...
by orathaic
Wed Feb 07, 2024 10:11 am
Forum: Politics
Topic: War, what is it good for?
Replies: 985
Views: 87347

Re: War, what is it good for?

Source? "israel toilet sticker razor" returns no results on Google. Internal railway safety brief. Thinking about it, it is very curious that something that is very newsworthy and rather important from a safety of the public point of view hasn't actually been taken up by any news services. It's lik...
by orathaic
Tue Jan 30, 2024 11:53 pm
Forum: Politics
Topic: War, what is it good for?
Replies: 985
Views: 87347

Re: War, what is it good for?

While I do not share your glee at the UK sabotaging its economy and isolating itself on the European stage, and whilst I also have no love for Viktor Orbán because he's a fucking fascist.... I must say that should this FT story prove to be true, I would share your concerns, genuinely. I am amused t...
by orathaic
Tue Jan 30, 2024 11:33 am
Forum: Politics
Topic: War, what is it good for?
Replies: 985
Views: 87347

Re: War, what is it good for?

While I do not share your glee at the UK sabotaging its economy and isolating itself on the European stage, and whilst I also have no love for Viktor Orbán because he's a fucking fascist.... I must say that should this FT story prove to be true, I would share your concerns, genuinely. I am amused t...
by orathaic
Tue Jan 30, 2024 11:30 am
Forum: Politics
Topic: War, what is it good for?
Replies: 985
Views: 87347

Re: War, what is it good for?

It's pretty grim reading. The EU threatening to strip members of voting rights and sabotage members' economies unless they do what they told is extremely disturbing. I am increasingly glad that the UK is no longer a member Actually given that Hungary has for a few years now failed to live up to the...
by orathaic
Fri Jan 26, 2024 5:02 pm
Forum: Politics
Topic: War, what is it good for?
Replies: 985
Views: 87347

Re: War, what is it good for?

Perhaps, I note I had a number of typos, just to say, whether it is a "oh we can twist this to suit a poor women and children narrative" or "they missed the 'legitimate' military targets, so we are decrying this attack on civilians (but will only mention the women and children anyway, because sympat...
by orathaic
Fri Jan 19, 2024 6:30 pm
Forum: Politics
Topic: War, what is it good for?
Replies: 985
Views: 87347

Re: War, what is it good for?

. It is interesting to note that both sides supposedly targeted militants/terrorists with their attacks and both insisted that it was largely women and children who were killed by the enemy strikes. This seems to be something of a theme in the region. Perhaps, like cobblers in the UK traditionally ...
by orathaic
Thu Jan 18, 2024 11:12 am
Forum: Politics
Topic: War, what is it good for?
Replies: 985
Views: 87347

Re: War, what is it good for?

Most recent attacks in Iran are from Pakistan, the Iranians allegedly fired missiles into Pakistan to kill militants and Pakistan retaliated. Both sides may actually dislike the militants in question. But just in case this slipped below the radar.
by orathaic
Wed Jan 17, 2024 9:37 am
Forum: Politics
Topic: Your country is complicit of Genocide
Replies: 48
Views: 1426

Re: Your country is complicit of Genocide

It seems everyone is bogged down in history and definitions. The Israeli state is not the people of Israel. Hamas is not the Gazans or Palestinian people. Complicit means supporting or aiding in the actions. So first, the US and UK are complicit in the actions of the Israeli government (which many p...
by orathaic
Sun Jan 14, 2024 12:45 pm
Forum: Politics
Topic: Your country is complicit of Genocide
Replies: 48
Views: 1426

Re: Your country is complicit of Genocide

I also have little interest in South Africa playing games on the political stage Can you explain how something becomes "political", I think the way this phrase is often used is to discredit the actor for doing an inherently political thing. So I am curious how you think that politics should be kept...