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

  1. 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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  2. +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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  3. +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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  4. +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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  5. 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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  6. 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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  7. 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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  8. +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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  9. 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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  10. 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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  11. 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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  12. 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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  13. +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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  14. +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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  15. 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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  16. Marxism, Keynesianism, Friedmanism. They've all been tried. What's next?
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  17. Because the markets are rigged, is the simple answer.
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  18. #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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  19. What can the American public do? What Hugo Chavez did in Venezuela.
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  20. 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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  21. Its own… plus those of NATO.
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  22. Nationalism or patriotism? Justified pride or arrogance?
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  23. The state. Its leaders. Power.
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  24. 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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  25. 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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  26. "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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  27. 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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  28. 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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  29. 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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  30. 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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  31.  @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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  32. 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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  33. 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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  34. 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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  35. 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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  36.  @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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  37. 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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  38. 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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  39. What was the capture/arrest and court martial rates for these deserters? Did most escape the military police/civil authorities?
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  40. 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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