Comments by "John Roberts" (@view1st) on "The Real News Network" channel.

  1. It's the culmination of neo-liberalism's 'triumph' - the effective destruction of the powerbase of the working class by the outsourcing of jobs, especially in heavy industry and manufacturing, the destruction of the public sector and the ethos that went with it, and the widespread automation of industry and the consequent decline in trade unionism with its ability to force capital to engaged in collective bargaining and thus ameliorate the plight of the poor and working class. In effect what we have is the neutralisation of workers and of organised labour as a class. And none of this has been accidental but a deliberate strategy systematically implemented over the last 30 years.
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  2. Excellent video! Tells us how it really is instead of how the corporate MSM would have us believe it to be. Real life versus fake reality.
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  3. Greece should default. Their position is economically untenable and what they are being asked to do by the Troika is fundamentally immoral. Logic says they should. Reason says they should. Commonsense says they should. Syriza is making unreciprocated concessions left, right and centre and selling off the family heirlooms and Greek heritage for next to nothing in return. It seems Syriza is not really a socialist party at all but just another social democrat party making that fatal compromise with capital that social democrat parties do all the time. GREXIT NOW!
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  4. Greece doesn't really have its own government but rather a government of foreign creditors (the so-called troika). They do not a answer to the Greek people and are callously indifferent to their suffering. What has happened to the Greeks is what happened in the Americas from the 1970's onwards under the neo-liberal Washington Consensus imposed by the USA through its proxies the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Same with Cyprus. And the other PIIGS - Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain
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  5. The sinister organisations behind this are probably trying to provoke a Tiananmen-style event and won't stop until they've succeeded.
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  6. To steal from your own workers is disgusting. Don't they make enough money already? These people should go to jail but instead they'll just fine the company. And when you consider also the tax scams these same companies use to avoid paying taxes, then it really does make you angry.
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  7. He's not really resigned. He's merely been reassigned to a new post within the US administration by the Israeli government.
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  8. Not even if you were starving, had no home, needed money for medicine, etc.? Who would be doing the mocking and why? Misguided people lied to and kept ignorant by an education system and media controlled by the rich (the real welfare abusers) that's who. No point in blaming yourself for being poor when it's not your fault.
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  9. Non-interference doesn't necessarily mean not helping countries that are in crisis. What it can mean - what it should mean - is helping those countries undergoing crisis in a way that doesn't exacerbate the crisis and gives meaningful humanitarian aid impartially to all who need it. The idea that the way to help a country is by invading, sanctioning or bombing it when more peaceful and sensible ways exist to resolve a crisis - which there are almost always are - makes no sense and is immoral.
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  10. There is no left wing in the USA. Actually, come to think of it, there is no left wing anywhere any more. The Cold War that was launched by the rich elites of the USA and western Europe - an open-ended class war on anything standing in the way of capital and, despite what some would would have you believe, still very much ongoing - has effectively destroyed anything that could have been called the organised left. It has taken them the better part of a century to accomplish but it has succeeded in reducing the so-called left to little more than a motley collection of supposedly 'progressive' organisations, rump unions and independent activists working on disparate projects and on an an ad hoc basis - easily infiltrated, divided and co-opted - and all (it seems to me) to be working more or less within existing paradigms. In effect, fascism has won and what we are seeing is the right's mopping-up operations against a 'left' that's not merely demoralised but comprehensively defeated. Francis Fukuyama, Aldus Huxley and George Orwell's dystopian futures may already be upon us.
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  11. That's the saddest thing about China and Russia, neither of them offer anything substantively different from what the USA offers, economically speaking. The economies and political leadership of both countries came into being and were made possible by US neo-liberalism.
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  12. Whose interests? 1. Those with genuine grievances. 2. Foreign governments. 3. Individuals and groups with their own agendas.
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  13. There is no such thing as humanitarian bombing. Neither is there such thing as humanitarian sanctions. And certainly not when carried out by people who are, directly or indirectly, responsible for much of the mayhem occurring in the first place. The best way to end internal conflicts is to try and get all sides to sit round a table and talk. Foreigners coming in from outside and causing more death and destruction isn't the answer. There are almost always better alternatives with war or sanctions being usually the least effective. Besides, what gives the West the right to intervene in the affairs of states that don't directly affect them or threaten them militarily whilst hypocritically denying those same countries the same right to interfere in theirs. The arguments of people who advocate intervention on humanitarian grounds usually take the form: Stalin is killing millions of his own people so let's try to save them by nuking Moscow. For most people, when you put it this way, the sheer absurdity of humanitarian intervention that will inevitably involve mass killing (which the intervention is supposed to stop) AND could backfire in a big way (by causing an even greater war) becomes apparent. And yet, THAT is exactly the argument advocates of humanitarian intervention propose. Apparently, when the target country is weak and can't fight back it seems to make perfect sense to interventionists. But it shouldn't because, weak or strong, whether applied to Stalin's Russia or Assad's Syria, the logic is still the same: you'll end up killing far more people and destabilising the region even further by intervening than by not intervening.
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  14. Seems like the UK and USA are destined for 3rd world status if their respective governments don't come up with a plan soon. ...Or a revolution!
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  15. Hopefully, bring about a better world.
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  16. Cronyism definitely but not Marxism.
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  17. Neo-liberal/neo-classical economics is an ideology masquerading as a science.
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  18. In principle? So what about in practice?
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  19. The question basically boils down to: who wants peace between Iran and the West more, the Russian Federation or the United States of America? Who loses by Iran having nuclear power and who gains?
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  20. "This is keynesian economics is major reason for economic collapse and subsequent austerity world wide. If you look at the real news channel, they tackle many facets and symptoms of keynesian economic, laissez faire capitalism." Keynesianism is quite opposite to laissez faire. Keynesian economics is premised upon the government, operating in a mixed economy of both public and private corporations, stimulating the economy by picking up the slack caused by lack of consumer demand, especially where the demand for goods and services provided by small to mid-sized private businesses is lacking. It calls for reliance on government regulation of the economy to achieve this only where there are market failures. Laissez-faire, on the other hand, believes that the economy should be entirely in private hands with no regulation whatsoever.
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  21. But that's exactly what the US military-industrial complex is: the Keynesian economic system of demand-side pump priming of the economy by spending taxpayer's dollars on military (weapons and wars). And you've had this system for the better part of 60 years. Keynesian economics has been the the tool the West - and not least the USA - has been using as its economic model. The only difference between genuine Keynesianism and Friedmanism/Hayekism is that Keynes advocated deficit financing as a temporary measure and that the government should spend taxpayer money on things that would directly stimulate the civilian economy thus benefiting everyone in society, whereas Hayek, et al want to use it exclusively to benefit the rich by abandoning the rest of society.
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  22. A probable reason for this disaster is airlines preferring to use a route that's cheaper (because shorter) than one that will take longer and be more expensive.
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  23. An accurate description of the British economy at 17:00 - sad but true.
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  24. I agree. That and to consolidate ownership of the means of production and distribution in the hands of a few corporations and banks.
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  25. So true. It's all a farce. How long the pretence will last is anybody's guess. Capitalism creates oligarchy/plutocracy based on private ownership and concentration of wealth and that wealth - and the power that goes with it - has become super concentrated in the hands of a few.
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  26. A guaranteed basic income is desirable but it must be in addition to, and NOT as a replacement of existing systems of welfare and social security for the poor and needy, which must be strengthened.
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  27. This form of financial wheeler-dealing is immoral and destructive. It should be outlawed and the first step is boycott with countries simply refusing to recognise their legality.
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  28. If democracy is kufr, then why are so many people in the Muslim world striving for it? And if this is your excuse as to why a Muslim government should deny its people the freedom of choice in who rules them - because of your interpretation ( and it is only your interpretation ) of holy scripture - then it's a very poor reason indeed, imo. Autocracy and oligarchy only benefit the rich few and in modern, that is to say progressive politics, governments exist to serve the people and not just the elites. I can see why your interpretation is so strongly advocated in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia: because it fosters loyalty to the royal family who otherwise would have no support.
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  29. +voicubogdan84 Why do you say that? It would be playing straight into the hands of those who are behind these demonstrations.
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  30. If they conclude a deal the USA will have no excuse to invade and Israel will be shouting in the wind. I think the USA has enough on its plate already. Like with Syria over its chemical weapons, Russia, by pushing Washington down the diplomatic track, has saved America from what might have been a disaster and hopefully opened the way for eventual normalisation of relations with Iran. Obama should be grateful.
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  31. WHAT are the criteria that the Iranians must meet before their nuclear activities are considered legitimate and are they reasonable and fair? And WHO gets to set them and decide if they've been met - the international community, Israel, USA? - and is this reasonable and fair?
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  32. Is Gaza's gas deposits a factor in Israel's actions? Undoubtedly! …And that of the United States too.
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  33. Does NATO have the right to swallow them up? Buffer states act to reduce the likelihood of war whereas absorption into NATO is likely to increase it. And besides, being a buffer state doesn't automatically mean loss of sovereignty or freedom, think Finland during the cold war or Poland between the wars.
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  34. Then why did the USA/EU organise a coup d'ètat in Ukraine specifically to put pro-NATO and pro-EU candidates in power and why does NATO continue to exist so long after the demise of the Soviet Union and Russian communism?
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  35. Global climate change may be occurring but whether it's anthropogenic is debatable and even if it is there is precious little we can do about it because, for one reason, the alleged causative agents - CO2, fossil fuels - have been building up since at least the 19th century and thus by now will have built up to levels that will take at least as long to dissipate... time that we don't have; and secondly, economic development - which is what globalisation theory says is the path to increased standards of living for the world's people - requires that countries make increased use of fossil fuels as an unavoidable part of their modernisation... so more countries pumping out more CO2 and using more fossil fuels. Then there is the greed and power factors to take into account: western oil and gas companies aren't going to let alternative technologies be developed if it means their profits will be reduced, and powerful western countries don't want other countries to be energy independent if it means reducing their leverage over them.
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  36. Perhaps the introduction of a land tax for property speculation and a 'Tobin' tax for stock market speculation might dampen peoples enthusiasm for unproductive speculation and incentivise them to invest in manufacturing and production.
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  37. Two things have to happen: - First, outside interference in the form of financial, political and military support for Ukrainian ultra-nationalists by the USA and EU must stop. Second, an interim ceasefire agreement brokered by the UN or OSCE that leads to a final settlement acceptable to all sides (possibly policed by UN or OSCE peace-keepers) should be arranged ASAP to bring this madness to and end. Getting everyone to sit round a table and discuss things in a calm and rational manner, free from outside interference, would be a good way of allowing the separatists and the nationalists to perhaps reach some sort of a compromise that respects both the wishes of ethnic Russians (separatists) whilst keeping the country united (nationalists) and at the same time isolates the extremists on both sides. But I guess the easiest and most obvious solution is actually the hardest and last option for people to consider. Maybe it's mere coincidence, but since the West 'won' the Cold War there seems to have been more instability in Europe than in all the last 65 years put together.
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  38. Democratic communism. Has anyone tried that yet?
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  39. " What will they say next? We own the moon? " No, they'll say "we own the Canadian Arctic ". And Harper will say "Yes sir, you sure do ".
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  40. Or extreme right and fascist. Little difference between the two really.
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  41. What you're talking about is capitalism, corporatism, fascism, not communism or socialism. Please get your facts in order.
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  42.  @justintime470  The government of the United States today reminds me of that of Japan in the 1930's after a military coup destroyed Japan's experiment with democracy. It seems to be made up almost entirely of warmongers, fanatical, as the Japanese were, in their beliefs and equally deluded as to their nation's strengths whilst remaining ignorant of its weaknesses.
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  43.  @nihleigleca6702  Not to mention the tentacles of its intelligence network and systematic infiltration of academia through think tanks and student opposition groups (from which Guido comes from).
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  44. The UN can only stop individual wars when they are being fought by nations that are militarily weak vis-à-vis the Permanent 5 of the Security Council (and even then the Council's members have to be united and one or more of the Council 's members have to have an overriding interest in doing so). Otherwise, it's left to the General Assembly (everyone yet no one) which then acts in a half-hearted and often inconsistent manner, delivering mixed results. As for war in general the answer is no because the UN wasn't created to stop war but to act as policeman and coordinator for the ongoing process of globalisation by the West.
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  45. What the climatologists don't seem to factor into their statements concerning anthropogenic climate change is the possibility of whether and to what degree certain governments may indeed be engaging in deliberate attempts to modify the climate, either locally or on a global scale. This is probably because such data is not available due to its secretive nature. As such, climatologists - whether in the cooling or warming camps - may not be factoring a possible secondary cause of climate change into their models, attributing the changes entirely to fossil fuel usage in industrialised countries. If such deliberate human-induced climate change is occurring (and I'm not saying it is) then discussions of how such change can be ameliorated is compromised by lack of knowledge about (or even admittance of the possibility of), such activities taking place as well as the ability to stop, such activities. For myself, I am of the opinion that climate change is occurring but am not quite convinced yet as to its principal cause being primarily anthropogenic, or whether we can do anything serious about it within our lifetimes.
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  46. What now - Iran deal or no deal? Israel 1, Iran 0, or vice versa? American-Israeli relations - better, worse, same?
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  47. +Brian Alsup And what's a QUEER and how does it differ from being GAY?
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  48. Just goes to show how interdependent the world economic system really is and how blunt an instrument sanctions are when used against other, developed economies.
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  49. What nonsense! Of course Ukrainians are Europeans. Ukraine is located in Europe, as is Russia. Besides, the 'Slav' is more of an invention of nineteenth century nationalists as it is an empirical description. That's not to deny the obvious cultural affiliations and common cultural traditions of the various ethnicities living in eastern Europe but the people you refer to as Slavs are as fully European culturally as anyone else. Bear in mind that the word 'Slav' may carry very different connotations depending on whether it's being used by a western European or an eastern European, and can be used as an insult, as when be used by Hitler as a racial slur suggesting backwardness and barbarism, as well as a badge of pride.
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  50. Another front opened up by the USA against Iran, this time by outright invasion by proxies after the usual subversion techniques had failed. Getting Saudi Arabia involved so directly and overtly in the chaos of the region might be a way of weakening it and giving a pretext for further US military intervention, whilst widening the chaos so much that Russia and Europe are both drawn into the conflict with Europe having to choose sides or Russia forced to work against its own best interests.
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  51. Has it ever occurred to you that Greece's debt is a debt so large that it simply cannot be repaid as a matter of mathematical logic irrespective of how much people may want to? To wit, you cannot get blood from a stone (though the troika are trying pretty damn hard). And that the initial loans given to Greece were given fraudulently in the first place in the certain knowledge that Greece was, under EU rules, ineligible for such loans, that they could never be paid back, and that Greece was almost certain to default? The simple matter is that the banks cheated and lied and broke the law. Under such circumstances - fraud - contracts can be annulled, as also by 'acts of God'.
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  52. +Shah Ismail Whatever they should have done then, the moment for doing it has long since past. We are no longer there, we've moved on and are here, in the present, and everybody - banks, Greece and the EU - must deal with present realities and their consequences. That means, at the very minimum, the realisation by its creditors that Greece cannot currently pay back the loan in full and at interest without being given another loan to pay off the first loan, which it is all too evident the EU/Troika are not willing to lend unless Greece declares bankruptcy and sells itself, lock, stock and barrel, to its creditors - which no self-respecting nation should be willing to do. Sorry, but I think you are applying too much hindsight to the situation -coulda, shoulda, mighta are not helpful here, in my opinion. In retrospect it's all to easy for critics to say what should have been done, much harder for them to propose practical solutions that are both workable and fair. It's just a start but if the debt owed by Greece is to be repaid at all then I think it wise that a debt moratorium be imposed until the country is in better shape and in its economy is up and running again. Interim, the austerity measures which are stifling the economies of the EU should be removed or modified to take account of reality.
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  53. +24jh42 Why can't they have a higher minimum wage, the Greeks are still in charge of their own country aren't they? If the Greek government wants to increase the minimum wage it's up to them (provided they can find the money from somewhere).
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  54. +voicubogdan84 An authentic protest movement doesn't need outside help because democracy begins at home. Foreigners cannot bring democracy to China, only the Chinese can do that. Thus the worth of a Chinese democracy that has been bought with American dollars is dubious at best.
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  55. Capitalism in long term decline you say? How long, like will it happen in my lifetime, or like the decline of feudalism, will it take a thousand years? And what will/is replacing it, neo-fascism?
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  56. The protests in Hong Kong will either dissipate naturally or be broken up by the police. Either way, I don't think they'll make the Chinese government budge one inch. The way in which the city was to be governed was decided at its hand over and if the Chinese government have decided that the arrangement isn't working then they'll change it whether those within or without Hong Kong like it or not. I think that economic autonomy rather than than political autonomy was the thought uppermost in the minds of the Chinese leadership when they created Hong Kong's political system. China cares more about the growth of the economy than the growth of democracy.
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  57. Agreed. And what goes for the USA and Canada goes for Europe, Australia and New Zealand too, the countries that comprise the West. Now, through means of the United Nations, an institution dominated by the West, no doubt there will be a push for the adoption of similar legislation by all other nations. It makes me wonder whether this is a very sly way of putting pressure on Russia and non-western countries with more conservative values.
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  58. +TheUnspokenAlias You know what they say about women being attracted to men of wealth and power… your bride might quite like the idea. ;-)
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  59. That facile slogan could be used to justify anything. Government is the problem... not fascism. Government is the problem... not communism. The monarch is the problem... not monarchy. The tyrant is the problem... not tyranny.
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  60. So what you're saying is that you would rather have a fascist tyranny in which the one percent rule and the other ninety-nine percent don't get any say than an imperfect democracy where forty-nine percent can be outvoted by the other other fifty-one percent? And you can't just have 'economic fascism' because fascism involves the takeover of the state by big business so you would end up with political fascism as well.
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  61. Al-Qaeda linked rebels have made strong advances […] I think you mean western paramilitary and special forces, mercenaries and terrorist cells linked to western intelligence agencies. Precious few of these so-called rebels come from within Syria itself. And Al-Qaeda, if it still exists á la 9/11, is, was and continues to be, a western intelligence asset. […] and rebel groups Do you mean western mercenaries and proxies? … with strong financial backing from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. And the United States and western Europe. Together with training facilities, safe havens and everything else it needs to keep it in the field slowly degrading the Syrian army in a prolonged war of attrition. Face it you guys, this is a war by and for the USA and its western allies on behalf of western economic interests. It's NOT an authentic civil war but a semi-conventional guerrilla war fuelled by the nation states of the West, not least the military-industrial complex and multinationals/banks of the USA.
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  62. The reason for the split, if indeed it is a split, is simply because the interests of Germany and Europe are not the same as the USA and sometimes differ substantially from each other. In most cases a compromise is worked out which resolves or ameliorates any crisis long before it becomes serious. This is what will probably happen with regards the differences between Germany and the US.
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  63. +leninstreet Crimea had been part of Russia for 3 centuries prior to the break up of the Soviet Union and was predominantly inhabited by people whose ethnicity was Russian so, in effect, Russia was merely taking back its own territory which had only ended up as Ukrainian - itself a newly created country that in its present form has never existed historically - because of internal boundary changes made when Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Union.
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  64. +leninstreet "So Russia has the right to create buffer states then. The peoples of those countries have no say in what they want because Russia apparently has the right to buffer states." I'm not saying Russia has a right to create buffer states or to override the right to self-determination by indigenous people, I'm merely acknowledging the fact that powerful states tend to surround themselves with smaller, weaker, states as a protection against equally powerful states with whom they might otherwise fight. They do this as an obvious way of reducing tensions and avoiding war, the tacit understanding being that in return for recognition the buffer state remains neutral. Hence, its not a good idea for another country to persuade the buffer state to join them in a hostile military alliance… which is exactly what NATO is and exactly what the USA is doing.
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  65. No, where a group of countries conspire to form a hostile alliance against another group of countries those countries can be expected to create a similar counter-alliance, which is what the Warsaw Pact was. Anyone who knows their history will have understood the reason behind the creation of the Warsaw Pact: a defensive alliance designed to repel an invasion by NATO, led by a country that had supported fascism and was dedicated to the destruction of the Soviet Union, an alliance that included Germany no less, the very country that had killed 20 million Russians and nearly destroyed it. But that is in the past and the Warsaw Pact is long gone. What we are faced with now is a hostile NATO led by a hostile, aggressive, imperialist and expansionist USA which, not content at having absorbed the eastern European states Russia had set up for its own protection, now wants to expand both its own and its proxy NATO army right to the borders of the Russian Federation itself. To the Russians this is 1939 all over again when, after the annexation of Poland, it shared a common border with a country hellbent on its destruction. Only now its worse, much worse; not just a few countries but the whole of western Europe. As I've already said, buffer states exist to separate powerful countries - or alliances! - that might otherwise go to war. The USA removes them at its -and the rest of Europe's - peril.
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  66. Marxism, Keynesianism, Friedmanism. They've all been tried. What's next?
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  67. Because the markets are rigged, is the simple answer.
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  68. #Gazzasore The US Federal Reserve does not want gold or silver to appear more attractive to investors than the US Dollar. It is therefore trying its best to keep the price of gold and silver down and stop it reaching parity with the Dollar. (Paper gold/silver, not physical, which it has little control over other than by resorting to outright theft and fraud)
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  69. What can the American public do? What Hugo Chavez did in Venezuela.
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  70. Unfortunately, that's not how capitalism works (and certainly not corporatism). The taxpayer is the one expected to foot the bill every time. Also, geoengineering is the big elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about; bring up the subject and it's like you're a conspiracy theorist or 9/11 truther.
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  71. Its own… plus those of NATO.
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  72. Nationalism or patriotism? Justified pride or arrogance?
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  73. The state. Its leaders. Power.
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  74. Turkey obviously doesn't want the Kurds in Turkey linking up with the Kurds in Iraq because they don't want to encourage Kurdish unity or give it any legitimacy to the Kurdish sstruggle for a state of their own. If Turkey helps them too much the Kurds in Turkey might just join up with the Kurds in Iraq and cause problems for Turkey later on. So, bearing this in mind, I think the position Turkey taken so far is reasonable and one I support. Arming and giving logistical support to non-Kurdish fighters is the best and safest option.
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  75. It would seem that all Israeli politicians are extremists regarding the question of an independent Palestinian state. Even the suggestion that the Palestinians exist as a people within Israel with as much right to exist there as Jewish Israelis is to them problematic and controversial.
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  76. "Everybody is hurting and the remedy involves justice for everyone regardless of race." I think we can all agree with that. :-)
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  77. I think that these protests will peter out soon; the protesters have gotten wind of whose behind their protests and cottoned on to what's afoot.
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  78. The meanings of the phrases "to cotton on" or "to cotton on to" and "to peter out" and "afoot". Chambers Dictionary peter /pēˈtər/ [ intransitive verb ] to dwindle away to nothing, be dissipated or exhausted ( with the word 'out' ). [ Origin unknown, orig US mining slang ] cotton /kotˈn/ cotton on (slang) (sometimes with to) to catch on. Oxford Dictionary peter /ˈpiːtə / verb [no object] decrease or fade gradually before coming to an end. Example: the storm had petered out. – ORIGIN early 19th century, of unknown origin. cotton /ˈkɒt(ə)n / verb [no object] informal ( cotton on ) begin to understand. Example: He cottoned on to what I was trying to say. afoot /əˈfʊt / adverb & adjective 1. In preparation or progress; happening or beginning to happen. [ as predicative adjective ] plans are afoot for a festival. 2. Chiefly North American: on foot. [ as adverb ] they were forced to go afoot.
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  79. Synonyms peter [ Verb ] [ In the phrase ] "(to) peter out" dwindle, taper off, fade, wane, evaporate, ebb, diminish, fail, cease, stop, die away, come to an end, come to nothing [ colloquial usage] fizzle out "Cotton on" To (begin to) understand [ colloquial usage] cotton on (to), get, get it, click, twig, tumble to, latch onto, get the hang of, rumble, suss out, get the message, get the picture, get wise, get your head/mind round, know the ropes, the penny drops afoot [ Adverb ] about, around, circulating, current, going on, going about, in the air, in the wind, brewing [ Formal Usage ] abroad [ Colloquial Usage ] in the pipeline
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  80. First, let's get all the western countries and their allies that are supplying the jihadists with weapons, training, funding and safe havens to stop doing so. Without these the war cannot continue and peace negotiations must inevitably follow. That done, using the UN as peace broker and the proper forum for dialogue, have the warring parties sit down and negotiate a ceasefire. A road map to peace can then be drawn up, the implementation of which being overseen by the Security Council of the UN with any breaches being met with appropriate sanctions. There, sorted! No need to bomb.
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  81.  @Aikidoman06  Not wishing to belittle your sacrifices and work ethic, but don't forget though that you, or at least your children, lived through the golden age of capitalism from the 1950's to the 1970's, a period of unprecedented peace and prosperity for the USA and Europe when jobs were easy to come by. That helped I'm sure.
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  82. Have psychologists examine anyone applying for a position of power within government or corporations and bar anyone who scores too highly on a psycopathology index. That and not allowing anyone with property or other wealth too far above the average to vote or form political parties and keep the participation of property owners in politics to an absolute minimum.
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  83. I agree. And I wish you success in dealing with your bank. It's your money and you should have easy access to it.
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  84. The days of Saudi Arabia are numbered. Whether overthrown by the USA itself because it starts becoming a little too independent à la Iraq under Saddam Hussein (or simply as part of a wider plan of destabilisation and/or assertion of direct US control), or by internal revolt or foreign, non-western intervention.
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  85. I think it will stay a cold war. Cyber and information warfare, plus economic warfare between the USA and its allies on the one hand and China, Russia and their allies on the other.
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  86.  @dannywindham3295  Or does it? Is it really the FED that owns the Congress - along with the whole of the 'real' economy, including the military-industrial-security complex, (and not just the US economy but also that of the most of the world)?
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  87. And Germany would just love to take the crown from the City of London. And when it does even Britain's lead in financial services will be lost.
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  88. The USA seems to be using too much stick and not enough carrot in it's dealings with Russia. And it seems to be tending in the same direction with China too. Perhaps they'll sanction India before long.
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  89. What was the capture/arrest and court martial rates for these deserters? Did most escape the military police/civil authorities?
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  90. 8 years the Russians waited, 8 years! They asked the United States and the European Union to enter into negotiations in good faith to end the crisis and were continually rebuffed. In my opinion the Russians simply had no other choice but to take matters into their own hands. In passing, they might have to do the same again in Syria.
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