BruceVC

funny

Lucy's ancestors: Wow that's a fascinating image, its interesting to see how mankind spread through the world

This is a very good post and probably one of the most relevant perspectives I have heard on this aspect of the refugee crisis The salient point being " we shouldn't blame the religion for some people misinterpreting the text and acting in a certain way "

I will definitely concede that point to you, it is hard to imagine what type of impact this surge of immigration and refugees can have on a country. I am definitely speaking as an outsider on this, and I appreciate your perspective. My main point isn't that this isn't a dramatic issue for Europe, but that I believe it has less to do with the religion of Islam, and more to do with culture clashes and human nature. We can look at numerous situations throughout history in comparison where Islam was not in the picture, and yet the issues all look very similar. But Drowsy you also don't really have experience living with Islam, what is the total percentage of Muslims in Serbia ...4 %, 5 % ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Serbia You could only argue the whole " I have experience living with Muslims " if you grew up in a Muslim country or lived predominantly in the Muslim section of a city which I doubt you did either of those two things And I'm same as are most people on these forums

When is Columbus day even celebrated? Is it a public holiday in some countries, its not in mine?

Volo if you read the whole story the young women who has sex with the minor and the dad is clearly mentally unbalanced...this should help you be less critical of her behavior or at least not think she deserves the death penalty ? The article says " He said she was vulnerable and had a hard upbringing, spending two years in hospital with leukaemia between the ages of five and seven.Passing sentence Judge Tim Mousley QC said it was an exceptional case allowing him to step outside the rigours of the sentencing guidelines. He said: "Having read everything before me, it was quite clear he was a mature 11-year-old and you were an immature 20-year-old so that narrows the arithmetic age gap between you Its clear this case was decided on unusual circumstances which I can understand

WOD I cannot believe you are taking those links seriously...they are full of biased, untrue, scurrillous and ignorant points. Please don't believe them...I get you don't like Obama but that doesn't mean you have to let people manipulate you. Just a few examples of what is patently false or ignored in those articles He clearly thinks Putin is this great leader and seems to admire his ruthlessness....lets analyze that for a moment. The Russian economy is in a recession....I'll repeat that...The Russian economy is in a recessionhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-19/russia-rewrites-blueprint-for-growth-as-recession-dooms-consumer http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/11/news/economy/russia-crissis-gdp/ And its not just the fact the global oil price has dropped and Russia never diversified its economy ( another sign of a " great " leader, placing all Russia's economic eggs in ONE basket ) its also a result of the Western sanctions as Putin, the "great " leader has in his infinite wisdom believed he could illegally take the Crimea and basically get Eastern Ukraine to secede and join Russia like he did in Georgia....and he thought the West wouldn't actually use a military option..." Obama is weak remember " Yes the West wouldn't use a military option but battles and ideological conflicts can be won or ended without actually attacking a country...sanctions did work and are working So it amazes me that a Texan and I assume a Capitalist is not concerned with a leader who had made decisions that have caused his country to enter recession And then I keep explaining this and its getting a little frustrating ....the USA is not more involved in Syria as it doesn't want to be. This is not a sign of weakness but prudence ...and who exactly should the USA be ashamed in front of ? No Western country is prepared to send ground troops so it can't be them he is referring to...oh wait he means the countries of the ME Seriously the USA needs to feel humiliated by a group of countries that are currently the most dysfunctional in the world ... countries that despite all being Arab have a major problem where certain members just refuse to help fellow Muslims and Syrian refugees And you want the USA to beg to be liked by these counties....why? The USA and Obama have nothing to prove to the ME and once again as a Texan this surprises me that you hold these countries in such high regard? He also dismisses the Iran negotiations and considers them "failed " Anyway I could honestly go on and on ...but I think I made my point

Yeah its easy to suggest what the USA should be doing as an ardent and vociferous opponent of the current president ...because you don't have to deliver on it

Its weird but I have just downloaded the whole series to watch again Oz is brutal, brilliant and absolutely compelling...its like you can't wait to see who else joins the prison and what faction he will join I'm surprised you are comfortable with it though, it pushed the boundaries of homosexual sex and it gets more intense later on so prepare yourself

Wowzers that pizza looks great, you see Gfted1 we have lots in common...like Pizza Maybe we should go there on our first date meeting....I assume you prefer somewhere where you feel comfortable

You know whats weird, I added those last 3 so the Pizza isn't suppose to have them You have a knack for food Here is the restaurant I ordered from, they specialize in Gourmet Pizzas http://www.colcacchio.co.za/

I had one of my designer Pizzas tonight, this time I went with Italian sausage, chorizo, mushroom, onion, roasted red pepper, chilli, Gorgonzola, Banana and bacon It is delicious

That's twentieth century colonial power thinking No. But you can't always force a cultural change at gunpoint. Sure, it would be nice to accelerate the process, but cultural changes sometimes takes generations. And without a cultural change and the embracing of new ideas, outside intervention will most likely have no positive long term effect. I.e. point in case the 3 above examples. Would you say the world is a better place now than it was before the west encouraged (and in some cases outright supported militarily) the destabilizing of the ruling regimes in the countries above? All of those conflicts had one thing in common, it was never about accepting "Western ideas", it was about religious differences, old grudges and tribal/clan affiliations. Okay I see you guys seem to misunderstand what I mean by " regime change " and " western intervention " I need to clarify a few things first, I'm just going to be direct. Please don't take this wrong way and think I'm being condescending or rude. I'm confidant you won't take offense....oh I'll also make some assumptions about your view which you can obviously correct if you want. Its easier to explain my overall point if I make assumptions about what I think you believe So firstly please lets try to not even use the word " colonial " when I talk about Western intervention. I'm not trying to tell you what words to use but the words like " colonialism " , " neo-colonialism" , '' imperialism", " white capital " are used by people as an insult to the West for the historical injustice many people suffered under due to Colonialism. But we aren't talking about anything even remotely like what the Colonists did hundreds of years ago in Africa. So what I often find in my own country is people will use the word "colonialism " when they don't want to transform something in our society that needs to change...they prevent certain changes in our society that are for the good of everyone For example so you see I'm not joking, read this http://www.dawn.com/news/1210357/safrican-tribal-chief-gets-12-years-jail So you may think " yeah this seems fair" and it is except for the fact last night on one of the radio talk shows there was real debate where some people were saying " its not right to charge an African Chief " and one guy was seriously raising a point that basically said " we as Africans shouldn't be judged under Colonial Western law systems ...its un-Affrican " He wants African tribal law to have precedent which means NOTHING would happen to this chief ...so thats there idea of justice Of course our Constitution and normal legal system always wins but you then have this group of people who will phone in and make these irritating comments like " we need to stop following the West" .....they would just prefer these Chiefs, who live on Taxpayers money, to be above the law So those are types of people who still use words like " colonial " Anyway thats PART 1 .,....I need a break before I continue

What exactly did you do? It sounds interesting

«It would be well for your government to consider that having your ships and ours, your aircraft and ours, in such proximity... is inherently DANGEROUS. Wars have begun that way, Mr. Ambassador.» (lol @ "moderate rebels" btw. Yeah, the whole three of them need protecting!) Okay that is true ....what exactly is a " moderate rebel " in the context of the whole ME actually

Strip club do make everything better and I'm sure youre a swell guy. You are just what I classify as a "chicken little" where not a day passes where a bit of sky doesn't fall on your head. Due to certain personality flaws within myself I find this type of person unpleasant to socialize with irl. Its not you, its me. Aside, the above joke was in poor taste and I apologize. I'm not a violent person unless circumstances force me to be. Come now...you can't think I took that seriously? You are absolutely under NO obligation to meet me in RL....and its not rude to say that. I suppose my forum etiquette may seem a little erratic at times...and annoying I wouldn't want to meet someone like that in RL But for me its not a big deal, I would basically meet everyone on these forums for a drink. And then I would formulate an opinion This is a forum...its best to not take anything potentially rude or insulting personally

I know, my intelligence can be intimidating. But Gfted1 not everyone can be clever...you have other skills like your DIY..that's something to be proud of ? Actually 95% of people really like me when they first meet me ( I obviously am aware and control my excessive talking )....but you and I would be at a hardcore strip club for our first meeting, we don't want to overdo the whole " lets sit and prove we need to get to know each other in RL )

I don't know Gorth...your view seems to me like someone who is just prepared to let genocide happen....the world and the West has a moral responsibility to prevent this. But it cannot also have to govern the country once the dictator is removed This is up to the citizens of the country...and all those examples you mentioned are cases where the new rulers and or leaders failed to govern properly. Surly you cannot blame the West for leaving countries to there own political destiny?

That's a good read and raises several valid concerns but the main ones should be mitigated, for me these are Russia and USA accidentally shooting each others planes down but they are communicating so this seems unlikely The Syrian rebels aligned with the West getting attacked....I cant see how this is going to work out if the Russians stay committed? Surly they would at sometime attack this group? But they are in the North and ISIS is in the West so this also should be negligible

Yeah an influential, respected, reasonable and charismatic Arab leader to unit the region ....but thats wish fill thinking if you consider just the historical resentment between Sunni and Shia But what really gets to me is the lack of empathy and concern that the likes of Saudi Arabia and the UAE have for the sufferings of the Syrians. These countries are the most stable and wealthiest in the region yet they haven't taken in 1 Syrian ....not one Now I understand the Shia\Sunni conflict but they are all Arabs....they all belong to the Arab League and you would think under the circumstances they would help the refugees. But no ....so much for this concept of " Arab unity " And some of you guys think they would be able to subvert and control the West

No, the West needs to abide by the rules of the United Nations Security Council and respect the veto But these aren't the West rules, these are the UN and therefore global rules Yeah, but not everyone on the world follows them - back to the topic - so want is your problem, 'west' can't intervene even if want. So what is your solution? Yes sometimes countries do ignore the UN .....but it always ends badly. People tend to dismiss the UN and say its " useless and a puppet of the West" but when it comes to long term economic support and effective sanctions the UN does work, yes the Veto can be argued is actually a hindrance to action,like Syria, but I accept that we need China and Russia on the Security Council as it adds balance Even the USA learnt this lesson that you cannot dismiss the UN....2005 and the reality started dawning on all of us that Iraq was a complete mistake....a real disaster and correctly so countries like France and Germany refused to help due to being dismissed by the Neo-cons like Rumsfeld Now back to your question. Lets be clear the West could intervene in Syria, and the UN would support this, if it wanted to...but it mustn't. I am of the opinion that you just leave Syria to the ME and countries like Russia Now you may think " but the war is a stalemate and its just dragging on " but I believe the ME needs to learn to resolve its own issues Also you must realize the West does believe in things like human rights and Assad has demonstrated he is one of the worst and most brutal leaders we have seen so its highly unlikely they will help him in anyway . Its quite amazing how this just doesn't bother the Russians ....they seem to have no problem with the mass murder he ordered of his own people. And he used chemical weapons So in summary the West will continue to use airstrikes and train people like the Kurds but it won't do more than that so others will need to sort it out

No, the West needs to abide by the rules of the United Nations Security Council and respect the veto But these aren't the West rules, these are the UN and therefore global rules

I am not well informed about Lybia but as far as I know there were no ground troops either. And think you are overlooking is that OSN dont have mandate to send troops here as it Russia veto it as there is no formal invitation from legit goverment. So you are saying that 'west' should break its own rules and laws? Yes let me explain further, any type of regime change like this would require ground troops. Libya was exactly like that, the West used airstrikes to destroy Gaddafi's artillery and military hardware. But the hard city to city fighting was done by the Libyan rebels. Syria in the beginning was the same, the Syrian rebels wanted the West to destroy Assads military hardware but they were prepared to do the hand to hand fighting which would have been much more brutal than Libya And yes you correct the Russians and Chinese vetoed the West intervening in the beginning of the Syrian conflict and I'm glad that they are respecting the UN Security council....so they must not rules of the UN Still evading my question do you I thought I did answer it, my bad. What question are you referring to?

I am not well informed about Lybia but as far as I know there were no ground troops either. And think you are overlooking is that OSN dont have mandate to send troops here as it Russia veto it as there is no formal invitation from legit goverment. So you are saying that 'west' should break its own rules and laws? Yes let me explain further, any type of regime change like this would require ground troops. Libya was exactly like that, the West used airstrikes to destroy Gaddafi's artillery and military hardware. But the hard city to city fighting was done by the Libyan rebels. Syria in the beginning was the same, the Syrian rebels wanted the West to destroy Assads military hardware but they were prepared to do the hand to hand fighting which would have been much more brutal than Libya And yes you correct the Russians and Chinese vetoed the West intervening in the beginning of the Syrian conflict and I'm glad that they are respecting the UN Security council....so they must not rules of the UN

Well I know one thing, we can't send in you Czechs to handle the negotiations with the Syrians .....you guys aren't that good at dealing with Muslims it seems? I was watching how some Syrians who came to Czech were marked with some stamp...like prisoners in a concentration camp ... Oh well ...you can't be good at everything Ah, you didn't comment anything I said at all. But oh well, what to expect from you right? And yeah they get numbers on hands (same we do to new born baby so its not switched to someone else baby in hospital) because they didn't got any documentation. Do you have better idea how to identify someone? . Anyway we in Czech are laughting on EU currently. For example there is free border crossing inside EU and we are supposed to get some refugees via quotas, but how on Earth we are supposed to keep them here when Motherland Merkland is right next to us? I don't even bring up how much less our social system is giving Sorry I had commented earlier, the West could have solved the Syrian problem in the beginning. They would have removed Assad like Gaddafi and then left the country in the hands of the Free Syrian Army....would that have been maintained peacefully? Who knows ....look at Libya now but I assume Libya would have been helped by The West and the Sunni countries. But end of the day I don't know ...but surly its better than the current disaster Don't worry about getting refugees...you guys have done a good job at putting them off wanting to immigrate to Czech. But my view is the Syrians shouldn't be coming to the EU at all in these numbers and even then the EU shouldn't be forcing countries like Hungary and Czech to accept refugees. There are too many cultural differences and thats understandable