2011-09-13, 19:54 | Link #16521 | ||
AS Oji-kun
Join Date: Nov 2006
Age: 74
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NATO reiterated that it intends to adhere to its timetable for withdrawal regardless of today's attack. Western leaders all know their publics have had it with this war and can't be convinced that there's anything worth fighting for in Afghanistan, particularly the Karzai government. Perhaps the Afghan army might consider recruiting a few women for pat-down duty at guard posts? The BBC report (linked above) suggests that the Taliban infiltrated the area near the Embassy and NATO complex by dressing themselves in burkas. "'We don't have female police officers to search females,' General Ayub admitted."
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2011-09-13, 21:06 | Link #16522 | ||
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Join Date: May 2007
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2011-09-13, 22:59 | Link #16523 |
AS Oji-kun
Join Date: Nov 2006
Age: 74
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I've been surprised that we haven't seen an outbreak of serious hostilities between Pakistan and India since the 1965 War. Nuclear deterrence has helped to maintain stability just like it did in the Cold War. Nevertheless Pakistan, and agencies like the ISI in particular, seem obsessed with India. Their support of the Taliban is, as Kissinger says, designed to prevent encirclement were India and Afghanistan to concert their interests against Pakistan. I can't say whether this obsession is based on a realistic Indian threat, but I frankly don't see much that either side here has to gain from an all-out war.
Were war to break out between India and Pakistan it would endanger the lives of billions of people and involve all the "usual suspects" in an unpredictable and thus extraordinarily dangerous crisis. At a minimum, the US, UK, Russia, China, and Iran would be drawn in, and possibly Israel and the rest of NATO as well. I don't even want to contemplate the horror of a nuclear exchange that would spread radioactive contamination across much of Asia and Oceania and potentially around the world. Despite all the attention we lavish on the Middle East, we should be turning our focus further southeast toward where the real danger lies.
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2011-09-13, 23:19 | Link #16524 | |
NYAAAAHAAANNNNN~
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 35
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Honestly speaking, our place has those terrorists lying in wait fo too long that the people and the governments have be getting real complacent. A few auxiliary security personnel I know of complained that they don't get enough training, are told to rely on textbook profiling, and are told by their bosses to suck up to the clients, even to the extent of abandoning proper vehicle and bag checks so "their clients can get back on their business and not sue their company". I wonder how they are going to go up against a car with its insides lined with makeshift cooking-oil doused blankets sandwiched between ceramic floor tiles, held together by masking tape, with their .38 revolvers and 9mm MP5s. Even a Remington 870 shotgun would have a better chance of injuring the driver.
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2011-09-14, 00:01 | Link #16525 | ||
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2007
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As for the obsession part, IMHO, the Indians has as much an obsession with the Pakistan as likewise. It almost feel that history and geo-politics has locked them in a cage duel that is going to continue in the near future. What's remarkable (at least for me) about Kissinger's comments is the height it elevates one's understanding of problems and challenges in Afghanistan. All the media talks unceasingly about Al-qaida or Taliban, yet we learn that the outside forces are much more deep rooted, and the US faces very delicate and hard choices on the future of its presence. |
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2011-09-14, 00:11 | Link #16526 |
NYAAAAHAAANNNNN~
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 35
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Can you believe Wall Street?
Yes I can. Once in a while the veil is lifted on the masse of gurus to reveal the true sages and their words of wisdom. Probably the best time to read and learn before the veil drops again. Though there is a problem of finding them though. Why China would love ‘President Rick Perry' This article, although critical yet hilarious, is rather true. China is blazing ahead while the Americans are still yanking at each others' pants in a gigantic atomic wedgie competition. However, the article missed out the fundamental principle of "What goes up, must come down". There are miniscule signs (other than the train crash last month) that China's quest for economic supremacy may be its undoing. Like one of the comments which pointed out about its "ghost mini-Shanghais" of shopping malls and other amenities, there could be a possibility that China might implode the way Japan did. Coupled with its high inflation rate and large income divide, it might serve to be a major problem in China's growth over the next decade or so. Then again, it might only be a small drawback for the Middle Kingdom since US and Europe are still screwing themselves with their internal political warfare and stagnating economies, making it easier for the former to be ahead of their rivals in terms of technology, military and economy.
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2011-09-14, 00:12 | Link #16527 |
Gamilas Falls
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 47
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Considering the area of India and its surrounding have been in conflict or some sort for a very, very long time. It has been the subject of one empire/kingdom or other's attempt to unify the place. The only time it has been unified is under the British Crown.
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2011-09-14, 00:49 | Link #16528 | |
Takao Tsundere Cruiser
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Classified
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Jackie Kennedy post-assassination interviews released
One thing about the interview caught my eye. Quote:
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2011-09-14, 01:29 | Link #16529 |
* >/dev/null
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Surrey, UK
Age: 40
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Ah, sorry; I misread the theme of your post. There is of course a rather large cultural difference between the aristocratic class and the rest. I can't actually recall talking with an aristocrat (or probably more likely their children), so either they're not that many of them around, or they keep themselves well isolated .
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2011-09-14, 03:16 | Link #16530 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2007
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Are you sure the article doesn't belong to a laughter a day thread? I agree with the hilarious part: it is like those animes that are so bad that the worse it gets, the more hilarious it is. Actually, the only part that's contains a fraction of truth is probably the claim that American is falling behind in education, given that such a lousy assay can appear in a major website is a statement in itself . Here is the pattern of the above mentioned assay. Point 1: Mr. Smith is actually a dog. My next door neighbor, who is said to be quite knowledgeable in dogs, said that Mr. Smith is a dog. So he must have sharp teeth, and no wonder he is hairy. I am sure he pees at light poles when no body is looking, and he might sniff others butts, too. I am afraid of rabid dogs. Is he one? Even if he is not one now, he might be one in a few days. Better take care that now than later. What? He walk with two legs? Well, dogs do that sometimes. I bet he is the special kind. repeat until you get all your 11points. |
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2011-09-14, 04:11 | Link #16531 | |
NYAAAAHAAANNNNN~
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 35
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True to that China (and probably the rest of the world) outpaces US in Science and Maths and almost everything else (other than dirty but legal tricks to make money), point 5 he was making has some element of truth in it - China often uses the greenback to purchase material things overseas, thus when the dollar becomes worthless, the Australians would be technically the sad men with the empty sack. Their own currency is made "safe" through domestic circulation and consumption rather than printing more to allow it to be exchanged for other currencies - probably the cause of the unusually high Chinese inflation as money demand increases against the stagnant money supply. Or maybe he is printing that article as a counter to the equally hilarious 2012 elections : fighting a clown performance with another.
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2011-09-14, 05:36 | Link #16532 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2007
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@SaintessHeart,
The Chinese education outpacing its US counterpart is just a myth. It really depends on where you look. Take Beijing or Shanghai and compare it to some random town in US? Sure. I am sure the Singapore education is vast superior than some town in Hokkaido, but I would hesitate to pick a winner between Singapore and Tokyo. In China's vast hinterlands, the education condition is not optimistic at all. For one thing, the basic Chinese systems is only 9 years, comparing to 12 in the US, and there are a lot of drop out even at that level. The teachers are poorly paid, and hence rural areas have a huge lack of decent quality teachers. I started my 7th grade in a boarding school in the nearest city, and the same style all the way to college. The Chinese universities are not known for their merits either (it is getting better, though). The other day in a BBC documentary (shot in around 2007) says that the percentage of over all GDP that Chinese has invested in education lags behind many African countries, and I am willing to believe it. As for resources, what can I say? It is a quite complicated issue. The nation has a huge population, what can you do about it? Start the third world war to kill part of it? Per capita, I am sure the numbers will be far below average. There is yet another aspect to it. China needs a lot of resources to fuel its export sector, so part of the resource are not destined for China: they just pass through China with limited added value and go to a more developed nation. Think about all those dirt cheap spoons you can get in Walmart. They need either crude oil or iron ore to produce. China is doing some dirty job for the developed world while large internationals gets the bigger pie (google up the profit margin of Walmart and Chinese manufacture). I know this economical model is flawed. The longer it lasts, the worse the crash will be. But it won't change over night, and there are active oppositions from both sides (multinationals in the US and exporters in China, for example). Even changes are accompanied by sinophobia alarmists like Mr. Farrel. By the way, I absolutely hate a particular term Farrel has used: "economic warfare". That enrages me more than anything else. The word he is looking for is "symbiotic". The two economies are so dependent on each other that if one fails, the other one is sure to fail. Hell, the US is the world's largest example of "too big to fail". Quote:
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2011-09-14, 07:33 | Link #16533 | ||||
NYAAAAHAAANNNNN~
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 35
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However, what I am bringing up is that China is getting better while US is getting worse at their education system. Education has to be consistent throughout the ages and constantly adapt to the newest ideas and methods in every field. If I am not wrong, US schools tend to have a too relaxed standard of teaching, whereas China has a more stringent one. The Chinese put alot of emphasis on Maths and Science - it is unfair for my local kids to even compete with them in the Secondary level maths Olympaid when they are only 1 year older and have known the entire calculus at the back of their hand. To train scientists, researchers and inventors, a strong background in the sciences must be present, as well as a powerful imagination for logical ideas. China already has the former, whereas US, mostly, has neither. Quote:
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2011-09-14, 08:38 | Link #16534 |
books-eater youkai
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Betweem wisdom and insanity
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Moody's cuts French banks, eurobond talk lifts markets
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...78B24R20110914
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2011-09-14, 09:40 | Link #16535 | |
NYAAAAHAAANNNNN~
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 35
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2011-09-14, 12:03 | Link #16537 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Actor to Plead Guilty to Leaking Black Swan to BitTorrent
"A Screen Actors Guild member who leaked the Oscar-winning Black Swan and
other first-run films to BitTorrent has agreed to plead guilty to a single criminal copyright-infringement charge, according to court records. Wes DeSoto had his Los Angeles apartment raided by FBI agents earlier this year, after a Motion Picture Association of America piracy officer advised tipped off the feds that high-quality digital copies of five feature films had shown up on The Pirate Bay while still in theaters. The bootlegs were review screeners provided through the iTunes store to members of the Screen Actors Guild. The authorities pinpointed DeSoto as the culprit through digital watermarks in the movies, according to an FBI affidavit. (.pdf) DeSoto, who recently played a small role in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, agreed Monday to plead guilty to one count of breaching the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005, which makes it a crime, punishable by up to three years in prison, to release a work online that is “being prepared for commercial distribution.”" See: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/201...eener-seeding/ |
2011-09-14, 12:38 | Link #16538 |
Asuki-tan Kairin ↓
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Fürth (GER)
Age: 43
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You mean the same guy who oversaw the de-installment of Salvador Allende? Well, you have picked a connoisseur of anti democrats - of course he is an expert in such matters (irony intended ).
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Last edited by Jinto; 2011-09-14 at 12:47. Reason: something was missing |
2011-09-15, 07:10 | Link #16540 |
books-eater youkai
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Betweem wisdom and insanity
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Pakistan says U.S. warning on militants hurts ties
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...78E22A20110915
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current affairs, discussion, international |
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