Grr-owl

Also, the votes from the cities tend be counted later. Country votes Republican. City votes Democrat... largely.

I believe this is a category error.

This issue is covered in the material I pointed you to.

No, I don't agree at all. We constantly and continually criticize ourselves in books, film, TV, art. For every claim of virtue, there is an acknowledgment of sin. How else would we get demonstrations in the street against the invasion of Iraq, and every other social evil? I'll give you an example from my life, again. A couple of years ago, every single citizen of that country beginning with the 17th letter of the alphabet was kicked out of the country I live in. Was there any protest against this racism? Did people march? Did people protest in print media? Did people even comment on social media? Like f$@k they did. They would have been murdered. So when you write this: "It doesn't seem to bother you that..." it sticks in my gut, because it does bother me. It bothers me a lot. People here deserve the same freedoms that Westerners have, but they don't get them, Deiter. I will point it out again: they would be murdered if they even commented. I might as well say to you it doesn't seem to bother you that other civilizations do exactly the same thing but you give them a free ride. In other words, you don't hold others to the same standard that you hold the West. You write, "There are no mirrors in their universe, it is always 'the other' who is at fault," but for you it is The West who is always at fault. You also wrote, "Genghis and his type learned their trade from Alexander the so-called Great" as if Genghis is not responsible for his own behavior, as if he needed a Westerner to teach him, as if 'others' don't have any of their own agency, as if Westerners are always pushing everybody else around and forcing them to do bad things against their own will.....as if they are puppets. There is in your ideas an underlying assumption that somehow Westerners are responsible for their own behavior and for everyone else's too. It is bollocks. It is fundamentally racist: "Only Westerners do bad things. Anyone who isn't a Westerner who does a bad thing is not responsible because no doubt a Westerner made them do it. Non-westerners are just poor inferior others who can't make their own decisions." Bollocks. See if this one fits your idea: It was the West's fault that during the cultural revolution when Red Guards identified a female counterrevolutionary, they would pass a steel hook into their [censored], through the intestinal wall and out their anus, then drag them naked through the streets to their execution. That bothers me. Does it bother you?

No, I haven't experienced war. Except when someone disagrees with me on Demonland.... Perhaps you aren't aware of the histories of other civilizations because you can't or don't care to read Chinese or Russian or Farsi or Hindi or Urdu or Arabic or Japanese or whatever the Mughals spoke or the Mongols or the Ching or the Aztecs or the Khmer or the Han or the Qin or the Tang or the Ming or the Yuan or the Ottomans or the Romans or the Greeks or the Vikings or Soong or the..... there's a very long list. How could anyone possibly tally up all the deaths? I do know that the number of dead in the last 70 years of rule by the CCP is pretty similar to the total of deaths in WWI and II combined. They got nukes. How many did Stalin murder? Read the Gulag Archipelago and tell me life was better in the USSR. As for Afghanistan, the Russians invaded in 1979. The had already invaded or at least backed the oppressive regimes of the Eastern block. They got nukes. How quickly we forget. In any case, only in the West is there a free media over many generations that allows us approach historical events from a variety of points of view in English. We can compare official points of view with unofficial points of view. We can make all kinds of tv shows and films and stuff. You think the CCP allows people to write an accurate or critical history of China? Each successive Chinese regime rewrites history to suit itself. Unless you read Chinese, you'd have to read it in English to get the truth. Ironic that the culture you decry is the only one that allows open and unfettered examination and criticism of itself, such as you display above. Yes, the West lies, but it also tells the truth. There's nothing our government can do to stop us from telling it. That's why it is so good. If I was to say any one of your criticisms of the West about the govt where I live, I would be imprisoned, possibly tortured, and certainly deported. Freedom of expression is the greatest thing. One of our best characteristics. If you don't appreciate it, fair enough, but I do because while I haven't been bombed, I have been and am gagged. If I was to merely mention in public, or on social media etc, a country beginning with the seventeenth letter of the alphabet in public I would risk jail and deportation. Until recently, another country, the one beginning with the ninth letter of the alphabet, one which you freely type without a second thought (I assume), was in the same boat. My wife is a librarian; she is required to erase that county's existence from maps and books in her library. She uses a marker or white out. People from the govt come regularly to check, as they check for other banned forms of expression -- pictures of greek statues, for instance. The rationale for the use of the bomb against the Japanese is fairly rock-solid. Although, I would argue that they could have dropped them off-shore and asked the Japanese to take a look and when the waves subsided, see if they really wanted to go on... Might have worked. A number often bandied about is that the bomb spared 2,000,000 lives, but I'm open to other arguments. Here's some good info on the debate: https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/debate-over-bomb

In any case, I originally was responding to Wrecker's post about Trump not starting any wars and his work in the Middle East. I was trying to make the point that it was probably a good move for US, Israel and the Arabs states to ally against Iran, and that the election of Biden puts that in jeopardy. The people here, while openly anti-semitic, nevertheless fear Iran more and wish to make their opposition explicit. We'll see what happens, but if the accord breaks down, people here will see that as just another example of Jewish treachery and US fickleness. The US is a poor friend, as they see it. But if they have the F-35's by then, they will have been compensated somewhat, and the situation will be very complex indeed. It's an important point that is being missed, in my opinion, that Trump got the deal done by selling a first-strike weapon to a middle-eastern regime. Was that smart? He would do anything to make himself look good....

And not the only one. In fact, in my experience, the so-called West is the least greedy, definitely the smartest and the only ones who could be trusted with weapons of mass destruction.

1. Can’t quite see how I made out out one side to be good and the other bad.... thought I was just describing the situation for the benefit of anyone interested. Maybe you’d like to point out where I went wrong. Having said that, I certainly consider myself a Westerner and grateful for it, having lived in Chinese civilisation and Sunni Arab civilisation and found them both seriously wanting in certain respects that are important to me, namely freedom of expression and potential for social mobility among other things. Just wish the neoliberals would die, and then maybe I could move back to Aus and get a job. 2. Sure, it’s occurred to me, but do you think it has occurred to other parties hereby mentioned? I guess part of my summary that needs to be understood is that Sunni Arabs certainly see the world in an us v them way, as do Shias. By the way, us Westerners are NOT included among the Us. There is much more to it - the conceptions of belongings and loyalties and identities involved - I couldn’t type it all out, but if you want to ask a question I can try to answer it rationally for you. Maybe it would be useful to point out that national identities such as American or Israeli are not the primary level of identity among people here. They are first and foremost a member of a religious group. Nationality comes way down the list. Also, the religious group is not necessarily defined in the way that us Westerners define a religious group. It is less a personal matter than a worldview, an ideology, an entire way of life endorsed by the creator of the universe which other peoples reject to their eternal damnation. You have to go back 500 years in western cultures to find this idea prominent. Where I live, the West was last like this 800 years ago. This manifests itself in ways which maybe a lot of Aussies don’t understand. For instance, when the US and allies invaded Iraq, people here didn’t see it in those terms. They see it as Christian’s invading Muslims. When I point out that the USA doesn’t represent Christianity, but is a nation of many faiths, none of which it represents, makes no impression. They liked Saddam, no matter how murderous, corrupt and rapacious he was, and forgive him personal and political failings because he killed Shias and because he identified as a Sunni. Different way of seeing the world. Very much Us v. Them, endorsed by God.

Apparently, as I understand it, he played in the midfield of a successful team at one point. Let me google him to be sure. Perhaps, maybe, may I posit, that his experience, skill, and his personal relationships with current Demons may make him a better candidate for a position than, say, other superfund topping up old guys?

I like the fact the Burgo told it as it was. A little concerned that others didn't have the cojones. Not much risk in it, surely.

Get my wife in; she's a Librarian.

Now here it is with its caption. A clear and obvious attempt to push a particular political line, contrary to evidence.

Here is a second picture from the same article:

Here is the same picture, with the caption as it appeared in the Australian. Apparently, the guy is a 'moderate.'

And here's why. Check out the picture. Who is this guy? Where is he? Why is he holding a rock? Why is the bus burning?

Peace in the Middle East is more complicated than it appears, and it appears very complicated. I live in the Sunni Arab ME and am writing out of personal experience only. People were dismayed by the OBM administration doing the deal with Iran. Here, you don't bring your enemies closer, you obliterate them. Iran is the enemy. "They want their empire back," so it is sometimes said to me. But they're not the only enemy. Where else in the world would you get students writing essays about how great Hitler was because 1. He built great roads, and 2. killed a lot of Jews? However, the announcement of the Abraham Accords was greeted with utter silence. There are two reasons for this: 1. Fear, and 2. They realize there is an advantage in being close to Israel. One is access to the Al Aqsa Mosque; another, the tech (which they already buy and use); and the third is that Israel hates Iran and have the nukes to deter them, though simultaneously recognizing the nukes will not deter Iran, once Iran gets their nukes, which they are eventually sure to do. The key to the deal, however, is the sale of F-45's. This give people here first-strike capability across the region, including against Israel if or when the accords fail. So, it's a matter of priorities. Obliterate, absolutely. But obliterate your major enemy first. The next can wait. According to Henry Kissinger the world seems to be carving itself into four regions set against each other in a kind of cold war. The war is well underway in cyberspace, as Aussies should by now be well aware, and that Americans should understand as Russian interference in elections and Chinese hacking of, well, every good idea they can get their hands on. Iran is well up there now and North Korea a significant but bit-player. See Nina Schick for info on all that. So astonishingly smart, and so simple: divide and conquer using our strengths against us. It's the Art of War, martial arts 101. Anyway, Kissinger says there are four scenarios that are the most likely catalysts for a large-scale conflagration. I gather he meant a conventional conflagration, but a cyber-war may be more likely, hard to say: 1. A deterioration in US-Chinese relations, whereby they tumble into the Thucydides Trap. 2. A breakdown of relations between Russia and the West, based on mutual incomprehension and made possible by: 3. A collapse of European hard power, due to the inability of modern European leaders to accept that diplomacy without the credible threat of force is just hot air; and/or 4. An escalation in the Middle East due to the Obama administration"s readiness in the eyes of the Arab states and Israel to hand hegemony in the region to a still revolutionary Iran. Has the election of Biden made any of these less likely?

Hmmm.... think it was originally in a post by P2J.....

I do need to see them. Then verify them to ensure that what I am seeing really is what it purports to be. The fact that you recommend accepting things on faith is troublesome. Give me evidence and reasonable people will accept it. It is impossible to rig an American election, because as Bob points out, it is in fact more than 50 separate elations all of which would have to be rigged simultaneously, without evidence coming out.

I want to see them. Where can we see them?

Fear does weird things to people. ?

I reckon he’s a one-of-a-kind. I mean, who else could pull off a PR coup like this:

Not sure if this is well known in Aus or not, but Trump got the deal done by agreeing to the sale of F-45’s.....

Yeah, man, I took one look at him and the potential just smacked me in the face. In addition to the body, he's got presence.

Was stoked to hear from Richo that Jordan Lewis is in a coaching role over the pre-season. Gotta keep the quality people involved the project....

Looks to have the head for it. I like him.