Posts by mark taslov
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God, how embarrassing...
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and 'pologies for lack of suitable punctuation
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the report i mentioned was on NBC
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more importantly Rich of Obervationz, i think is the disingenuousness of your reply adequately reaffirms and mirrors that vague perception of threat and or discreditation the people here also feel, when outsiders here offer to 'improve' their political system.
it's one helluvan eye-opener, watching George H W Bush (first ambassador to China) within China, speaking frankly positively and almost with admiration for the Chinese system, making no mention of democracy, followed up by an NBC interview with a US athlete in front of the Forbidden city mentioning nothing of the political system, in which the reporter curtails by mentioning this country "without democratic freedoms".
who holds the incentive there?
the real question is.
who do democratic citizens trust more?
our countries?
or our private media providers?
who issues our passports? marriage licences? birth/death certificates? educates our children? cares for us when we're sick?
and why should we believe the media portrayal and popular definition of democratic governments as institutes to be doubted, satirized, mocked and popularly undermined?
how does that benefit the growth and progress of the nation?
but far be it from me to suggest any change to any system. -
What we need to have is a national government with esteemed national figures: Jim Bolger, Colin Meads, Paul Holmes, Don Brash, Eric Watson, Brian Tamaki. All working together to do what's best for us with none of those petty distractions of western-style democracy.
guys who didn't even make it through high school system, let alone university, governing our country Rich? for real? because what, they've got personality?
they pick them young. they are educated. Hu Jin Tao is an engineer, it makes sense, it's why we don't get subordinates to elect managers in companies. who would I pick? Ms friendly or Ms efficient? Ms friendly. Not a surefire recipe for building empires. -
on whose behalf? Not to be presumptuous, but being acutely aware of a very small and relevant section of society whose rights have been undermined. I think in the main, the thing that has staggered me this year leading up to these Olympics, is that, having been bent over backwards by employers in the name of the event; Myself and other New Zealanders have found despite signing the FTA with the various associated benefits allocated to the heavily populated signee, that We, in negotiating this document did nothing to improve support for New Zealanders working here. Furthermore that advocacy for employed kiwis here, in the afterglow of this monumental signing, is negligible and has been undermined considerably since the days of John McKinnon. Whether that is due to lack of concern for New Zealanders' rights outside New Zealand or just sheer laziness on the part of the MFAT is in question.
What Emma says above is accurate, the main issue for me as i see it with regards to the offshore exponents for a change of political system here is, what are these perceived advantages of democracy?
I can understand the need to press for increased freedoms and rights, but that process is already well underway in China, the more singular issue on western people's minds seems to "when will Chinese get the vote", I see no advantages. Why introduce a hurdle every 3 or 4 years to impair implementation of long term vision?when the new zealand team marched out, I noted they were still dressed like bogans/goths but more deciduously, still waving that tired old flag. And I don't know what i was hoping for, I guess I've been here too long where change happens overnight, but i guess i was expecting someone in the beehive might have thrown caution to the wind and decided to use this occasion to trial a silver fern on black (which would to my eye, actually match the outfits), in the knowledge that if the move didn't come off in the eyes of the New Zealand public then it could be explained as a simple err of judgement. But no, same old 'union jack four stars'.
Helen Clark went into detail about changing the flag on Hardtalk last year, and she went to some lengths to stress that something as important as a flag change would require a referendum, having weathered years of protest and domestic conflict over the introduction of some very controversial laws which rightly or wrongly were passed without referendum.
It just seems that democracy is too often used as excuse to inhibit change and progress, while simultaneously completely overruled if a ruling party has a pigeon to shoot (see Iraq war, see electoral finance act)so from here to there, the primary difference seems to be
totalitarian here-where those with vision can see that vision pushed to its potential at the expense of the minority regardless of the rights of the individual with the sole aim being betterment of the nation as a whole with the primary focus being economic progress enabling a real improvement in the quality of people's lives
democracy there-where those with vision will be ousted and those without will be installed for often arbitary reasons, lacking the balls to initiate anything which will substantially improve the nation economically in the longterm due to fear of being ousted, instead suggesting nationwide referendums to change a flag.
With that kind of leadership from the top down, it's very easy for Chinese from the bottom up to scoff at and ignore suggestions to change its system.
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bites tongue...
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Beijing: Ignoring it is not an option
There is simply too much there; including the potential that something may go terribly wrong. I don't know about you, but I don't think I'm going to be able to take my eyes off Beijing this month.
Russell Brown 2008
yet another western media shaman with a hardon for disaster, catastrophe and everything but the sport,
originality is not an option... -
more importantly, on a document designed for international consumption what the hell does the word 'pakeha' mean to anyone except new zealanders?
that would be cauc+asian?
or in the case of the Taslov family
asian pakeha -
again, what is this 'Asian ethnic group'?
someone from one of 55 countries?
Israeli and Iranian cuisine served with a black Russian chasera 60 page internet report without using a single instance of the word pornography?
perhaps an email to karishma.kripalani is in order
name like that, sure to be part of the stereotypical Asian ethnic group.unemployed's spelt with an 'o'
(page 60)AUT...