Funny. I'm sure I'd be a libertarian if my life was horrible, but a fascist if my life was blissful. On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 4:04 AM, doug <douglasrankine2001@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Hi Ryan, > > The trouble is, that I find it difficult to put a name to it...whatever > "it" is...When I was young politics was simple, you were either a > capitalist or a communist or an inbetweener. Everything and everyone was > politically categorised. Fascism was ultra right wing, Conservatism was > right wing, Liberalism was middle of the road, Socialism was left wing, > Communism was ultra left wing...and then there was all sorts of extremism > to the right or left of all of that. Economically, if you were a free > trader, a survivor and believed in no welfare and paying for health etc., > you were a capitalist, if you believed in free comprehensive education, > welfare benefits, and people depending on one another you were a Socialist > and free loader and an extremist. The colours of the political parties > went from deep blue to wishy washy pink to blood red. Nowadays, whether one > is right or left it don't seem to make a lot of difference. > > A common phrase in my time was "prospective parliamentarians talk left and > when elected vote right", and the higher up in the political heirarchy one > goes, the more fascist one seems to get. The quest for power becomes > absolute, politically, economically, socially, globally, and it doesn't > matter whether one was left or right, or communist or socialist when one > was younger and without any power. In the end, the only difference I could > see between Soviet Communism and Western Capitalism was the colour of the > carpets and the idols who were worshipped standing in the foyer, and the > flags and language on the missiles they had pointing at one another. > Nowadays, we are expected to support the lesser of two or more fascistic > governments with arms, money and intelligence, all in the cause of > democracy...The UK government proposed giving the ISIL liberation and > freedom movement £800 million to fight Syria and bring down the fascist > regime there a year or so ago, until common sense prevailed in parliament. > Yet they couldn't afford to give their own population more than a £100 > million to pay for the flooding and loss of property earlier on this year. > > There is a personal element too, in my view...no matter what ones' > politics or personal philosophies are; when one gets tired or stressed, it > can bring out the "fascist" in one, one loses patience, when one gets > needled, or ones' ego is under threat, one gets frustrated, the temptation > to fascist behaviour is there, insult, throwing bricks, belittle, undermine > etc.. When one is happy and everything is going well in ones' world, it > brings out ones communist temperament...It's like the effects of having a > couple of good malt Scotch whiskies at a Burns Supper...and before the > hangover kicks in the following morning. > > Personally, most of the time I am an agnostic liberal...These days, what, > with my age and the state of the world, perhaps I have turned into an old > grumpy...perhaps there is no perhaps about it... ;-) > ATB > Dougie. > > > On 23/08/14 21:59, Ryan Carboni wrote: > > It's communism. Except instead of worshiping some ideal system of > relations, they celebrate a cruel and vicious god. > Question of the day: can these people outdo the communists? Can they > outdo Rwanda? Can they do it? > > > On Sat, Aug 23, 2014 at 12:45 PM, doug <douglasrankine2001@xxxxxxxxxxx> > wrote: > >> Dear Colleagues, >> I am not a supporter of any state, or political system, or any religion >> and as close to being a pacifist as one can be without being one. I don't >> support terrorism either, whether it be by a so called liberation or >> revolutionary organisation, or by a nation state. Having said that, and >> after reading the confidential Israeli Project Report of 2009, available on >> Cryptom >> *e. * see url: >> >> *2014-1040.pdf >> <http://cryptome.org/2014/07/il-global-language-dictionary.pdf> * >> >> I did some research on Hamas and where they came from and what they >> believe in and what actions they have taken since coming to power in Gaza. >> Their history is that they developed out of the Muslim Brotherhood in >> Egypt, many, many decades ago. The same group which was recently deposed >> from power in a military coup organised by the Egyptian armed forces, after >> their elected leader was arrested for advocating and organising violent >> methods to spread the cause of the Brotherhood, whilst state President. >> Hamas advocated a policy in the past which they have yet to revoke, which >> says that Jews are the lowest scum on the planet and to be removed from >> their lands and that Israel should not be recognised as a state. You can >> look it up on the web if you don't believe me... >> >> see url: >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas_Covenant >> >> And, I have to say that I am not surprised that Israel are calling up >> their reservists and preparing to attack Gaza again, if not occupy it. >> They have already resumed returning fire after Hamas fired rockets at them >> killing a 4 year old boy. I don't know what one does to stop these rockets >> being fired on the civilian population of Israel willy nilly and I don't >> know what I would do if someone tried to take my home away from me with no >> legal redress for me to get it returned. I do know how I would feel being >> told that I had to get out of my house or area because it is going to be >> targetted by bombs and rockets though...full of resentment, and I dare say, >> hatred towards the perpetrators; to say the least. Hitler thought that he >> could get the British people to submit to him by attempting to bomb London >> and other major cities out of existence. He thought that they would blame >> and turn on Churchill...didn't work of course...doesn't work like that. >> Hitler wasn't the first to think that...and he obviously isn't the last. >> The USA tried it in Vietnam. >> >> The Middle East is becoming a right old mess, with masses of people being >> murdered, raped, abused, tortured, captured, enslaved, made homeless and >> countryless. The "western" powers have really helped screw things up too, >> and have to take their share of the blame. Now they don't know what to do, >> except a bit more bombing and violence, and supplying arms, logistics and >> intelligence to people who were once enemies and now being considered as >> friends...or the lessers of two evils...or the evils of two lessers. They >> are sending in some humanitarian aid, peanuts of course, compared to the >> massive expenditure on war materials over the last 15 years. As Christian >> countries we don't want to welcome even Christian refugees from the Middle >> East to our countries, even though our Christian governments are a large >> part of the problem. >> >> I don't understand why cutting off someone's head whilst they are >> handcuffed and still alive, filming it, putting it on youtube and boasting >> about what a great achievement it is, and saying how brave and >> revolutionary they are; or how such an act will get me to support Islam, or >> Moslem philosophy, or how it is supposed to make me either fear them, or >> make me fall in love with their religion and adopt their belief systems >> either. To think that some of these extremists were educated and lived in >> the UK for most of their lives, they didn't starve, they have decent >> homes...there may have been discrimination at some point in their lives, >> but surely the UK wasn't that bad. There is some kind of sick and faulty >> logic there. I know that there are some nasty practices and theories >> described in the Christian Bible and know about the Crusades of early >> Christianity, and I assume that there must be similar descriptions in the >> Koran. Those books are not the only sources of inspiration or ideas or >> imagination in the world, and never have been. >> >> I don't understand why, either, those rich Arab States such as Qatar and >> Saudi Arabia, Bahrain or Iran are not sending lots of humanitarian aid to >> Gaza and encouraging peace, helping it to rebuild instead of supporting the >> likes of Hamas, whilst doing little or nothing to help the citizens of >> Palestine. Arabs have lived in the Middle East since time immemorium, for >> at least 3000 years. The Jewish religion has been around for 2500 years >> and the Christian religion for 2000 years and the Muslim religion for 1600 >> years. There have been many mass migrations into and out of the Middle East >> in that time. Is it a struggle for dominance, for ownership of land and >> resources between Muslim and Jew, is it religion, is it beliefs and if so, >> is this really the best, or the only way to go about it. Huge sums are >> being spent on armaments for the region which are then supplied by the U.S. >> and the U.K. and other European countries, to various countries, such as >> Egypt and Israel, and Saudi Arabia and Qatar, whilst huge amounts are spent >> by the Russians and the Chinese on the likes of Iran. The terrorists >> appear to get supplied by everyone, one way or another. >> >> I am old enough to remember the IRA and Protestant terrorist >> organisations in Northern Ireland using bombings, kidnappings, >> kneecapping, torture and other forms of violence to punish or keep certain >> dissenting sections of the population in check, self-policing they called >> it, showing their might and strength. They also raised money from >> businesses by using protection rackets of various kinds, as well as >> fund-raising from gullible people and states abroad. The money was used to >> buy arms from the likes of Libya and through back doors from some of the >> main arms manufacturers. And I remember too, the bombings in London, I was >> living and studying there at the time. Though the explosions were >> frightening, they didn't change my mind or stop me from carrying on as I >> have always done. In fact they made me more determined, that the peaceful >> protest is and always will be the best way to progress and move society >> forward. Eventually, the IRA and the Protestant groups screwed the nut, >> realised that they were on a hiding to nothing and negotiated a ceasefire >> and eventually, a peace agreement and destroyed their weapons and adopted >> the political route. People are now a lot better off, alive and kicking, >> even though the economy has slowed down a lot. >> >> It is no use, it seems to me to allow Gaza to have a free right to >> import what it likes, when even the cement given by the Israelis for >> building and rebuilding homes and other facilities is used to build >> tunnels, where the terrorists can move banned goods such as armaments and >> hide and launch attacks on Israel, yet the ordinary people cannot get >> access to them for protection from the bombings by Israel. Elected or not, >> Hamas is a terrorist organisation, in my mind, and being elected does not >> mean that terrorist methods should be used to subdue the population, or to >> attack another state just because they are different and don't want to >> recognise their existence. >> >> The Vietnamese used tunnels to protect their populations and industries >> when they were fighting against a foreign state occupying their land and >> which was attempting to take it over permanently, for the reason of killing >> off the communists and proving the "Domino Theory". In fact there were >> tunnels under Da Nang Air Base with quite a sizable community producing >> goods to help their war effort, unsuspected by the USA. Wouldn't happen >> nowadays, of course, such projects are well known around the world, the >> element of surprise has gone, and all sorts of technology can be used to >> find out where the tunnels are, and attacks have to come from somewhere. >> In Gaza there are tunnels which not only bring in goods which break the >> blockade, but penetrate into Israeli territory, where attacks are made on >> the civilian population. >> >> It's a crazy ole world right enough... >> ATB >> Dougie. >> >> > >