Lawrence, it was clear to me that when Mike said "root causes" he meant "root causes". LH>I notice that you abandon the fact that his phrase was ambiguous LH>and rush to the assumptions I made about it. That is more LH>interesting to you because you side with Mike. I did move to the assumptions, yes. The difference between the definition of root cause/s and what one thinks the root cause/s of a phenomenon are seems to me obvious, I was not interested in dwelling on it. LH>You know exactly what he meant I know what he meant by "root causes", I knew when he said "causes" he did not mean "cause", yes. LH>You then make some pronouncements and declare my LH> reading of Mikes ambiguous phrase "cartoonish." I quoted your comments about "Leftist" views you assume Mike holds, called your comments "cartoonish", and tried to explain why, on behalf of Marxists. My point was that Marxists do not really hold the views you ascribe to them, let alone the Left as a whole. LH>The "party line" has always had significance in Leftist LH>and Marxist circles. In Communist Party circles, Lawrence, and in Democratic Centralist groupings. (I think you base too much on the US Party, apparently one of the most Stalinist in the world: I think your view of "Leftists" stems from that.) (sorry but really your notion that people here or on the US left want to drop liberal democracy and install Islamis is just too silly to debate, I won't bother)