News Stories

[ZephyrLeanne]

Originally Posted by mg1942

Activists: Oh nooees! Hillary Sells out!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090220...siachinarights

Finally the US sees the light. Activists, learn to keep those babbling mouths sealed while world peace is being built.

[Shadow Kira01]

Rocket from Lebanon wounds three Israelis-medics

Not good! Since the US Secretary of State has decided to ignore human rights altogether. It only means that the nexy cries from the Palestinians on the Gaza strip will automatically get ignored and considering that these rockets keep on hitting Israel even after the ceasefire agreement indicate that the Gaza war is only getting started. This time, the IDF no longer need to hold back..

Originally Posted by mg1942

Activists: Oh nooees! Hillary Sells out!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090220...siachinarights

This is nothing unexpected.

Bribed official getting the Secretary of State seat in the Obama Administration just indicate that those activists are now in trouble. I am more concerned of the Obama Administration stance on North Korea. Although they claim that they will follow the firm attitude pass down by the Bush Administration but what happens if North Korea makes an offer. Will the United States betray the families of the abductees, break their promises and make a better bilateral relationship with the North Koreans? I can see that happen anytime in the future but I hope not..

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by ShimatheKat

Finally the US sees the light. Activists, learn to keep those babbling mouths sealed while world peace is being built.

This isn't exactly a new policy. This has been how the US has dealt with China for a while now. Work out an agreement with them, while unofficially saying "Oh, would you mind stopping those human rights violations? You won't? Oh well, no big deal. I'll ask again next time."

Originally Posted by Shadow Minato

Rocket from Lebanon wounds three Israelis-medics

Not good! Since the US Secretary of State has decided to ignore human rights altogether. It only means that the nexy cries from the Palestinians on the Gaza strip will automatically get ignored and considering that these rockets keep on hitting Israel even after the ceasefire agreement indicate that the Gaza war is only getting started. This time, the IDF no longer need to hold back..

So the US continuing with the long established policies while dealing with China means Israel doesn't have to hold back? How did you come to this conclusion?

This is just more of the standard tit for tat exchange anyway. It's a bit unusual that a rocket actually caused injuries though that doesn't mean Israel's going to launch another invasion.

This is nothing unexpected.

Bribed official getting the Secretary of State seat in the Obama Administration just indicate that those activists are now in trouble.

Are you suggesting Hillary Clinton is accepting bribes from China?

I am more concerned of the Obama Administration stance on North Korea. Although they claim that they will follow the firm attitude pass down by the Bush Administration but what happens if North Korea makes an offer. Will the United States betray the families of the abductees, break their promises and make a better bilateral relationship with the North Koreans? I can see that happen anytime in the future but I hope not..

Are you suggesting making a deal with North Korea on their nuclear program will somehow end any negotiations on other unresolved issues?

[Reckoner]

Originally Posted by Hari Michiru

Well, at least America doesn't have a dying population, so socialism could work there xD. Unlike Canada, where our population is dying, and our health care program is slowly taking the toll.

Except that most of the population growth isn't natural born citizens but rather immigrants, and many of those are illegal, poor, or both. California is already dying with just simple things like Medicaid and Medicare.

[LeoXiao]

Originally Posted by ShimatheKat

Finally the US sees the light. Activists, learn to keep those babbling mouths sealed while world peace is being built.

F*ck that. The best way to give approval to criminals is to say nothing of their wrongdoings.
Your way of thinking is what helped the Nazis kill Jews (sorry godwin but f*ck you).

Are you suggesting Hillary Clinton is accepting bribes from China?

Yeah but it's not that big of a surprise considering that our entire nation has been getting economically assraped by them since the 90's.

Hilary's just like her husband; she criticized Bush for not boycotting the Olympic opening ceremony (not saying bush is any good here), and then turns around saying that human rights aren't important. Likewise, Bill Clinton criticized the 1st Bush for lenient with China after the Tiananmen Massacre and then when he became president he put China on the "favoured nations list."

United States "seeing the light" my ass.

[Shadow Kira01]

Official: North Korea to Test Missile That Can Reach US

North Korea is up to no good amidst the fact that the United States had removed them from their official list of terrorist sponsors and improving six-party talks. They claim to be doing a satellite launch but it is pretty obvious that they are testing long-range missiles and getting ready for a military conflict.

[yezhanquan]

On North Korea, I am reminded of a statement which was used to describe 19th century Prussia: "Most countries have armies. This is an army who has a country." Perhaps, not surprisingly, I personally put Burma in this category as well. But, that is for another day.

If the North Korean army wants a fight, then I think the South Koreans + Americans should be prepared to defend. One of the reasons why Kim and his gang were left alone was that "regime change" would mean vast numbers of renegade soldiers who answer to no one. If a war breaks out, I'm afraid to say that S. Korea would be fighting a war to preserve their way of life.

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by LeoXiao

F*ck that. The best way to give approval to criminals is to say nothing of their wrongdoings.
Your way of thinking is what helped the Nazis kill Jews (sorry godwin but f*ck you).

Would now be a bad time to point out that most of the world was at war with Germany when they started to actually kill the jews?

Yeah but it's not that big of a surprise considering that our entire nation has been getting economically assraped by them since the 90's.

You of course have some evidence of her accepting bribes you can cite, correct?

Also your defination of "assraped" seems to be negotiated an unfavorable trade deal in order to open up the market. Sorry, but the economic problems the US is having fall squarely on supply side economics and deregulation of the financial sector.

Hilary's just like her husband; she criticized Bush for not boycotting the Olympic opening ceremony (not saying bush is any good here), and then turns around saying that human rights aren't important. Likewise, Bill Clinton criticized the 1st Bush for lenient with China after the Tiananmen Massacre and then when he became president he put China on the "favoured nations list."

You don't seem to understand how politics works, or do but are pretending you don't because of partisan bias, which I think is more likely. The party in power supports these policies, while the opposition party opposes them. You're leaving out how the republicans criticized Bill Clinton for that as well. Guess what they did when they took over though. They're also criticizing these policies now. That's how these things work.

United States "seeing the light" my ass.

I agree with that last statement though.

[Vexx]

Also your defination of "assraped" seems to be negotiated an unfavorable trade deal in order to open up the market. Sorry, but the economic problems the US is having fall squarely on supply side economics and deregulation of the financial sector.

The only caveat I'd add to that is that it was multi-national corporations based in the US that really fought hard for all that "free trade" so they could ship the vast majority of the US manufacturing capability overseas.... can't blame the Chinese completely for that one.

[ZephyrLeanne]

I just wonder what is stopping people from supporting a move for peace. Man, what's with the world this days? Is like half the world in military industries?

Come on. Any step towards better ties is always better than a step from it. Especially with two vetoing Security Council members.

Anyone has a bone to pick - come PM me. Not here. We risk being off-tangent.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7907039.stm

North Korea 'plans rocket launch'

North Korea has announced that it is preparing to launch a rocket carrying a communications satellite.
It did not give a date for the launch, but said it would mark a great step forward for the communist state.
Correspondents say the statement is Pyongyang's clearest reference yet to what neighbours believe may be the imminent test of a long-range missile.

Go figure - does this mean a new shift in paradigm in six-party talks, or it is just NK hungry for attention??

[Shadow Kira01]

Blast kills 4 U.S. coalition troops, Afghan civilian

Another roadside bomb... Why are there so many of these?!

[sa547]

Originally Posted by Shadow Minato

Blast kills 4 U.S. coalition troops, Afghan civilian

Another roadside bomb... Why are there so many of these?!

Being cheap and easy to make, they'll keep on planting IEDs to wear down the coalition forces until they leave Afghanistan back to the insurgents. They'll make it costly in terms of lives and equipment for the Americans to operate in that country.

[LelouchZeroFTW]

Originally Posted by Shadow Minato

Official: North Korea to Test Missile That Can Reach US

North Korea is up to no good amidst the fact that the United States had removed them from their official list of terrorist sponsors and improving six-party talks. They claim to be doing a satellite launch but it is pretty obvious that they are testing long-range missiles and getting ready for a military conflict.

I wouldn't trust half the crap that comes out of the BBC.

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by Vexx

The only caveat I'd add to that is that it was multi-national corporations based in the US that really fought hard for all that "free trade" so they could ship the vast majority of the US manufacturing capability overseas.... can't blame the Chinese completely for that one.

True enough. It was another example of putting the good of the bottom line for the companies the lobbiest represented ahead of the good of the country.

Originally Posted by ShimatheKat

I just wonder what is stopping people from supporting a move for peace. Man, what's with the world this days? Is like half the world in military industries?

Come on. Any step towards better ties is always better than a step from it. Especially with two vetoing Security Council members.

It's not "a move for peace". It's the same policy the US has had in place for dealing with China for a long time, deal with them and unofficially call for human rights reform, but not actually press the issue. It's not a change, it's a confirmation that the Obama adminstration isn't making any major changes to the policy.

[Shadow Kira01]

Beijing Can't Stop Saint Laurent Sale

Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent's former business manager and companion, had offered to hand over the sculptures, valued at $10 million to $12 million each, if China agreed to guarantee human rights and allow the Dalai Lama back into Tibet.

Nice one!! This is the consequences of intimidating France over the Tibet issues.

Originally Posted by LelouchZeroFTW

I wouldn't trust half the crap that comes out of the BBC.

In that case, I should trust BBC fully then.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by LelouchZeroFTW

I wouldn't trust half the crap that comes out of the BBC.

Then list what news sources you do trust and readers might have some clue about your credibility Savvy news readers take their information from a variety of sources.

[LeoXiao]

Originally Posted by Kamui4356

Would now be a bad time to point out that most of the world was at war with Germany when they started to actually kill the jews?

Do you get what the point is I'm trying to make?

You of course have some evidence of her accepting bribes you can cite, correct?

Well, "bribes" in the sense that because of economic reasons we decide to overlook major human rights violations.

Sorry, but the economic problems the US is having fall squarely on supply side economics and deregulation of the financial sector.

Yeah true. It doesn't help that China basically owns a large portion of us now, either. I will admit my knowledge of modern economics is kinda fuzzy, however, so I tend to lump things together. sorry.

You don't seem to understand how politics works, or do but are pretending you don't because of partisan bias, which I think is more likely. The party in power supports these policies, while the opposition party opposes them. You're leaving out how the republicans criticized Bill Clinton for that as well. Guess what they did when they took over though. They're also criticizing these policies now. That's how these things work.

By "partisan bias," do you mean that I support Republicans? For this is not the case. I realize that the GOP has been in fact taking the same stance on the issue, and has had an even larger role in f*cking things up, particularly due to the wars and deregulation.

But that wasn't what I was talking about. My point was that Clinton's action was not right, since it disregarded the severity of the human rights problem.

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by LeoXiao

Do you get what the point is I'm trying to make?

Of course. But I wanted to point out that was a bad example. Of course that might have not been the best way of doing so, I was half asleep when I made that post.

Well, "bribes" in the sense that because of economic reasons we decide to overlook major human rights violations.

Which is a bribe how exactly? It's simply putting your own interests ahead of the interests to others. Not the nicest thing to do, but it's not really Washington's responsibility to ensure the welfare of people in China either.

Yeah true. It doesn't help that China basically owns a large portion of us now, either. I will admit my knowledge of modern economics is kinda fuzzy, however, so I tend to lump things together. sorry.

So does Japan, and quite a few European nations. It does give China some influence as dumping US debt they hold could cause the dollar to drop and make the reccession worse, though on the same hand, it'd hurt China's economy too.

By "partisan bias," do you mean that I support Republicans? For this is not the case. I realize that the GOP has been in fact taking the same stance on the issue, and has had an even larger role in f*cking things up, particularly due to the wars and deregulation.

Sorry, I apologize for that. It was late and that post came off as harsher and more partisian than I really intended. I was pointing out that both parties engage in that pattern of behavior. I simply jumped to the conclusion that you were a republican engaging in typical partisian sniping and reacted when I shouldn't have.

But that wasn't what I was talking about. My point was that Clinton's action was not right, since it disregarded the severity of the human rights problem.

True, but it's kind of unfair to single her out for behavior common to both sides of the isle. It's a problem common to nearly all politicians. Also, it's Obama's China policy, not hers. She undoubtedly has a lot of influence over it, but in the end, it's not her call to make how we deal with China, it's Obama's. I doubt she's acting on her own with that statement.

[Vexx]

Diplomats often use murky wording depending on their listeners so that each one hears something like they want to hear... even though each listener also knows their behavior is going to affect how smoothly things go.

[Claies]

Originally Posted by Shadow Minato

Official: North Korea to Test Missile That Can Reach US

North Korea is up to no good amidst the fact that the United States had removed them from their official list of terrorist sponsors and improving six-party talks. They claim to be doing a satellite launch but it is pretty obvious that they are testing long-range missiles and getting ready for a military conflict.

Hey now, did you seriously just put Fox News up in this thread? >_>;;

So on paper, the Taepodong-2 can reach Alaska. I severely doubt their workmanship would allow them to actually attain this goal, and if they can, it'll be no more than the one missile that they pour some large fraction of their GDP into making. If it even gets as far as out of the Japan Sea radius it'll probably be squarely shot down with no problems.

So they're not hitting America. They'll probably try to hit South Korea or Japan instead.

What we should care about is the 1 million North Korean VS 500,000 South Korean troops stationed at the mutual border.

===

So the problem about dealing with China is they're practically on equal footing with the US, if not higher in some areas (not to say the US is strictly worse). Forcing a human rights issue doesn't help the US administration talks at all. They'll blink and go "did you just say that?" and then categorically start to screw America over.

Not to say that we can't (and as if we won't) screw them over in return, but that just sucks for both of us. This is like...Mutally Assured Destruction in the socioeconomic sense.