BruceVC
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I really don't like the usage of the word rich...nowadays its not cool to be seen as " rich" in a country where there is such poverty But I cannot deny certain things, yes my family come from generations of bankers. My great grandfather came back from WW1 where his twin brother died in the Somme, we take WW1 very seriously But he then started a financial company and he created the initial investment firms. And yes my family have always been involved in banking, trading and similar industries. But we were always taught not to be ostentatious, you never flaunt your money and most money is invested in property and trust funds I am telling you this because I feel I cannot have a discussion about Capitalism if I'm not being honest about my own reality. I am not trying to boast. All of my family including me studied and worked hard to get to where we are, its not like we were given anything for free which is why I don't like generalizations about bankers and traders being corrupt or having no morals. My Dads cousin was even jailed in the USA for being part of the whole 2005-2008 financial crisis And yes I feel a sense of guilt which I can't help living in South Africa...but what can I do more than I already do? Anyway I won't bring this up again, I just wanted to explain my view to you Updated my Bruce.txt //Edit: Not many bankers were jailed for their involvement in the 2008 crisis, just saying. Yes it wasn't because of 2008 specifically, it was things that went on before that but 2008 was a build-up of events that probably took about 5-6 years of bad banking decisions by many people in the industry
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But Woldan no one likes casualties especially if the war is not absolutely justified
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I really don't like the usage of the word rich...nowadays its not cool to be seen as " rich" in a country where there is such poverty But I cannot deny certain things, yes my family come from generations of bankers. My great grandfather came back from WW1 where his twin brother died in the Somme, we take WW1 very seriously But he then started a financial company and he created the initial investment firms. And yes my family have always been involved in banking, trading and similar industries. But we were always taught not to be ostentatious, you never flaunt your money and most money is invested in property and trust funds I am telling you this because I feel I cannot have a discussion about Capitalism if I'm not being honest about my own reality. I am not trying to boast. All of my family including me studied and worked hard to get to where we are, its not like we were given anything for free which is why I don't like generalizations about bankers and traders being corrupt or having no morals. My Dads cousin was even jailed in the USA for being part of the whole 2005-2008 financial crisis And yes I feel a sense of guilt which I can't help living in South Africa...but what can I do more than I already do? Anyway I won't bring this up again, I just wanted to explain my view to you Updated my Bruce.txt We feel as a family that inside trading and irregular trading is a choice ...you can be a banker without breaking the law.In fact its a moral imperative that we distance ourselves from it because of all the bad decisions bankers have made since 1995 and the collapse of Barings Bank My grandfather, not the original founder, is old school like that ...he set a very important value system. He is now 92 and still alive but he has Alzheimers. He was with us at Xmas ..he has moments of clarity and he tells me things about shares and investment avenues, he remembers WW2 and he really has had a great life Anyway in summary my Dads cousin, who is also called Bruce, use to really annoy me when he lived in SA He was one of those typical traders who constantly felt the need to be overly generous...he would tip 1000 % in a restaurant and insisted on always paying. He drove a Ferrari and would always tease me when he saw me about " how could I not get into finance ( I work with financial software ) and I would never make the money he could make for me ". The guy wasn't malicious but just very, very brilliant at his job..but also arrogant Anyway when he was arrested in the USA my grandfather was unequivocal...we don't support what he did, we love him but he is on his own
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Drowsy despite what you may think about what motivates me I don't think Serbia or Serbs are criminals or are the only guilty party in the whole Bosnia and Kosvo conflict. Until Sarex said one day that he thinks most of the world has a negative view of Serbs I never had any negative view of Serbia and I still don't. I don't understand the history of the whole Yugoslavia animosity and I still dont understand why it appears the various ex-Yugoslav countries resent each other You should know that what white people did, and I am a part of that indirectly, in South African during Apartheid was much worse than any perceived human rights abuses Serbia may or may not have committed so I am not trying to embarrass you and I definitely dont think I am better than you so sorry for any misunderstandings about this But I don't want to fight with you about this, I just want to ask you one question. You said you are 28 so how would you have remembered details about the war in 1992 if you were 5? The reason I raise this is dont you think its possible what people told you about the conflict may not be necessarily true or perhaps a little biased? Naturally I don't remember much of it. But since it colored everything that happened so many years later its inevitable that one learns about it. Besides, I have an interest in history and politics so I read up on it. People can be biased either way, I don't really put much stock in anecdotal evidence. But saying that there was an ethnic cleansing in Croatia in not anecdotal. That's not based on hearsay, just on the fact that 150 to 200 thousand people were displaced by force (or fled fearing death). Those people were later registered in Serbia and, naturally, records of the places where they were born and lived (Croatia) exist. Those are the sort of indisputable facts that are worth using in a discussion. As for the refugees, many did emigrate across Europe, if they had a way to get past the administrative hoops, but there was nothing like the current media and political support for them - just like there wasn't much mention of the Ukrainian refugees recently (which are quite numerous). Okay well I'm glad we had this chat because when you and Sarex both felt I was trolling you guys of course it bothered me because all I really was trying to say was " its okay to admit we have had histories around our countries " And yet I clearly never made my point in that way....and you have to understand for me I see what Apartheid has done and how as a white person I am basically unaffected. But my intention was never to sound like I was judging your country, I respect the fact you are proud of Serbia. I think its important to be patriotic and we may disagree on topics like NATO and the West but thats not a personal attack on you. End of day you and I have more in common than you realize...I want an EU that incorporates Serbia and is an example of economic success and political stability and is on very good terms with Russia which will always be its own empire, I just feel Serbia should align with the EU You see the real potential enemy to my vision is not USA\Russian tension or Capitalism its groups like ISIS which really would happily destroy everything ...and I mean that...that we consider sacred. You cannot reason or negotiate with that type of extremism. It really seems silly for us to debate over Ukraine when we have much more pressing concerns
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I really don't like the usage of the word rich...nowadays its not cool to be seen as " rich" in a country where there is such poverty But I cannot deny certain things, yes my family come from generations of bankers. My great grandfather came back from WW1 where his twin brother died in the Somme, we take WW1 very seriously But he then started a financial company and he created the initial investment firms. And yes my family have always been involved in banking, trading and similar industries. But we were always taught not to be ostentatious, you never flaunt your money and most money is invested in property and trust funds I am telling you this because I feel I cannot have a discussion about Capitalism if I'm not being honest about my own reality. I am not trying to boast. All of my family including me studied and worked hard to get to where we are, its not like we were given anything for free which is why I don't like generalizations about bankers and traders being corrupt or having no morals. My Dads cousin was even jailed in the USA for being part of the whole 2005-2008 financial crisis And yes I feel a sense of guilt which I can't help living in South Africa...but what can I do more than I already do? Anyway I won't bring this up again, I just wanted to explain my view to you
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Amentep you are reasonable person who normally explains things in way that makes sense to me Do you think Nonek is ignoring me and don't you think ignoring someone on a forum due to an argument over something like GG is silly?
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KP maybe I never mentioned this before to you but one of the reasons I seem to be concerned about your negative view of corporations is not because I think you uninformed its motivated more by the fact I spend a fair amount of time defending the positive aspects of Capitalism and how the USA isn't this corrupt, belligerent economic bully and in fact the USA and the impact of the free market does far more good than bad. You see there are many people who have a negative view of the USA and in my own country we are debating the future of how we should structure our economy to allow many black South Africans to be part of the economy. I have to debate with people who represent bygone and archaic systems of government which have been proven to have failed....like real Communists ...no joke I know it probably seems like I push a certain agenda and I do because I have traveled through Africa and I cannot tell you how depressing it is to see the levels of real poverty in some countries ...I am talking about African countries where the local people have NEVER known anything but grinding poverty for generations. And its not that African people are stupid or dont know how to run countries, its because they have had leaders who just don't care about being good leaders And of course my ancestors come from the UK so we are also responsible for Colonialism but the UK handed back there Colonies in the early 1960's and they were all working and in a good state unlike the Portuguese who basically destroyed there colonies after deciding to engage in pointless civil wars And something else I have realized, black South Africans despite 50 years of the most inhuman and appalling system of Apartheid actually have been very forgiving and reasonable to white South Africans. And I also now know just what Apartheid did to the psyche and confidence to many black South Africans...so you can imagine its not very nice to realize what your family or relatives were part of during Apartheid So I then come to these forums after positioning the advantages of the free market and having hours of debates and I find you basically attacking Capitalism...and you live in the USA. And of course you are entitled to your opinion but it frustrates me because I am not picking on you because of your age but rather when you complain about the USA and how bad you think things are I wonder " do you realize how lucky you are " But anyway its unfair of me to expect you to understand just how terrible the lives are of some African people are...I just want to explain why I sometimes seem to question why you say you don't like the USA
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Wow, this is a very interesting list and many things I do agree with. I need to go through it in detail...this is a good way of choosing a candidate
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But what do you think Sanders can or will do that you like, I'm genuiely interested in the appeal because I am missing what he offers the USA? I can't speak for Shady but to many of his supporters he represents a lack of alternatives. Don't ever doubt that unlike the character of legend most folks who are tilting at windmills know they are doing so. Sometimes there is just nothing better to do. I just look at where he stands on the issues that I care the most about Shady sorry to keep asking you questions its just I am use to people like GD explaining in detail I still dont understand what issues you mean?
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Links ? Isn't Leipzig considered a right wing hotbed in Germany? https://archive.is/fw65Q https://archive.is/YExUK It's their own Morlocks, yes. A police officer shares his stories: (run google translate you lazy bastards!) http://www.oe24.at/welt/Wir-duerfen-Fluechtlinge-nicht-einmal-festhalten/219471096 Okay I am not an expert on German social culture but I doubt this represents a rejection of the overall refugee integration? I know Germany has always had a element of skinheard\neo-Nazi and to be honest I am very surprised it took them this long to riot...I would have expected this type of reaction from the beginning?
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Drowsy despite what you may think about what motivates me I don't think Serbia or Serbs are criminals or are the only guilty party in the whole Bosnia and Kosvo conflict. Until Sarex said one day that he thinks most of the world has a negative view of Serbs I never had any negative view of Serbia and I still don't. I don't understand the history of the whole Yugoslavia animosity and I still dont understand why it appears the various ex-Yugoslav countries resent each other You should know that what white people did, and I am a part of that indirectly, in South African during Apartheid was much worse than any perceived human rights abuses Serbia may or may not have committed so I am not trying to embarrass you and I definitely dont think I am better than you so sorry for any misunderstandings about this But I don't want to fight with you about this, I just want to ask you one question. You said you are 28 so how would you have remembered details about the war in 1992 if you were 5? The reason I raise this is dont you think its possible what people told you about the conflict may not be necessarily true or perhaps a little biased?
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Nonek sorry to put you on the spot like this but you haven't spoken to me for months and this was despite the fact I apologized to you Its strange that you would hold a grudge for so long? But maybe you are not ignoring me but its just we have very little to say to each other ....which I doubt, I'm not sure if you know but I'm also from the UK. We really should be talking due to our shared legacy ?
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Links ? Isn't Leipzig considered a right wing hotbed in Germany?
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Yeah I get the reasons but its still seen as against the basic rights of refugees.....but I think sometimes this whole rights of refugees can be a little unreasonable
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Personally I've never met anyone in favour of it. Okay thats interesting but then why would the government be supporting it if the majority citizens are opposed to it?
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Link? Only links I can find are about Celebrity Big Brother UK releasing teaser video of her crying over the news and viewers complaining that the show/network was exploiting her. Yes but you are notorious for not using the Internet properly
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Why you so butthurrt hate of Russia? We actually do nothing hostile against Murica yet - what reason for such anti-Russian talking do you have? Oh no Putin has been very critical of the West and has used basically every opportunity he can to undermine the USA But its easy to pass judgement when you aren't actually fighting any wars. I'm glad Russia is involved in Syria ....as GD said let them have it and let people think Putin found a solution if he can. The West really doesn't care and would love just to get out
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No he should have stayed out of it altogether. And he DID make noise suggesting we would intervene. He did give military aid to Ukraine. I don't think you read what I wrote. Or if you did I did a poor job conveying my point. No your point is clear, I just think Gorgon misunderstood it? Yes I understand your view on intervention in the ME, I also don't get why a single USA soldier should ever die in the ME unless really necessary but end of the day why bleed and spend resources in an area where the average person despises your country anyway? Its not worth the sacrifice ....the USA is involved in certain African countries but the difference is black Africans in these countries appreciates what the USA is doing Why you so butthurrt hate of Russia? We actually do nothing hostile against Murica yet - what reason for such anti-Russian talking do you have? Oby I really tried to warn you, I was the only one on these forums who said " Oby....you need to find more reasonable Russians who represent the Russian view in a way that isn't paranoid or militant " ...but Oby no ....you didn't listen to me You agreed with people like Zora, 2133 and Sarex who supported the Russian unacceptable intervention in Ukraine. Oby the reality is Putin seemed to think he could just seize any country he wanted as a justification for " NATO aggression " .... NATO is your friend Oby...NATO likes Russia Now look at the Russian economy, I'm sorry about that as I don't like the idea of any country suffering But there is one advantage to this mess. In South Africa I am able to negotiate very good prices with the Russian strippers who normally dont ever drop prices and dont like small talk....yes I pretend to be on the side of Putin and say " he is a victim of Western aggression " and they really are impressed that I seem to know so much about there country ( I don't really see this as lying as sometimes the truth can be more hurtful than constructive )
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That's a good question and I'll give an answer that I'm not 100% sure is correct but seems logical So your typical immigrant from Turkey and Algeria that have been coming to the EU for years is normally not able to find work in there own country but is also not normally educated or skilled....so they just end up being a nuisance in the EU But until the civil war in Syria how many unemployed Syrians did you ever encounter in your country? I'll wager not many if any, my company as I mentioned does consultancy throughout the ME and yet Syria and Iraq are the two countries none of us have ever been to Now why is this? You could argue that Assad wouldn't allow anyone to leave Syria but I dont think this is the reason. I think like Iran in Syria people are educated and did use to have pride in there country and society So I am hoping this translates to a reality where your average Syrian is educated and therefore can work in the EU
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Yes my friend and using a euphemism to still imply Obama has made the USA weak still doesnt really make the USA weak GD as an ex-military man do you think the USA is weaker militarily....and if you think this what do you mean by it ? So for example is this something that has negatively impacted your important relationship with good friends like ...Syrian rebels ....or the Saudis?
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And I am of the opinion that I'm not obligated to listen to anybody whose contributions to any given conversation start and stop at "add more meaningless noise". alum you know I tend to sometimes ask what you think are random questions but in my world it makes perfect sense How long is your studies to be a doctor? I assume 8 years ? Anyway I know this is something that is a long way off but in South Africa all doctors have to do 2 years practical after there studies. But we also get foreign doctors who request to come to South Africa to work in our trauma units for the experience as my country is unfortunately one of the most violent places in the world I have contacts who can arrange Visas for that type of work so if you wanted to do your practical in South Africa I could almost guarantee you a job, I think you would find your time here very rewarding and stimulating in various way
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Yes of course the USA is by far the strongest military force in the world But some people who don't like Obama think he has made them weak .....he hasn't. He just doesn't feel the need to prove constantly the USA can bomb anyone into oblivion Also Obama has correctly realized that the USA doesn't need to resort to force in places like the Middle East to achieve relative peace
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Oh yes, under five minute break five times (which 2-3 are during typical work hours) of day massively hinders how much work person can do in one day and absolutely prevents all sort career advancing. In South Africa the Muslim community only pray on Fridays at the Mosque I noticed in the Middle East most Muslims but particularly Muslims from the more impoverished countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan they pray 4-5 times a day, this was apparent in Saudi But I would imagine as far as the refugees are concerned living in the EU it would depend on the type of job and education. Muslims in the corporate world cannot expect to pray 4-5 times if it disrupts there work but they would know this....but a laborer who fixes roads wont understand work commitments and work responsibility
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I'm misunderstanding you? What do you mean by a manifestation ? Also are you sure the incident was intentionally covered up?
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Dark I hope you wrong about the standard of education....I doubt thats true in the case of the Syrians? The 5 prayers a day is not an issue and also you must realize integration in my opinion just means the refugees need to find jobs and not live off social grants ....no one expects everyone to suddenly be friends unless you want to Like that video that Meshugger posted where those Muslim kids were saying " we don't want to be friends with Germans " ....those kids misunderstand something. You wont be friends with people unless you have something in common . Muslims, Christians and anyone else can happily live together they just need to respect each other
