At some point, the American people will get tired of their governments antics. Conversely, the corporate control over America will become powerful enough that there will be internal discontent with radicalisation of the people through the vast gulf between reality and expectations. Besides this, the economy will become beholden to those who hold the strings of the US dollar in their hands. In any case, in 10-15 years, the US will have too many internal problems to worry about terrorism.
If you are talking about oil, thats gone in a few decades anyway. The rest of the world will eventually have to pick sides. And that isnt a good thing. I believe WWIII is in the making. You appear to back the terrorists 100%, or is it just me ?
Oh, I see: you want the Shia to win. Are you Shia then? How about nobody insurge against anyone, and everyone try to make peace and settle down and rebuild their country? *wipes eyes* Yeah, I couldn't write that and keep a straight face either. Sigh...
To be fair, they said that about oil reserves back in the 70s. Hopefully, still, there will be a switch to more sustainable forms of energy. If so, international interest in that region of the world will be virtually nil, thus defusing a lot of potential conflicts. Also, so much of the conflict there is either crap leftover from the creation of Isreal and remnents of the Cold War. TIme may settle some of it, the force of American cultural imperialism may settle some of it. That has yet to be demonstrated. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
These are just my observations, mental masturbation is my favorite sport. By current calculations its less than 5 years before the bottom falls out of the market. I dislike oppression of any kind, but I like to choose my battles according to priority. And I tend to favor the underdog. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Personally I see Iraq going down the road of complete unequivocal religious dictatorship. I predict the institution of strict sharia law and lots of homosexuals and apostates being beheaded. The only possible thing that can intervene is if there is another revolution in Iran and the moderates win.
You haven't been reading the papers? The housing market is going going gone; with a domino effect reaching the international market. The Chinese are rumbling about the US dictating to them when they are holding up the dollars. Put(a)in is openly advocating the use of euros for oil. I wonder how much of a loss the OPEC (read Saudis) are willing to sustain before jettisoning the jetsam.
Your underdog would implement a psychotic, violent regime that would do harm to women and minorities. For once, we can agree. And it would be due mostly to U.S interference in the region.
Only if things are pushed in that direction (re: arming Sunni insurgents, permanent military bases and hence presence in the country, siphoning off the oil, arms supplies to neighbors, secretly arming and funding local insurgents in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, creating civic schisms by alternately supporting one group against another) Its very probable but not inevitable.
Reza Pehlavi Jr is waiting in the wings. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reza_Pahlavi It would not surprise me if there was another coup in the offing
SAM you favor the underdog and yet you say 'the underdog' is going to win: This is contradictory. Also, its not just the US the terrorist actions are aimed at, its the whole western world. So that includes the whole of Europe as well.
No. I'm talking about what would happen if your underdog succeeded. Sharia law is not a good thing. Continued U.S presence in Iraq would probably be for the best. U.N oversight would be better, but that shit ain't gonna happen. I have. I don't see the situation as that drastic. The U.S dependence on a service and entertainment economy is more worrisome to me than the housing crisis. The latter is more temporary.
Not in its present state no; it hasn't been revised for a hundreds of years when such practices were probably part and parcel of legalese everywhere. But a very large portion of it (dealing with civic and financial issues- like women's right to property and custodial rights, inheritance, etc) are very much better than offered elsewhere. What it really needs is a good dusting, to remove the cobwebs and a shiny new paint to bring it into step with society. Fiqh is way way much more than beheadings and chpopped hands. Based on our own experience with occupation, I would consider a continued occupation akin to a lid over a boiling vessel; the civil war is inevitable; its not a question of if, but when. I think it would be good for Americans to work for their living, like everyone else (and receive the same benefits of their labour). Whether they will do it or kill everyone else rather than work, is a different matter.
Not everywhere. Not my ancestors in Scotland, say. More or less the opposite of what its major proponents intend, that. No one works harder than Americans. The American overemphasis on work is one of the spiritual flaws of the place, in most observers' eyes. And there is no virtue in poverty, or low wages, or little reward, in itself. Bertrand Russel called it the "myth of the superior virtue of the oppressed".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiden_(beheading) Public beheadings, public hangings, dismemberment and hanging of parts of the hung or beheaded in different parts of the country as a warning to others were very much a part of legal punishment at the time the Sharia laws were written Work harder at what? Arms trade? "Free" trade? Sustaining their economy at the expense of countless others? The use of the dollar as an international currency may have been very good for American economics but it has also resulted in self sustaining economies being driven to the ground. Perhaps it is time the scales were a little more balanced, so people in the Third World do not need to die to allow the Americans/G8 to eat more. Structural Adjustment—a Major Cause of Poverty Third World Debt Undermines Development Corporations US and Foreign Aid Assistance Possibly he would have supported the elimination of undesirables in the society too.
I hereby pronounce this thread: derailed. The next of kin shall be notified and the strewn bits of their arguments returned to them for safe burial. Laws, maws and the sons of Shahs, third floor, watch your step.
