It's funny that the Repubs are so worried that terrorists will sneak across the border and cause some havoc. But when it comes to restricting arms at all they are not for it.

All the terrorists need to do is enter the country legally (tourist visas) and buy a whole shitload of weapons legally (a la that Colorado shooter) and cause some serious havoc in crowded public places.

It just goes to show you that the threat of terrorism is just a smokescreen used to shoehorn in other restrictive policies like the border wall. If they were serious about averting terrorist threats they would at least pass some gun laws on restricting sales to foreign nationals.

The 'terrorist' threat is an example of the politics of fear, just as the 'war on drugs'. Create fear to justify political/economic goals.

It doesn't matter if the US had no previous knowledge of the twin tower attacks (though some people had some knowledge, that doesn't mean they could justify acting without being sure...) there was a definite policy to aggrovate 'enemies' such that invasion would be possible.

The 'terrorism' wouldn't be needed if the US was a more obvious Imperial Dictatorship... Instead of, oh whatever you try calling it these days.

Militray 'bases' acting as outpost in foreign territory, allowing the threat of militrary intervention hold sufficient weight; economic invasion to extract as much wealth as possible - and to what extent this actually generates wealth in foreign nations is less than clear - resource extraction from resource rich nations to further economic power.

Weapons sales to win allies in regions where the local power is anti-American. These powers can be used as puppets for proxy wars, whether middle east, east asia, or south america. Only Europe has remained virtually free of the US dominance, and only because the powers there are already alligned with this policy of dominance and perfectly happy to collaborate with the US even while in direct competition...

Europe, free of US dominance? Don't mention Camp Bondsteel.

Yes Putin, europe, of the "Can't beat them, join them" brand of collaborators; Europe isn't dominated by the US, it is an extension of it... (like America was a cancerous growth which eventually took over the whole organism...)

I mean sure, there is US-like dominance in europe, where european corporations oppress european citizens; but just because the US does it doesn't mean the Europeans wouldn't be doing the same thing on their own... Copycats oppression mostly.

Now if you're talking about political influence, i suspect you will find a more finely balanced game of mutual power-brokering.

If you are talking about some purely militrary concerns, the UK and France both produce and sell weapons in direct competition with the US; (alongside the other two winners of the last war, and permanent security council members, China and Russia) both have nuclear weapons launch capability and thus have some level of MAD in place should they be directly treatened; making US militrary threat much less serious; In terms of manpower contributed to their militrary alliance (NATO) both provide far less than the US (per head of populatin) - saving them money; while their arms sales are way a ove their weight by population...

I don't know how you would consider that anything but partners in the US lead oppression/exploitation.

I don't claim there is no oppression of US origin Europe, but neither do i claim there is no oppression of US citizens in the US. Still, it is good to see Putin completely ignore the topic and discuss the details...

This wasn't really the topic. At any rate I largely agree with. I'm just saying the continent isn't entirely free of US conquests.

Once the terrorists grow half a brain, they could actually do some really, really big damage, and I mean ten times what 9/11 was. Sounds unrealistic, doesn't it?

Well….

People like me with close ties to one of the more terrorist-prone nations, Israel, know a few things that Americans don't. I guarantee you the terrorists will figure it out. These are two places that terrorists will someday target:

• Security
No, I don't mean security as in the police forces. I don't mean security as in the department that is supposed to prevent terrorism. I mean that long line with thousands of people at giant sporting events and concerts and stuff all crowded into a tight space, and oh, by the way, nobody has been checked for weapons, explosives, chemicals, etc. yet. Yeah, isn't it obvious? Thousands of people in a giant group. Nobody stopping you. Perfect place.

• Schools
Wouldn't this be a story? A man blows himself up inside an elementary school. One cop sitting in his little office eating a donut and reading the newspaper from 1969 is going to stop a terrorist laden with detonators? Right. Shoot him and the bomb blows up. Try and talk to him and the bomb blows up. Tackle him and the bomb blows up. Not much to be done without security checkpoints in front of schools, but hey, those aren't so safe either now, are they…

I don't have a solution to either of these things, but they are two extremely obvious places that are extremely vulnerable. While budget cuts around the country are killing our future (different story…), I can definitely see someone sneaking in and blowing up a few kids.

It's no secret (don't deny it; if you try to deny it, go try it yourself) that you can get chemicals and weapons - which, for all you not-so-history-buffs and science nerds, can be turned into chemical weapons, i.e bombs - with nothing more than a legal identification, and hey, sometimes not even that. A tourist visa? Sure, that works. Maybe we can tighten up those regulations and keep them from getting into the country in the first place.

I have issues with the U.S. being called a "imperial dictatorship" yes the us has military bases, yes we stick our noses In other countries affairs but thats part of being a major member of NATO and the UN we keep the peace. Where do you see the US gaining resources in Afghanistan or even Iraq? Do you see us annexing parts of Libya? We aren't getting oil from those countries.

The U.S. is a world power just as china Russia and France and England are all major world powers. They all influence countries everywhere and world politics. The U.S supports democratic movements in other countries and takes out dictators. And we VOTE which is part of the reason morons like bush get into office and then we elect people like Obama to try and dig us out of the hole others put us into.

It's not like we support Syrian regimes massacring people in the streets like Russia and china?

"Where do you see the US gaining resources in Afghanistan or even Iraq? Do you see us annexing parts of Libya? We aren't getting oil from those countries."

No, we little people don't get to see any of that stuff happening. It's one of the reasons why the Empire is so effective - no one even realizes it's happening.

Who got the contracts to repair and manage the damaged oil extraction facilities in Libya? Who got the contracts to repair their damaged ports and other infrastructure? Who is Libya buying their new weapons systems from? I have no idea, but I can just about guarantee you it's not Libyans. Who will be handling the investment of Libyan oil money going forward? I'll bet a dozen donuts it's European and American bankers investing in European and American companies.

@ bo_sox

It is amazing how much damage a terrorist could do if they put their minds to it. That they don't says something rather positive about human nature. It's also amazing how many terrorists are stopped in the nick of time when they do something really stupid that allows them to be caught. One could almost find oneself concluding that part of them wants to be stopped.

Wow....look at all the American-hating leftist flock to the idea of expressing the hatred and their fantasies. lol Of course, Putin still has wet dreams about....well...about Putin being global dictator...andblah blah blah....morons with anti-American dreams.

Yeah...it's be easy to blos up a bomb in a grade school. Funny....HAS NOT HAPPENED. Of course it would have been the ultimate follow-up to 9-11....DID NOT HAPPEN....Because your anti-American dream is FAR less wide-spread than you assholes pretend.

Jack-asses...

Israel's schools have very specific security requirements (as does the rest of the nation, I suppose) and breaking them can result in imprisonment. That means Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Atheist, Buddhist, Chinese villager, whatever you may be. It's not racially driven. I think it's an idea that we can implement here.

Anyway, tougher school security might actually make parents stop thinking school is supposed to make their kids happy and smiley and maybe they'll stop expecting teachers like myself to babysit their kids instead of teach them.

Well, I'm an assistant teacher, but it's all the same.

Krellin I think of my self as left wing and a little liberal but I am extremely against what the so called american hating leftists are saying.

Tolstoy that may be correct but who else would have the ability to do such things to rebuild Libya? Certainly no other country in Africa or the middle east? Possibly Asia but europe is closer as is the U.S.

Bo-Sox...no offense to you personally....but my kid's teachers are the biggest bunch of blithering idiots I have ever met. We have had abougt 5 teachers in 19 years of colledctive public education betwen my two kids that I would *choose* to educate my kids. Most are lethargic, uninterested....just phoning it in. We are involved parents....but rarely are the teachers involved....but they *never* miss a chance to cram their left-wing political bullshit down my kid's throat.

That's why every night at the dinner table is DEBRIEFING time so that we can correct the lies that have been crammed down their throats in school that day.

What lies would those be?

"Where do you see the US gaining resources in Afghanistan or even Iraq?"

Iraq's entire economy was forcibly privatized for the benefit of US oil companies and defense contractors. Iraq has one of the largest supplies of crude oil in the world, after only Iran (next up on the hit list).

"It's not like we support Syrian regimes massacring people in the streets like Russia and china?"

No, we support jihadi terrorists massacring people in the streets and destabilizing a once peaceful, prosperous, multi-ethnic and tolerant country.

@Putin: And the idea that Iraq and Afghanistan would give oil to the US in a way that the colonies were forced to give to their protectorate keeps the big nations involved. I'm no fan of imperializing democracy either...

Still I see no gain from Afghanistan. Iraq was bushs personal **** up. Putin we support people who have PEACEFULLY protested till they got sick of brutal crackdowns by their "president" and have taken the steps we as a country took to break free from britain.

Rebellion^

"Tolstoy that may be correct but who else would have the ability to do such things to rebuild Libya? Certainly no other country in Africa or the middle east?"

And that, friends, is how modern empires are made. Bomb another country to smithereens, and then offer to 'help' them rebuild - for a price. In the end, the Libyans wind up poorer than when they started, and the Euro-Americans are richer - managing to cloak themselves in a veneer of humanitarianism in the process.

That's what Bush did to Iraq ^

Afghanistan is more about containing and de-stabilizing Russia, which is resource-rich, and having a base in Central Asia, along with access to the Caspian.

In the full reality of it, Bush was more of a terrorist by FBI definition than Saddam was toward the US.

"Putin we support people who have PEACEFULLY protested till they got sick of brutal crackdowns by their "president""

Evidently you missed the shiny new guns the 'peaceful protesters' in Libya & Syria received well before any demonstrations occurred.

Ok can I get another person who doesn't think our democratic government is doing its best to destabilize the world and is some evil entity in here?