Current Affairs question to Mike

[Tales from Tanelorn]

Mike,

I wondered what you think the best thing to do is now in iraq? Even if Kerry wins he cant just pull right out now or the Iraqis will be under attack from every extreme faction?

AlQueda's methods are sickening beyond comprehension, but I wondered if it is possible for the US to make any easy changes that would satisfy them enough to stop the killings? Perhaps they are too psychotic to ever stop their campaign of murders. Can we not educate Al Queda potental supporters and make them stakeholders in society? Instead of spending $90Billion on the war could we not have built Iraqis houses with pools, schools and hospitals?


I recall you saying in general you are not against the military but I wondered what is your position on Nuclear weapons and other US/UK weapons of mass destruction? Should they all be dismantled or do you thing they really are a deterent?

I notice that yesterday there was a competition for designers of robots to come up with designs for vehicles that require no humans to be present to reduce possibiltiy of casuaties. Reminds me of the Terminator film story line!


Regarding voting, what do you think about a system based on electronic voting for the individual issues, kind of like micro referendums? Would we be expecting too much from individuals who have no concept of the issues.

Perhaps we need professional politicians who have a good education and are intelligent (rules Bush out) have a heart and most definately are honest and have integrity (definately rules Bush out)
Should we chose our politicians based on their characteristics as much as the policies?

[Duke_Arioch]

Want to learn some of the truth about Iraq that isnt in the CNN or BBC? This is one of the best sites, created by Americans.

http://www.ericblumrich.com/index.html




More specifically, check these flash videos made:

http://www.ericblumrich.com/PD.html (War crimes against Humanity)

http://www.ericblumrich.com/gta.html (Illegally wining Elections)

http://www.ericblumrich.com/topgun.html (Bush's "career")

http://www.ericblumrich.com/occupied.html (Liberation -> Occupation - War Crimes according to Geneva)

http://www.ericblumrich.com/memorial.html (memorial)

http://www.ericblumrich.com/antivic.html (the "victory" achieved)

http://www.ericblumrich.com/brits.html (Blair)

http://www.ericblumrich.com/antiwar2.html
(Democracy...)

http://www.ericblumrich.com/vets.html (Veterans)

http://www.ericblumrich.com/ma.html (mission accomplished)

[VonWeiner]

Want to learn some of the truth about Iraq that isnt in the CNN or BBC? This is one of the best sites, created by Americans.

http://www.ericblumrich.com/index.html




More specifically, check these flash videos made:

http://www.ericblumrich.com/PD.html (War crimes against Humanity)

http://www.ericblumrich.com/gta.html (Illegally wining Elections)

http://www.ericblumrich.com/topgun.html (Bush's "career")

http://www.ericblumrich.com/occupied.html (Liberation -> Occupation - War Crimes according to Geneva)

http://www.ericblumrich.com/memorial.html (memorial)

http://www.ericblumrich.com/antivic.html (the "victory" achieved)

http://www.ericblumrich.com/brits.html (Blair)

http://www.ericblumrich.com/antiwar2.html
(Democracy...)

http://www.ericblumrich.com/vets.html (Veterans)

http://www.ericblumrich.com/ma.html (mission accomplished)

WOW! 8O

Hard to argue with a lot of that.

[Bill]

I, for one, am eagerly awaiting Mike's thoughts (sincerely).

I would add this question, though: "Would such an approach towards Al Quaida and/or Iraq be sellable to the American public?"

[krunky]

Re: Current Affairs question to Mike

Obviously not answering for MM, just for me...

Tales said: "AlQueda's methods are sickening beyond comprehension, but I wondered if it is possible for the US to make any easy changes that would satisfy them enough to stop the killings?"

The solution is to make it so that someone that wants to do a thing no longer wants to do it. If you don't want terrorists, don't pursue foreign policies that create them.

The problem is called "blowback." See:

"The Lessons of Blowback"
http://www.commondreams.org/views01/1001-06.htm

"Blowback: U.S.- and Israeli-Style"
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0310-08.htm

"The Disquieted American"
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18119

excerpt:
"Before rushing home, she spoke into the telephone in a voice flattened with shock, telling the author, "Turn on your television. The World Trade Center has just been hit. The worst kind of blowback has happened."
Johnson was stunned. He hadn't exactly predicted the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the book, but he had come close. "World politics in the twenty-first century," he wrote, "will in all likelihood be driven primarily by blowback from the second half of the twentieth century - that is, from the unintended consequences of the Cold War and the crucial American decision to maintain a Cold War posture in a post-Cold War world."

{It's probably worth noting that Chalmers Johnson was a consultant for the CIA, supported the Vietnam War while a professor at UC Berkeley, and has described himself as a staunch "cold warrior." More or less his CV.}

Tales said: "I recall you saying in general you are not against the military but I wondered what is your position on Nuclear weapons and other US/UK weapons of mass destruction? Should they all be dismantled or do you thing they really are a deterent?"

Empires thrive on military might - so while N. Korea has to disarm we are revamping our own nuke program for the "bunker buster" type of nuclear warfare. I am thinking that this isn't going to play very well abroad. We just made ourselves (the U.S.) the most fucked up warmongers on the planet.

Tales said: "I notice that yesterday there was a competition for designers of robots to come up with designs for vehicles that require no humans to be present to reduce possibiltiy of casuaties. Reminds me of the Terminator film story line!"

Interestingly, probably the greatest resistance to war comes from the possibility of dying oneself. Eleminate or radically reduce that possiblity and you have effectively removed one of the most distasteful aspects of war and thereby also radically reduced resistance to warmongering policies. It's a grotesque cost-benefit approach to war that reduces the cost in blood to seekers of empire.

[Michael Moorcock]

One of the reasons I was never anti-nuke (and still am not anti-nuclear power) was because the nuclear stand off gave us the next best thing to peace we'd had in centuries. This is also an argument for the proliferation of nuclear arms. I suspect Indian and Pakistan would have been at war long ago if it hadn't been for both acquiring nuclear arsenals. I was against the Bush (while Governor) support for the concealed gun law. I predicted bloodshed. I was wrong. Now, if a crook thinks you MIGHT have a gun, you're less likely to be his victim. There comes a point in the real world where, whatever your hatred of violence and WMD, you have to accept that an armed world is actually safer than a partially armed world. If Iraq had really had nukes, I doubt very much we'd be in our present situation now, with vast amounts of American money being poured first into bombing Iraq and then into reconstruction.
Sentimentally, I would see all nukes neutralised. As a realist, I think
all countries should have some. When there's a serious threat to your own survival, you are less likely to consider war as an option.

[dlackey]

Good points Mr M. You either have to have nobody armed or everybody armed. The ideal world would have no guns or nukes, but the reality is, everyone should have them.

[Michael Moorcock]

My favourite sf novel of all time is Alfred Bester's Tiger, Tiger (The Stars My Destination). The ending of that book was the idea of a true anarchist, I believe, and a true believer in popular democracy. I wouldn't want to spoil it for those who haven't read it. But it remains one of the very best endings, in my view, in all sf -- and a great antidote
to so much of the militaristic sf which was coming out at the same time from the likes of Heinlein.

[Tales from Tanelorn]

I think I was a little bit surprised to hear that Mike.
I guess the stakes are higher with a world proliferation of WMD with liars like Bush and Blair on the button.
I thought you were more aligned with Mr Benn's views on this issue.
It is kind of of logical, but as I said the stakes are very high to say the least.

We occasionally have Japanese students sharing a room here.
Despite the anniversary of Hiroshima I didnt mention the bomb.
The only country to have suffered a nuclear attack...

[PsychicWarVeteran]

"I suspect Indian and Pakistan would have been at war long ago if it hadn't been for both acquiring nuclear arsenals... If Iraq had really had nukes, I doubt very much we'd be in our present situation now, with vast amounts of American money being poured first into bombing Iraq and then into reconstruction."

Wow. Of all the logical arguments I have heard regarding whether Iraq had WMDs, that has to be one of the best ones yet. A very good point, Mike!

[EverKing]

Like Mike said, the presance of the nuclear threat has done more to same lives and maintain some semblace of peace than anything else in history. If you were to look at the numbers of death world wide caused by war and acts of war through history you'll notice it steadily climbs higher and higher, until it peaks in 1944/45. Then, August 6th and 9th, 1945. A uranium bomb on Hiroshima and a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki (respectively) demonstrated a whole new technological leap forward in the art of killing our fellow man. Since then, world wide deaths have dropped to a minimal 1mm/year and stayed there, give or take a few hundred thousand.

[Tales from Tanelorn]

My favourite novel/trilogy of all time is The Knight, Queen and King of the Swords!

I think the new global threat now war deaths have been reduced is over popultion. Apparently we are responsible for one of the great periods of animal extinctions in the history of our planet.

[Tales from Tanelorn]

Regarding Mutually Assured Destruction MAD I have picked up the following unverified story in the last minutes in which last year we apparently nearly faced universal armageddon and the end of the world:


Most Canadian Military know about it, and a few US Military.
The US commander was away and the Canadian Air Vice
Marshall was overseeing the defense of North America.

They received a signal from their defense grid that
the Soviets had launched an all out attack. The orders
came through the US military to launch. Even the
President ordered the go ahead.

The Canadian Air Vice Marshall said hold on this it
doesn't make sense. There were no disputes with the
Soviets and no political unrest. So he ordered to recheck everything.

What they found was that the moon once in every few hundred
years was in a place that reflected their signals back to Earth.
These false signals indicated that a launch had taken place that was not
there.

The computer programmers never took into account
the condition of reflection off the Moon's surface.
So the quick thinking of the Canadian Air Vice
Marshall saved an all out launch. God was with the world that day.

****************
..........M.A.D..........
****************



PS. Last night I saw a documentary about Saddam and his family. If Saddam had had nuclear weapons I dont beleive we would feel very secure - imho!

[Tales from Tanelorn]

Ordering a Pizza in 2008

Operator: "Thank you for calling Pizza Hut. May I have your national ID number?"

Customer: "Hi, I'd like to place an order."

Operator: "I must have your NIDN first, sir?"

Customer: "My National ID Number, yeah, hold on, eh,it's 6102049998-45-54610."

Operator: "Thank you, Mr. Sheehan. I see you live at 1742 Meadowland Drive, and the phone number's 494-2366. Your office number over at Lincoln Insurance is 745-2302 and your cell number's 266-2566. Email address is [email protected] home.net Which number are you calling from, sir?"

Customer: "Huh? I'm at home. Where d'ya get all this information?"

Operator: "We're wired into the HSS, sir."

Customer: "The HSS, what is that?"

Operator: "We're wired into the Homeland Security System, sir. This will add only 15 seconds to your ordering time"

Customer: (Sighs) "Oh, well, I'd like to order a couple of your All-Meat Special pizzas."

Operator: "I don't think that's a good idea, sir."

Customer: "Whaddya mean?"

Operator: "Sir, your medical records and commode sensors indicate that you've got very high blood pressure and extremely high cholesterol. Your National Health Care provider won't allow such an unhealthy choice."

Customer: "What?!?! What do you recommend, then?"

Operator: "You might try our low-fat Soybean Pizza. I'm sure you'll like it."

Customer: "What makes you think I'd like something like that?"

Operator: "Well, you checked out 'Gourmet Soybean Recipes' from your local library last week, sir. That's why I made the suggestion."

Customer: "All right, all right. Give me two family-sized ones, then."

Operator: "That should be plenty for you, your wife and your four kids, and your 2 dogs can finish the crusts, sir. Your total is $49.99."

Customer: "Lemme give you my credit card number."

Operator: "I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid you'll have to pay in cash. Your credit card balance is over its limit."

Customer: "I'll run over to the ATM and get some cash before your driver gets here."

Operator: "That won't work either, sir. Your checking account's overdrawn also."

Customer: "Never mind! Just send the pizzas. I'll have the cash ready.

How long will it take?"

Operator: "We're running a little behind, sir. It'll be about 45 minutes,sir. If you're in a hurry you might want to pick 'em up while you're out getting the cash, but then, carrying pizzas on a motorcycle can be a little awkward."

Customer: "Wait! How do you know I ride a scooter?"

Operator: "It says here you're in arrears on your car payments, so your car got repo'ed. But your Harley's paid for and you just filled the tank yesterday"

Customer: Well I'll be a "@#%/[email protected]&?#!"

Operator: "I'd advise watching your language, sir. You've already got a July 4, 2006 conviction for cussing out a cop and another one I see here on September for contempt at your hearing for cussing at a judge." "Oh yes I see here that you just got out from a 90 day stay in the State Correctional Facility. Is this your first pizza since your return to society?

Customer: (Speechless)

Operator: "Will there be anything else, sir?"

Customer: "Yes, I have a coupon for a free 2 liter of Coke".

Operator: "I'm sorry sir, but our ad's exclusionary clause prevents us from offering free soda to diabetics. The New Constitution prohibits this.

Thank you for calling Pizza Hut!"

Have a great weekend!

[Jerico]

Now that's my kind of post! :lol: