Posts by Danyl Mclauchlan
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
I have read that there are not insignificant percentages of both Russian and Chinese people who yearn for the days of Stalin and Mao
Amazing that the Russians would prefer the bad old days when capitalism, democracy and leaders like Yeltsin and Putin have bought them such freedom and prosperity . . .
-
You also linked to an Iraqi blogger than had a very pessismistic view of things, Iraq the Model has a bit of a different take.
Maybe Riverbends view of the life of women in Iraq is different from Omars because . . . she's a women. I'm a little wary of River however - I think a case could be made that her family were senior Baath party members so she may have something of an axe to grind.
As for Iraq the Model I'd be willing to bet money that in thirty years time government archives will show that the whole damn thing is being written by a couple of CIA analysts in Virginia. As far as Omar is concerned there is no insurgency, no sectarian violence and no civil war - just lot's and lot's of rascally Al Qaeda terrorists up to their old tricks.
-
You know you're doing something wrong when a poll showing that 1/4 of the country wants their mass-murdering dictator back in power is seen as good news . . .
-
Alas Che I am profoundly deaf when there is background noise (called having a low signal to noise ability)
I have exactly the same problem - i blame those litte earbud headphone things. And last year this guy made it a lot worse.
It means I don't go to the pub much anymore since the experience consists of smiling and nodding and wondering what the fuck people are saying to me.
Also, no matter how many times you tell your partner you simply didn't hear her because the dishwasher was on she'll never believe you.
-
Brief notes from the Section 59 protests at Parliament:
I don't think I saw a single 'pro-Bradford bill' marcher that was old enough to have children.
Someone from the 'anti-Bradford bill' brigade was too busy booing the government to notice that their infant had crawled into the middle of Parliaments driveway. A policeman rescued the child.
-
The invasion isn't responsible for the conservative religious elements. They would have gained prominance whatever the manner of Saddam's demise. The Shi'ite religious leadership is powerful and conservative, had they overthrown Saddam on their own we would be seeing the same threat from conservative religion. To blame this on the US is absurd.
The clerics in Iraq were/are powerful and would have been a factor in any post-Saddam environment. But Iraq used to have a large, secular educated middle class that could have acted as a check against the power of the clerics. These people have almost all been killed or fled the country, a catastrophe that could have been prevented if the US had deigned to provide security in Iraq after the fall of Saddam instead of standing by and insisting that 'stuff happens'.
-
NoRightTurn seems to be a case study in how to run a political blog with a minimum of hysterical nuttiness.
The secret of his success seems to be an even-handed approach - he's just as dismissive of crazy lefties as he is of rightwing wing-nuts - and a healthy lack of the spin, shilling and general political lickspittlery that's widely prevelent in other New Zealand political blogs. -
I'm confident that James' argument - that the reason we don't agree with his politics is because we don't live in the US and are speaking outside our experience - would instantly collapse if he found himself in, say, New York, San Francisco or almost any area of New England where the majority of the population would also find his various opinions and viewpoints risible.
-
The oil for food money was going straight into Saddam's pockets, not to feeding the people as it was supposed.
Well this is simply untrue. Saddam certainly profited from the arrangement but the amounts were peanuts compared to his profits from illegal oil trading with Turkey and Jordan. Oil for food basically fed the entire country (unless you think all that wheat he bought from Australia 'lined Saddams pockets' somehow).
-
Whenever I go back to NZ I am struck by two things, how poorly informed many New Zealanders are about the US and what it is actually like there and what is actually going on, it seems that just about everyone can cite inane and superficial platitudes they have picked up from the media, but not much else. And unfortunately it seems that the certainty with which New Zealanders seem to hold these views is inversely proportionate to their actual knowledge of the subject matter, a most unfortunate combination.
I'm reminded of the story of Guy de Maupassant who ate dinner at a restaurant at the base of the Eiffel Tower every day because it was the only place in Paris where he didn't have to look at it.