(08-29-2017, 01:35 PM)John J. Xenakis Wrote:

(08-29-2017, 01:23 PM)Warren Dew Wrote:

(08-29-2017, 12:09 PM)John J. Xenakis Wrote:

(08-28-2017, 10:02 PM)John J. Xenakis Wrote: >   China and India made surprising announcements on Monday that they
>   had agreed to pull back troops to reduce tension on Bhutan's
>   Doklam Plateau.  

(08-29-2017, 08:56 AM)Warren Dew Wrote: >   Surprising to you, maybe, but only because of your irrational
>   paranoia about China.  

Lol!  Yeah, like my "irrational paranoia" about North Korea and
al-Qaeda.  Go figure.

If you think North Korea doesn't have nuclear missiles yet, your irrationality there is in your complacency, not paranoia.  Even the perpetually behind the curve US intelligence services have finally admitted that the tests from a year ago were of missile mountable warheads.

Fine.  North Korea has ten nuclear missiles, while China has hundreds.
And yet, you live in a bubble where your state of denial is so great,
that NK's ten missiles bother you and Kinser, but China's hundreds of
missiles don't.  I guess you think that China has only nice missiles,
while NK has nasty missiles.  Peace in our time.

It's really amazing.  People my age have wondered our whole lives how
Hitler could have so thoroughtly fooled everyone in Britain except
Churchill, and now we know why.  That mystery has finally been solved
for me, as I see it unfold again.  It's truly astonishing.

• Britain's Labor party makes dramatic U-turn on Brexit policy proposals
  
• UK's Tory government struggles with Brexit policy positions
  
• Ireland calls Theresa May's Irish border proposal 'delusional'
  

• The highest priority issue would be "citizens' rights." This
  refers to UK citizens living in the EU-27, and EU-27 citizens living
  in the UK. There are 5.4 million of these, and their lives have been
  thrown into chaos by the Brexit referendum, since they have no idea
  whether they'll continue to be living and working as they have been.
  The issues involve things like pensions, social security, work
  benefits, medical care, and so forth. A recent proposal by Theresa
  May has been rejected by the EU as providing insufficient rights for
  EU citizens living in Britain.
  
  
• The next highest priority is the "divorce bill." The EU wants to
  charge Britain about €60 billion in payments already committed to
  farmers, scientists, and a variety of programs. There have been some
  reports of an agreement of an annual €10 billion contribution to
  the EU during the transitional period, with the remaining terms to be
  negotiated.
  
  
• The third divorce issue is the land border between Northern
  Ireland, which is part of Britain, and the Republic of Ireland, which
  is an independent country that will remain part of the European Union.
  The EU-27 is requiring that all parts of the "Good Friday Agreement"
  be maintained, which means that there should be free flow of people
  and goods across the border.

• European Union lays out demands for Britain over Brexit negotiations (30-Apr-2017)
  
  
• Brexit: The die is cast, and the EU is playing hardball (31-Mar-2017)
  

• Sectarian violence in Northern Ireland grows again (23-Jun-2011)
  
  
• England threatened with IRA terrorists from Northern Ireland (12-May-2016)
  
  
• Fallout from Brexit: Impact on geopolitics, economics, and stock markets (25-Jun-2016)
  

(08-29-2017, 07:57 PM)Warren Dew Wrote:

(08-28-2017, 11:12 AM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: Why Russia now hates the Democrats, the Clintons and Obamas, is not merely because that faction represent "Western Decadence" contra Duginism. Another reason Russia hates them is because they have finally awakened to the Single Clenched Fist and looming resurgence of the East Bloc. We can see this in the vast changes in nuclear and military posture which occurred mid this decade. Now these changes may been too little too late but nonetheless we had seemingly once and for all abandoned, rightfully, the sad and naive notions of "The Peace Dividend" and "The West / US Won the Cold War." No, we were merely deceived by The Shape Shifting Beast. We did not win the Cold War. In any case, The Beast started to get up and dance at the start of this decade. Obama reacted appropriately, and we were situated to continue. NATO would have been bolstered and we would have readopted the Contra Iron Curtain strategy of the Cold War. The SCO would have none of this. They knew our own Western factions aligned with Duginism were the answer. We (the collective "we") blundered into electing them. And now here we are. Blundering our way into being defeated and possibly conquered by East Bloc 2.0.

The fact that we fought Germany in WWII doesn't change the fact that we won WWI.  Similarly, even if we end up fighting Russia again, that doesn't change the fact that we won the Cold War.

If you think the resurgent eastern bloc is a threat, it's hard to see how you can view Obama as doing the right thing when he eliminated the US missile shield presence in Poland that Bush had started on.  Fortunately Trump seems to be planning to put it back.

(08-29-2017, 08:26 PM)Warren Dew Wrote: North Korea has on the order of ten nuclear missiles, China has hundreds, and Russia has over a thousand.  If the numbers were the main thing that mattered, you'd be most worried about Russia.  Yet, you ignore Putin just like people ignored Hitler.

It makes sense to focus on North Korea right now because that's the problem that can be solved - but only for a short time.  If we got North Korea to give up its nukes, that would set an example on proliferation.  Iran wouldn't try to get them, we could start putting pressure in Pakistan and India, and eventually we might even pressure China, France, England, and Russia to give up theirs.

Putin can see that possibility, which is why he is doing everything possible to prevent the US from taking care of the North Korean nuclear problem.  China can probably see it too, but they are actually close enough to be severely threatened by North Korea, so they figure any future steps the US might take can be dealt with later.

The fact that there are bigger threats around in the form of Russia and China does not mean we shouldn't bother to deal with the lesser threats like North Korea.

• Anti-government tensions grow in Cameroon's English-speaking regions
  
• Violence grows as Cameroon cracks down on Anglophone activists
  
• Cameroon will use police and soldiers to force children to go to school.
  

• Cameroon: One person killed in English-speaking vs French-speaking civil unrest (23-Nov-2016)
  
  
• Cameroon's president finally caves in, restores internet to English speakers (21-Apr-2017)
  
  
• Cameroon shuts down internet for English-speakers protesting French-speakers (15-Feb-2017)
  

• Vietnam protests China's military drills near the Gulf of Tonkin in South China Sea
  
• India and Vietnam become allies in confronting China
  

• China and India pull back from Doklam, while North Korea sharply escalates missile crisis (29-Aug-2017)
  
  
• UK to send warships to South China Sea, as China's neighbors militarize (28-Jul-2017)
  
  
• Vietnam buys cruise missiles from Russia to threaten China (02-May-2015)
  
  
• Vietnam, Philippines unite to confront China in South China Sea (26-Mar-2014)
  

(09-01-2017, 08:26 AM)Cynic Hero 86 Wrote: Why is the US helping India and Vietnam when India and Vietnam already have treaty alliances with Russia. Only a boomer would be dumb enough to get involved in someone else's fight and take hits to keep someone else from taking those hits. The Boomer already exceeded that natural generational time-limit of ruling tenure, so the boomer has no right to be so controlling of the important policies because the boomer shouldn't even be in the seats of power anymore. The selfishness of the boomer, especially in regard to extending US help to other Nations without the US extracting its pound of flesh in exchange for that help, is obvious. The boomer obsession with ensuring that america is the "good guy" in any conflict is also a manifestation of that generations extreme selfishness. Death to Neoliberalism, death to globalism.

John X please reply to the preceding paragraph.

(09-01-2017, 08:45 AM)John J. Xenakis Wrote:

(09-01-2017, 08:26 AM)Cynic Hero Wrote: Why is the US helping India and Vietnam when India and Vietnam already have treaty alliances with Russia. Only a boomer would be dumb enough to get involved in someone else's fight and take hits to keep someone else from taking those hits. The Boomer already exceeded that natural generational time-limit of ruling tenure, so the boomer has no right to be so controlling of the important policies because the boomer shouldn't even be in the seats of power anymore. The selfishness of the boomer, especially in regard to extending US help to other Nations without the US extracting its pound of flesh in exchange for that help, is obvious. The boomer obsession with ensuring that america is the "good guy" in any conflict is also a manifestation of that generations extreme selfishness. Death to Neoliberalism, death to globalism.

John X please reply to the preceding paragraph.

Reply: You're a moron.

(09-01-2017, 08:26 AM)Cynic Hero Wrote: Why is the US helping India and Vietnam when India and Vietnam already have treaty alliances with Russia. Only a boomer would be dumb enough to get involved in someone else's fight and take hits to keep someone else from taking those hits. The Boomer already exceeded that natural generational time-limit of ruling tenure, so the boomer has no right to be so controlling of the important policies because the boomer shouldn't even be in the seats of power anymore. The selfishness of the boomer, especially in regard to extending US help to other Nations without the US extracting its pound of flesh in exchange for that help, is obvious. The boomer obsession with ensuring that america is the "good guy" in any conflict is also a manifestation of that generations extreme selfishness. Death to Neoliberalism, death to globalism.

John X please reply to the preceding paragraph.

• Kenya's Supreme Court issues 'historic' ruling, overturning presidential election
  
• John Kerry and other election observers come under harsh criticism
  

• The election computer network was a mess. Eight days before
  the election, Chris Msando, who was in charge of IT systems for
  Kenya's electoral commission, went missing eight days before the
  election. His naked body was found three days later with his left
  hand and fingers broken, a swollen injury on his head, and evidence of
  strangulation. Nobody has been arrested for Msando's murder, but many
  people suspect that his murder was part of rigging the election.
  Odinga claimed that the election computer network servers had been
  hacked.
  
  
• The paper tally sheets were a mess. Each district was supposed to
  provide paper tally sheets to support the vote count in that district,
  as it had been transmitted over the election computer network.
  However, at least 20-25% of the tally sheets had disappeared, or did
  not have the appropriate watermark, suggesting that they had been
  fabricated.
  
  
• Odinga claimed that his poll watchers had found different vote
  tallies in some district than had been reported to the electoral
  commission.
  
  
• Odinga had challenged the election results in 2007, and his
  concerns were ignored. This triggered a violent inter-tribal
  bloodbath, between Odinga's Luo tribe and his opponent's Kikuyu tribe,
  killing more than 1,300 people and displacing 600,000, and punctuated
  by numerous atrocities. There has been a lot of nervousness in Kenya
  about a possible repeat of that violence, and it's possible that the
  judges were afraid that if they simply threw out Odinga's case, then
  it would trigger the violence again.

• Kenya fears violence as opposition refuses to accept presidential election results (14-Aug-2017)
  
  
• Torture and murder of election official raise fears of violence in Kenya (01-Aug-2017)
  
  
• Increasing violence in Kenya revives fears of tribal war (07-Jun-2016)
  
  
• Kenya protests take an increasingly dangerous turn (08-Jun-2016)
  

• Post-election massacre in Kenya raises concerns of tribal war (02-Jan-2008)
  
  
• Ethnic revenge massacre in Kenya kills 41 (22-Dec-2012)
  
  
• Kenya's herders attack well-known conservationist, stoking tribal tensions (24-Apr-2017)
  
  
• Herders invade ranches in Kenya, ambush and kill British ranch owner (07-Mar-2017)
  

(09-01-2017, 09:14 PM)Warren Dew Wrote:

(09-01-2017, 08:26 AM)Cynic Hero Wrote: Why is the US helping India and Vietnam when India and Vietnam already have treaty alliances with Russia. Only a boomer would be dumb enough to get involved in someone else's fight and take hits to keep someone else from taking those hits. The Boomer already exceeded that natural generational time-limit of ruling tenure, so the boomer has no right to be so controlling of the important policies because the boomer shouldn't even be in the seats of power anymore. The selfishness of the boomer, especially in regard to extending US help to other Nations without the US extracting its pound of flesh in exchange for that help, is obvious. The boomer obsession with ensuring that america is the "good guy" in any conflict is also a manifestation of that generations extreme selfishness. Death to Neoliberalism, death to globalism.

John X please reply to the preceding paragraph.

While I don't really disagree regarding globalism, I do have to point out that both the dominant generational types - Civics and Idealists - tend to be at the top for more than their fair share of the time.  Given it's mostly the elder Boomers who have dominated the Presidency so far, you might end up with another decade or two of us if younger Boomers also get a turn.

The younger GIs did a better job than the older ones; maybe the younger Boomers will do a better job than the older ones too.

• Floods in South Asia kill 1,400 people in four countries
  
• Kenya's president Kenyatta lashes out as Supreme Court judges as 'crooks'
  
• Burmese Buddhist attacks on Muslim Rohingyas in Myanmar becoming full-scale genocide
  

(09-02-2017, 08:59 PM)John J. Xenakis Wrote: ****
**** Burmese Buddhist attacks on Muslim Rohingyas in Myanmar becoming full-scale genocide
****

Attacks by Burmese Buddhists, led by Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu,
since 2011 as we've been reporting,
are now clearly crossing the line into full-scale
genocide.

Buddhists have been slaughtering Rohingyas, raping women and burning
down villages in a policy to exterminate them.  Bangladesh, which
already hosts 400,000 Rohingya refugees, earlier refused to allow any
more to enter, but they've reversed that policy.  In the last few
days, 60,000 more Rohingyas have crossed the Naf River into Bangladesh
to flee the Buddhist violence, and more are crossing every day.
However, even that path is dangerous, as Burma's army on foot and in
helicopters are shooting dead any Rohingyas they seen fleeing to
Bangladesh, leaving numerous dead bodies in the river.

When the Rohingyas do reach the Bangladesh side, they can turn around
and see their villages being burnt to the ground, and other Rohingyas
being shot to death.

This is rapidly turning into a full-scale genocide, similar to last
century's Nazi Holocaust of the Jews, Stalin's Holodomor in Ukraine,
and Pol Pot's Killing Fields in Cambodia.  The only difference between
these is the methods used to implement the "holocaust."  BBC

Related: Violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Myanmar/Burma escalates dramatically (28-Aug-2017)


KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan,
Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, Isaac Okero, Law Society of Kenya,
Myanmar, Burma, Ashin Wirathu, Rohingyas, Bangladesh, Naf River

Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal

John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum:    http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe

(09-03-2017, 01:15 PM)Cynic Hero 86 Wrote: > Ha Ha the Burmese military is doing the world a service by ridding
> a region of the Islamic scourge. The Muslims by embracing
> barbarism deserved what they got.

(09-03-2017, 01:38 PM)John J. Xenakis Wrote:

(09-03-2017, 01:15 PM)Cynic Hero Wrote: >   Ha Ha the Burmese military is doing the world a service by ridding
>   a region of the Islamic scourge. The Muslims by embracing
>   barbarism deserved what they got.  

No, it's the Buddhists and Burmese who are embracing barbarism --
just like Pol Pot's Buddhists, and Stalin's and Hitler's
Christians.

(09-03-2017, 08:44 PM)Warren Dew Wrote: > Your own source says that the muslims are killing buddhists, too,
> including a bunch of policemen, though I notice you omitted that
> part from your post. To me this sounds like an ethnic war and the
> muslims just happened to be on the losing side. In some conflicts
> there are no good guys.

• Will we have to accept a world in which North Korea is a nuclear power?
  
• World leaders express outrage and call nuclear test 'unacceptable'
  
• Will the United States take some military action against North Korea?
  

• China threatens India, as Trump threatens North Korea (09-Aug-2017)
  
  
• Rex Tillerson warns China is risking 'open conflict' with the United States (03-Aug-2017)
  
  
• South Korea approves new THAAD deployment after North Korean missile test (30-Jul-2017)
  
  
• America's likely response to N. Korean test: THAAD, Aegis missile defense systems (14-Feb-2017)
  
  
• South Korea announces 'Massive Punishment and Retaliation' and decapitation for N. Korea (12-Sep-2016)