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Random Political Q&A

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grant

22:38 / 19.07.06

Well, for one thing: Bloody Balfour.

For the most part, though, I think it has to do with the militarization of shared living space -- violence and restrictions on free movement around your home neighborhood based on ethnic/national identification. There was a weird brotherhood thing between Israel and South Africa under apartheid (in my experience), too. A shared mindset.

Note in all those examples the idea of a state (backed by an even more extensive power structure, like the British Empire or the United States) occupying or controlling the space of a stateless or, umm, under-stated(?) population.

Jackie Susann

02:16 / 15.01.07

You know how people say the CIA brought tons of drugs into the US, how true is it? Where can I find out more?

unheimlich manoeuvre

09:59 / 15.01.07

The Politics of Heroin by Alfred W. McCoy and Whiteout by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair were eye openers.

Slate

06:47 / 17.01.07

I must admit I'm a bit of a cynic when it comes to the Bush Administration and their agenda, but I have been reading lately how the GOP is forcing the resignation of it's own attorneys and lawyers.

Is this legal and legit? Didn't Nixon try the same thing before he got the boot? Is there anything people can do to stop this? GWB is behaving more and more like a classical dictator every day.

I simply don't buy the official story, that Lam's performance is lacking. I think it might be more due to her reputation as an individual with strong morals and conviction. From the link:

When she took over, Lam made it clear that she planned to focus less on low-level smuggling cases in favor of public corruption and white collar crime, which would mean fewer but more significant prosecutions.

Do you think Bush is shit scared? And, what will be next? Interesting, but a little alarming.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

17:24 / 18.01.07

On the question of whether it's legal, I don't think that question matters much in today's America when the President has Alberto Gonzales there to argue that whatever the President wants is automatically okay and above board.

Phex: Dorset Doom

19:00 / 11.02.07

What is the Palestinian objection to the Two-State Solution?

nighthawk

19:05 / 11.02.07

Well, with relevant qualifiers like 'which Palestinians?'... I think one problem is that Israel would probably retain control of fundamental resources like water, which would completely undermine the nascent Palestinian state. There's also the problem of settling on borders and policing this settlement, given that the borders established in 1949 and 67 proved so unstable...

Baz Auckland

05:00 / 12.02.07

And the big sticker is the right of return, which if i remember correctly killed the peace deal Arafat and Barak back in 2000? Israel won't allow it, and Arafat wouldn't accept a deal without it...

(which now reading the wikipedia article, is pretty much what is says...)

How big is Europe?

How long's a piece of string?

To put it one way - there is the geographical continent, then there are some countries ( most notably Turkey and Russia) which span from Europe into Asia, then there is the European Union - there are currently 27 member countries in the EU and a number of others (including Turkey) waiting in the wings seeking membership. There are some Eropean countries such as Switzerland, that have expressed no interest in joining the EU, such as Swiziterland, some whose accession to the EU was rejected in a referendum and one country, Greenland, has chosen to leave the EU (after gaining home rule from Denemark).

alejandrodelloco

00:38 / 15.03.07

Jackie - also check out Gary Webb's Dark Alliance, which talks about how the CIA helped the Contras (Ronnie's buddies against the commies) bring crack rocks to the ghettos. True story.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

11:15 / 15.03.07

Is there anything people can do to stop this? GWB is behaving more and more like a classical dictator every day.

Didn't Clinton do the exact same thing? Except I think he got rid of almost all of them. From what I heard on NPR, it's not so much the act as the fact that Gonzales swore up and down it was not because of...eh...something. Political stances or something. And then it turned out to look suspiciously like it was in fact because of that very something, which I can't remember now. The speaker on NPR made it sound like it was for the most part just one more thing for the democrats to throw at the administration.

Chiropteran

17:40 / 16.03.07

Can someone recommend a book that provides a solid (and preferably non-ideological) introduction to the history of the Cold War? I've always been interested in the Cold War in a vague, scattershot kind of way - a little espionage, a dash of propaganda, and some fallout shelters, but not much else. It's a big topic: where should I start? Any books I should avoid, in your opinion?

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