World Affairs

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

The U.S. is allied with Turkey via the NATO treaty. NATO secretariat will decide with consultation of the members, who, if any members will be involved beyond moral and political support of Turkey. However, if Syria makes a serious attack on Turkey, what would you have us do?

I would really hate to have anything serious happen to Damascus. It is a very historic city, and one of the linchpins of Islam. These are Mecca, Jerusalem and Damascus.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

European SATNAV system goes Beta.

When this system goes operational, some changes will be necessary to receivers to choose which net is used. There is getting to be a lot of stuff in orbit.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Pinocchio must not go to donkey island.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Burma's reaction to illegal Muslim immigrants.

Religious intolerance turns up in more places than the middle east.

[lew1984 231]

It annoys me that people in this world are still consumed by petty differences and intolerence of other peoples beliefs, its an endless cycle of hatred that goes back hundreds of years. You would think that people would be sick of it by now.

I know its idealistic of me but every one should be free to believe what they want, and for others to give the simple courtesy of respecting what other people chose to believe... I know the world just isn't like that.

  Edited November 1, 2012 by lew1984  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Too right. Freedom is not free. When those in authority are not free of prejudices and wrong thinking, the people cannot be free. Western ideas of leadership and freedom are very foreign to most of the world's peoples.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Israel-Syria Provocation.

First the Syrians violate Turkey's border, then Lebanon's, and now Israel. Of Assad can't control his boys, it is time for him to definitely go. This kind of provocation will involve the U.S. will-they, nil-they. It is time to take off the kid gloves, kick Russia and China on side, and get some boots on the ground over there (preferably Muslim ones).

Pussy footing must end soon.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Mutilation in South Africa.

Seems you can take the bushman out of the bush, but you can't take the bush out of the bushman.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Awww!!

Poor chap. Maybe they should give him a gold rope and a place to hang himself from.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Welcome to the monkey house.

Money problems here, money problems there. Money problems everywhere.

There isn't enough money to go around to cover all the entitlements and demands. Money is a fiction we have all agreed upon. Now we are seeing this vaporware as it really is.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Stupidity strikes again.

The pigeons come come to roost, and all these people can think of is to further damage their economies by stopping work. These mobs are usually pretty destructive as well.

This injures their GDP and upsets their international image. So the rule there is overdraw your credit then have a tantrum because nobody stopped your foolishness.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Eurozone starts falling.

Here it comes, and just in time for Christmas sales to go into the dumpster. The GOP in the US is still playing budget hardball, and if they don't smarten up, the U.S. (and Canada) will follow.

[Duke87 1,070]

The budget issues of Europe are different of those in the US since over here we don't have multiple sovereign countries trying to use one currency. That creates complications for Europe and eventually they will have to go one way or the other. Either the continental budget must become more centralized, or the unified currency must be dropped,

Meanwhile, the Swiss economy is still growing, albeit more slowly. Hmmmm......

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I am not aware that the Swiss were so foolish as to join the Eurozone. The gnomes of Zurich keep them on the straight and narrow.

whether a currency is an issue is moot. The problem with the EU is that they have a common currency but not an economic union. There isn't enough give, and there are too many takers.

Meanwhile, there seems to be some light at the end of the fiscal cliff tunnel. Let's hope it is not an onrushing train.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Judicial murder or justice?

This is a rare occurrence in India, but the reactions from the various Muslim organizations is interesting, especially the Taliban who now seem to represent Pakistan.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Don't cry so loud, Argentina.

Argentina's government must be in trouble with the populace again.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

We are not the only continent with gun availability problems.

This character was under court supervision. One wonders what kind of supervision he was getting if he managed to get his hands on two firearms. This problem seems to be world wide. It isn't guns that are the problem, it is people. In this case, a known offender who was a ward of the court was the perpetrator???

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Accursed vandals are everywhere.

Never make a living thing a national monument.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Africa - Democratic Republic of Congo.

If the UN asks western countries for anything beyond logistical support for this, they should be told this is a problem for the African Union.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Sabre rattling in the middle east.

What if the U.S. told Israel to go peddle its papers? The guys in Jerusalem use that big stick of theirs far too often on little provocation.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Iranian internal feuds.

All is not well in the Peacock Kingdom. If there is bad blood at the top that may turn into real blood, what a grand time to give that tree a shake.

[Larks2242 251]

Some good news, Hugo Chavez passed today.

 

Good to see the end of old abusive dictatorships, hopefully this is the beginning of a worldwide change.

 

Only thing that could be bad is if the successor is worse then he was.

[Cobraroll 138]

If anything, there was political stability under Chavez. I wonder what happens when the funeral is over and the power vacuum collapses. Hopefully, it will end peacefully without too much roughness.

[LexusInfernus 908]

Some good news, Hugo Chavez passed today.

 

Good to see the end of old abusive dictatorships, hopefully this is the beginning of a worldwide change.

 

Only thing that could be bad is if the successor is worse then he was.

Are you sure its not you who doesn't know what the word 'democratic' means? Apparantly, or else you wouldn't be stating that a leader who was fairly elected by the people, without fraud or anything is an 'abusive dictator'. 

 

Given that this is your first reaction on the news of his death, it does not surprise me that they are suspicious of America. 

[hym 358]

Discuss the issues, not each other.

[Larks2242 251]

Some good news, Hugo Chavez passed today.

 

Good to see the end of old abusive dictatorships, hopefully this is the beginning of a worldwide change.

 

Only thing that could be bad is if the successor is worse then he was.

Are you sure its not you who doesn't know what the word 'democratic' means? Apparantly, or else you wouldn't be stating that a leader who was fairly elected by the people, without fraud or anything is an 'abusive dictator'. 

 

Given that this is your first reaction on the news of his death, it does not surprise me that they are suspicious of America. 

Just cause they are elected does not mean he can't be a dictator....

 

Mugabe for example is elected cause he threatens his opponents with violence (Just ask Morgan Tsvangirai), same thing has happened there.

[Duke87 1,070]

Some good news, Hugo Chavez passed today.

 

Good to see the end of old abusive dictatorships, hopefully this is the beginning of a worldwide change.

 

Only thing that could be bad is if the successor is worse then he was.

Are you sure its not you who doesn't know what the word 'democratic' means? Apparantly, or else you wouldn't be stating that a leader who was fairly elected by the people, without fraud or anything is an 'abusive dictator'. 

 

Given that this is your first reaction on the news of his death, it does not surprise me that they are suspicious of America. 

 

Hugo Chaez was a rather unpopular figure in the US because his politics bear too much resemblance to communism (he himself described it as "socialism for the 21st century")... knowing how most Americans view these philosophies, it shouldn't be surprising that he's been branded as an evil dictator. Even if that's technically incorrect since he was elected.

 

But still, even if Chavez was elected, that does not mean his rule is free of scrutiny. My understanding is that Chavez was not particularly popular in Latin America either.

 

Opinions of Chavez were and will continue to be driven by ideology. Those who generally support a free market system will never like someone who nationalized everything. And those who support something resembling the man's socialist views will not speak ill of him.

 

The problem, then, is that with so much opinion out there, the truth is elusive. I have never been to Venezuela nor have I talked to anyone who lives there, and I have never found any writing about the situation on the ground there that was not an opinion piece. I don't know how popular he actually was at home nor do I know how "legitimate" his rule was. All I know is that I fundamentally disagree with his worldview.

[LexusInfernus 908]

Just cause they are elected does not mean he can't be a dictator....

 

 

Mugabe for example is elected cause he threatens his opponents with violence (Just ask Morgan Tsvangirai), same thing has happened there.

Mugabe cheats and intimidates his way to victory. Chavez won in fair elections. Even the groups that monitor elections on fraud and such said that Chavez won fairly. 

 

@Duke I suppose Chavez anti-American sentiment didn't help either. But then again, the US has a history of supporting about every actual dictator and military junta in that region, so it should come as no surprise that people there do not like the US that much. 

[Bdub01 201]

Some good news, Hugo Chavez passed today.

Good to see the end of old abusive dictatorships, hopefully this is the beginning of a worldwide change.

Unfortuneately the dictator in the US is still going strong and can now use drones to take out whomever he wants in the borders of his own country.

[Alejandro24 575]

Some good news, Hugo Chavez passed today.

 

Good to see the end of old abusive dictatorships, hopefully this is the beginning of a worldwide change.

 

Only thing that could be bad is if the successor is worse then he was.

First, I don't know how the death of a person could be a good news, more than maybe he suffered a lot at the lasts hours of his life.

 

Chavez was phony, a fraud, he was a dictator, to being "leftist" is a great custom to become a dictator. Chavez technically left a ruined Venezuela, is sad but the truth must to be said.

Is easy to see that he was an enemy of United States, but open your eyes: a lot of people in Latin America hates United States, from leftists, centrists, rightists, all the politics is full of an anti US-americans sentiment, and there are good reasons, doesn't matter the side of your political belief. The politics of US over Latin America have been too invasive and egocentric that is to hard to tolerate the actual prescence of US in the region. And this kind of issues lead in people like Chavez and his followers. And at the end is a mistake, because is not fair to blame and apologaze using a victimhood, what US dis in the past is matter of the past, If we want to mark a limit to US we must to work together as a solid region, not creating an ideology based in the past.

More than that the problem is the political crisis in Venezuela that could be loosen around the continent. Ecuador, Nicaragua, Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba and another political sectors in the rest of the countries were supported by Chavez.

Now, about his successor: I don't know how could it be more worst that it is now. We have a lot of probabilities, from a normal transition to a caos, from Capriles, passing through Maduro and finishing in a militar dictatorship.