It is a terrible thing if any US diplomats have been killed in Libya, as now appears likely. My condolences to the families of all affected. They add to the thousands of deaths in Libya, and one can only hope that finally some of the proponents of “liberal intervention” will realise that bombing people into democracy is not a viable policy.
But part of the responsibility for these deaths lies with the US and Israeli far right activists who made a film insulting Islam, with precisely the intention of provoking a spiral of violence. There are many interest groups longing to promote a perpetual climate of war and fear; some of them, like these filmmakers, are easier to identify than others.
Be it attacks on US diplomats in Libya or drone strikes on villagers in Yemen, it is all part of the same hateful cycle of violence – from which fortunes have been made in the arms, mercenary and security industries, and which climate of hatred has given cover and unflinching western support for resource grabs by Israeli illegal settlers.
So many people have poisoned what should be a beautiful world. The deaths of US diplomats in Libya get noticed. The evryday deaths of so many others in this manufactured conflict do not.
Well Angrysober you might have to rely on alternate medicine when the Nip government wants 70% of patient responsibility and the various health insurance schemes like 国民健康保険 go bust!
I recommend pure whole leaf organic aloe vera for prickly heat!
Thought for the Day:
One principle of democracy – you elect someone more capable than yourself to rule.
Very moving Mary:
“In a solemn ceremony in the US Capital today, following prayers, a moment of silence, and the playing of bagpipes, President Obama and members of congress began reading the names of the 1,455,590 Iraqi citizens killed so far during the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, the 4,801 US soldiers killed there, the 3,173 US-led coalition soldiers killed in Afghanistan, and the 12,008 known names of the estimated 20,000 Afghans civilians killed by our war against their country.
and the million Iraqi children lost to sanctions… the 4 millions displaced from happy homes…
@Brendan, feel free to ignore the unhappy Soba, he just trolls when he’s bored or drunk.
LONDON today – Sky News and BBC both keeping quiet over protests at US embassy in London … Now there’s a surprise!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4699213398059&set=o.177222022344935&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf
Macky;
“Ben Franklin; “The competitive anger between the two resulted in a propitious and well-defined cultural, intellectual and evolutionary end-game”
That’s a bold & bald assertion, care to back it up ?”
Cro-magnons and neanderthals? You’ve heard of them, right? They were competitors, but I don’t think they left any hyperlinks on the internet, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.
These two lines in a catch all piece there now Mark.
In London, about 200 protesters gathered outside the US embassy, burning the US and Israeli flags but there was no violence
Anti-Islam film protests
At least five people were killed on Friday in demonstrations over a film made in the US that mocks Islam – as protests spread around the world.
In Tunisia, three people were killed after crowds breached the US embassy compound in the capital Tunis.
The US embassy in Khartoum was also attacked, and one person was killed. There were further clashes in Yemen and Egypt. One person died in Lebanon.
/..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19602177#
@Ben Franklin, What’s with the facetious reply ?
I’m not deputing that they were indeed competitors, and that wasn’t your assertion; it was that “The competitive anger between the two resulted in a propitious and well-defined cultural, intellectual and evolutionary end-game”; which is quite a specific, if somewhat strange, statement to make, especially without any backing reasoning, or even linking referencing; how do you know it was the “competitive anger”, and not any other of many possible factors, that was the most determining influence as to how our evolution panned out ?
I always answer facetiously, when the question is facetious. WTF, exactly, did you need sourcing for; my opinion? I see ‘competitive anger’ every day in my dealings with others. Another word for ca, is ‘survival of the fittest’. Do you need sourcing for that?
I remember watching movies as a kid, and whenever an American was ever in a spot of bother aboard, they used to always say, “You can’t do that, I’m an American citizen”, or they would tell a translator to convey to those in charge, “Tell them/him that I/we are Americans”; sometimes it seemed as if it was meant as a threat, and other times, that being an American was meant to be so wonderously special, that people automatically treated them with utmost esteem & respect; guess it’s no mystery how they don’t use that line anymore in movies.
I know what you mean, cuz I still have the utmost respect for Brits.
@Ben Franklin, actually that last post was meant for another thread !
This is the reply for this thread;
So ‘survival of the fittest’ is the theory as you seem to be somewhat clumsily advocating !
Firstly, “survival of the fittest’ or “natural selection” theories have more to do with genetic mutations that gave certain species better advantages in surviving & thriving in their local environment, rather than advancement through competition; secondly, the incorrect shorthand habit of equating “survival of the fittest’, with “competition”, is itself problematic, as illustrated by the opposite view, that “survival of the fittest” actually supports the theory of co-operation & mutual aid as being the factors on which progression depended, because according to this theory, species that lived in communities tended to do better than species in which individuals struggled for life alone.
So you learned Google is your friend. Fancy that. I guess you have me in a quandary, as your parsed a posteriori platitudes make hash of a simple theorem. It is impossible to sector the factors of survival of a species, but your attempts to do so are laudable, even if it’s motivated by a compulsive desire to be correct. Thanks for playing. Here are your parting gifts.
BrrrrrrAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT !!!!!
Sorry. I could only conjure, one.
Ben Franklin;” It is impossible to sector the factors of survival of a species”
Yet you managed to assert that “competitive anger” was the predomonate factor !?
Anyhow, your bringing up of the theory of survival of the fittest in relation to my original point that of “how two mindsets deal differently with the predicament of the Human Condition, so differently in fact, that they cannot comprehend each other.”, implies that you think that the two mindsets cannot ultimately co-exist, and that one will fall eventually into an evolutionary dead end; a debateable position, but even if this was true, whats makes you so confident that it will not be the mindset that you yourself identify with, which will in the end turn out to be a evolutionary reject ?
” whats makes you so confident that it will not be the mindset that you yourself identify with, which will in the end turn out to be a evolutionary reject ?”
Now that’s a question with a point. I don’t know. That’s the Human condition. We can’t see what will happen tomorrow, much less what will happen in a decade. We have no insight which can survive the gauntlet of History, save our own speculations. I do know that knowledge is an advantage, and ignorance a disadvantage in that end-game. Couple that with cultural adaptation and curiosity, and your chances improve exponentially.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that there are protests against this film and incidentally no surprise, that these protests will continue and spread. The Innocence Of Muslims, depicts Mohammed as a fraud and shows him having sex and calling for massacres. The makers, supporters and financiers of this film care nothing about the “Freedom of speech” argument. Their motive was to be provocative and to generate hostility amongst Muslims throughout the Middle east and perhaps elsewhere, which in turn would result in mass protest. Their other objective was to promote reaction in the west against such protests, and to encourage the growing hostility in many people towards Islam and its followers. In this, the film makers and supportive politicians, have been encouraged by a generally Islamophobic western media who will jump at any opportunity to promote the perception of Islam being the greatest threat of the age. The deaths of the American diplomats are a regrettable consequence of reaction and are rightly condemned. However, to immediately link this event with a pre planned Al Qaeda action, is indicative of the lengths to which the Western governments and media will go in order to divert attention from the real issue, and to perpetuate the myth of the Islamic threat making a tenuous link of such events with the continuing “war on terror”.
Cultures, lifestyles and beliefs of different peoples are diverse. What we consider to be the right of free speech to lampoon aspects of our societies, politicians, religion or values, others would and do, consider as totally unacceptable and offensive in the extreme.
It is with this reality in mind that the film “The Innocence Of Muslims” has been made. The intervention of Terry Jones was a deliberate attempt to add fuel to the fire already created by the film makers, financiers and distributors in their sinister objectives of creating reaction in the Muslim world. In this respect they have been singularly successful.
Brendan, at 1:55pm on 15th Sept 2012:
Besieging/occupying/holding hostage and killing all have long pedigree. Think of the long US Embassy hostage crisis in Teheran 1979-1981. The Carter Presidency fell partly on account of the Iran situation in general but that in particular. Think of the Iranian Embassy siege and storming in London in 1980. Or of the Libyan Embassy crisis in the mid-1980s. Here is a list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attacks_on_diplomatic_missions
Much as I abhor the UK’s threats against Ecuador’s Embassy, I think it had little, if anything, to do with the destruction of the US Consulate and murders of US diplomats in Benghazi.
Interesting story of one of the female former Vice-Presidents of Iran and one-time US Embassy hostage-taker:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masoumeh_Ebtekar
Bet you didn’t know that Iran has had a number of female Vice-Presidents. I didn’t, till now.