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Jonathan Dowdall Ha! Exactly the kind of ambiguity I was pointing out - makes the entire narrative so much deeper. However, probably should have adopted the standard online convention of tagging that post with a *spoiler alert* tab. We havn't all explored the game that deeply yet.....
Jonathan Dowdall Ouch. A poll of an American audience asking who is the most admired "anywhere in the world" comes up with a solely American list - which includes Oprah Winfrey qnd Sarah Pali in its top five? Doesn't dispel any accusations of U.S self-obsession, does it. I mean, living in the whole world? And Palins a top runner?
Jonathan Dowdall A balanced and informative review, thanks for the insight, Dillon. Covering similar legislative discussions on this side of the Atlantic, I can see that the EU is currently skirting around the issue of enforced reporting, being instead in favour for incentive driven PPP. However, the first baby steps, such as strongly rumoured plans to re-classify ICT infrastructure as "critical" under the EU CIP Directive, will soon see the Commission sitting with a bill of this stature on its doorstep within the year. I look forward to more news on this US debate with interest, as where Washington goes, many EU member states will want to follow, and the Commission is looking keen to oblige.
Jonathan Dowdall Ermm, Ethan, do you know what "hooligan" means? It has a harsher - and more criminal - implication then I get the impression you intend.
Jonathan Dowdall I think normative would be the word. States which breach global norms regarding civlian casaulties or military aggresion face widespread global approbation, ranging from rhetorical criticism to legal sanction.
Jonathan Dowdall Most certainly, Georgi. I'm actually inclined to accept the increasing ramifications of globalization when it comes to the availability of transferable wealth, for instance. That could legitimately be called "new". I guess my conclusion would be that these factors accelerate existing complexities. For instance, industrialisation in 19th century Europe created many of the inter-relational economic dependencies we apparently see becoming "more complex" today. The UK has been importing the majority of its food since the 1820's Corn Laws, for example. Then people say trade dependence is one of our new complexities - I don't agree.
Jonathan Dowdall Nonsense. The horrendous racial slur of banana throwing hasn't happened in 20 years in Britain - it was a bad time, but things have changed. In fact, football is rightly praised for bringing players of all races and backgrounds into the public eye in a neutral, professional environment. It has been enhancing tolerance for years, and Terry's incident has been marked with such shock because it seems so anachronistic - an unwelcome blast from the past. Also, please don't refer to the EU and Europe as the same thing, let alone the fact that this incident happened in the UK, one of 27 EU nations. Also, FIFA is a global body, so doesn't specifically represent any mind of "European" attitudes.
Jonathan Dowdall US Gov debt to GDP is 100% - surely it's your denial and casual blame of European banks that is "magical thinking"? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15748696
Jonathan Dowdall You use "Europe" like a bad word. If there had even been one economics figure in your analysis, I might begin to take you seriously. You havn't got two numbers to rub together, and your wild assertions stray into the speculative.
Jonathan Dowdall http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15748696 Here's a nice graphic to help explain why this close-minded, US centric analysis fails to comprehend the inter-connectiveness of modern money markets and debt.
Jonathan Dowdall I don't think you fully understand international economics.
Jonathan Dowdall Fair points, thanks for the feedback. With the Tsunami, note that my day job is for a civil protection/homeland security publication - the Tsunami has shaken up a lot of pre-conceptions in the critical infrastructure protection, nuclear security and crisis management fields. I've certainly expended a lot of ink covering it's policy fall-out!
Jonathan Dowdall "... is, by a clear margin, the most watched, talked about, and discussed political event in the world. " Wow, I'd better rush out into the street and let Brussels know that their complete disinterest in this process is apparently merely a charade behind which they hide their slavish watching, talking and discussing. Here are three politics events I, personally, discussed more this year. 1)The Arab Spring, 2) The Japanese Tsunami 3) The politics of my own home nation And for the record, most people would put No.3 first, if in fact it was not the only thing on their list. This is a very important debate and political event, but don't be so egotistical to genuinely believe it is the "most watched" event of the year for the WHOLE world.
Jonathan Dowdall Now now, no need for name calling or sarcasm, all.
Jonathan Dowdall So if I get your theory correctly, the US invasion of Iraq - which massively stagnated regional oil production and interrupted the previously quite free-flowing nature of Iraqi oil exports (which easily avoided US sanctions by third party exports) - was intended to "open up" the Iraqi oil market to the world? It's been fairly well established that the costs of Iraq have contributed to the out of control US defence budget, and that despite the "bonanza" of economic benefits the war is attributed by this theory, the US response since the economic crisis began has not been to instigate another war. Why not? Has their "genius" conspriacy theory to open new markets suddenly failed them? Surely all we need to do is invade Iran to end the crisis?
Jonathan Dowdall Is no-one reading the article I linked too? It illuminates studies that have indicated U.S and British business concerns have not taken the majority of the markets opened up since the invasion of Iraq - ie. that the theory the invasion was a profit motivated gambit by economic elites is built on shoddy foundations.
Jonathan Dowdall Second, this really tickles me. "The U.S. does not undertake war out of defence but for political gain." Not to put too fine a point on it, but this is a nothing statement. War is the continuation of politics by other means. If there was no political objective, you would not wage a war. All policy, full stop, is for political gain, full stop. I presume by this you actually mean "self-serving, self-enriching, politics of a militarally empowered political elite", or some other pejorative description of the political class? As it is, it means nothing.
Jonathan Dowdall Hi Matthew, interesting article. Two questions for you. Firstly, you lay out a pretty standard argyement on PM that the U.S. invasion of Iraq was carried out to fuel the industrial military complex, as well as give oil companies a healthy boost to their profits. One of my favourite pundits, Daniel Drezner, had this to say on this subject yesterday: http://drezner.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/12/16/worst_empire_ever Money quote - "arguments that the United States uses its military power to advance its economic interests don't hold up well at all -- unless one wants to posit that U.S. elites are really an executive committee of the Chinese Communist Party's economic bourgeoisie." Care to comment?
Jonathan Dowdall It's very kind of you to link to a Wikipedia page that contains the exact reference in the Koran that forbids forced conversion. Consider me thoroughly informed, thanks. Your inability to dinstinguish between the crimes of religious extremists and everyday Islam is disheartening. Your incredibley selective hearing must make everyday life very difficult.
Jonathan Dowdall Thank you for finally explaining your understanding in greater detail. An arguement based upon the dangers of economic mis-management, as opposed to a rhetorical discussion about the objective "rightness" of trans-national governance, has much greater potential for a reasonable discourse. So your thesis, if I understand it, is that if Irish politicians resisted, and not agreed to go along with the EU project, your local sugar and fishing sectors would have continued to thrive?
Jonathan Dowdall The only reason the EU is involved in Greek internal politics is because elected Greek officials broke their obligations under the Masstricht Treaty to abide by certain restraints regarding their economic activity within the single currency. That is to say, elected Greeks signed an international agreement, then broke it, and now are being bailed out by the other co-signators of that agreement. No one is "imposing their will", this is the enforcment of terms of a treaty Greece, as a sovereign state, signed. Why aren't you willing to accept that legitmate, elected officials enter into agreements on the international stage all the time? Why is a conspiracy to defraud state soveregnty the only explanation for you?
Jonathan Dowdall Europols mandate is incredibly restricted - national officers can't even share files on their computers without getting the nod from their Governmental office. I'm sorry if "looks like a police force to me" doesn't cut it as an explanation to me. Anyway, you think I am "splitting hairs", but all I'm asking you to do is justify your positions, which thus far continue to fall back to screaming "NOT IN MY NAME!" and indicating you think this is all a conspiracy by those evil Europeans against good, honest citizens like us. You really are terrified of this, aren't you?
Jonathan Dowdall The numerous alterations made to what was then the Constitution, which became, due to the "non", merely a treaty. That is to say that those "cowards" who you assign such grand, dastardly schemes responded to the democratic consensus and sought a different formulation for the EU's continued work. When we will be man enough to admit that the EU "dream" we are "scuttling" towards was created by generations of elected officials, who legitimately took their mandates to serve the interests of their people in area such as foreign affairs, tex, fiscal, transport and all the other areas where the EU brings coherence to what would otherwise 27 increasingly insignificant states? It's not a conspiracy. No-one is lying to you. We voted for this.
Jonathan Dowdall France and the Netherlands also voted "non", so let's not play the "little man against the giant" game. But you're talking yourself in circles. If "local self-government" is the name of the game, Europe has that by the bucket-load. Councils sit beneath regions which sit beneath Governments which, in mutually agreed forums, choose mutually agreed policies that are implemented at EU level. You're anti-central state Government too, I gather?
Jonathan Dowdall The EU has no police force or army. It also does not have a currency - 17 nations of 27 have agreed to cooperate in a currency union overseen by EU bodies. That's a different thing. When will people actually bother to look up what the EU does and does not do before commenting? P.S - incidentally, it's not a national anthem either. The tune "Ode to Europe" is performed before Council and Parliamentary plenarys top martk ceremony. If it had a name, it would be the "European Anthem", you know, like how football teams can have a tune played before a game, but aren't countries. I mean, Jesus.....
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Jonathan Dowdall Ha! Exactly the kind of ambiguity I was pointing out - makes the entire narrative so much deeper. However, probably should have adopted the standard online convention of tagging that post with a *spoiler alert* tab. We havn't all explored the game that deeply yet.....
Jonathan Dowdall Ouch. A poll of an American audience asking who is the most admired "anywhere in the world" comes up with a solely American list - which includes Oprah Winfrey qnd Sarah Pali in its top five? Doesn't dispel any accusations of U.S self-obsession, does it. I mean, living in the whole world? And Palins a top runner?
Jonathan Dowdall A balanced and informative review, thanks for the insight, Dillon. Covering similar legislative discussions on this side of the Atlantic, I can see that the EU is currently skirting around the issue of enforced reporting, being instead in favour for incentive driven PPP. However, the first baby steps, such as strongly rumoured plans to re-classify ICT infrastructure as "critical" under the EU CIP Directive, will soon see the Commission sitting with a bill of this stature on its doorstep within the year. I look forward to more news on this US debate with interest, as where Washington goes, many EU member states will want to follow, and the Commission is looking keen to oblige.
Jonathan Dowdall Ermm, Ethan, do you know what "hooligan" means? It has a harsher - and more criminal - implication then I get the impression you intend.
Jonathan Dowdall I think normative would be the word. States which breach global norms regarding civlian casaulties or military aggresion face widespread global approbation, ranging from rhetorical criticism to legal sanction.
Jonathan Dowdall Most certainly, Georgi. I'm actually inclined to accept the increasing ramifications of globalization when it comes to the availability of transferable wealth, for instance. That could legitimately be called "new". I guess my conclusion would be that these factors accelerate existing complexities. For instance, industrialisation in 19th century Europe created many of the inter-relational economic dependencies we apparently see becoming "more complex" today. The UK has been importing the majority of its food since the 1820's Corn Laws, for example. Then people say trade dependence is one of our new complexities - I don't agree.
Jonathan Dowdall Nonsense. The horrendous racial slur of banana throwing hasn't happened in 20 years in Britain - it was a bad time, but things have changed. In fact, football is rightly praised for bringing players of all races and backgrounds into the public eye in a neutral, professional environment. It has been enhancing tolerance for years, and Terry's incident has been marked with such shock because it seems so anachronistic - an unwelcome blast from the past. Also, please don't refer to the EU and Europe as the same thing, let alone the fact that this incident happened in the UK, one of 27 EU nations. Also, FIFA is a global body, so doesn't specifically represent any mind of "European" attitudes.
Jonathan Dowdall US Gov debt to GDP is 100% - surely it's your denial and casual blame of European banks that is "magical thinking"? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15748696
Jonathan Dowdall You use "Europe" like a bad word. If there had even been one economics figure in your analysis, I might begin to take you seriously. You havn't got two numbers to rub together, and your wild assertions stray into the speculative.
Jonathan Dowdall http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15748696 Here's a nice graphic to help explain why this close-minded, US centric analysis fails to comprehend the inter-connectiveness of modern money markets and debt.
Jonathan Dowdall I don't think you fully understand international economics.
Jonathan Dowdall Fair points, thanks for the feedback. With the Tsunami, note that my day job is for a civil protection/homeland security publication - the Tsunami has shaken up a lot of pre-conceptions in the critical infrastructure protection, nuclear security and crisis management fields. I've certainly expended a lot of ink covering it's policy fall-out!
Jonathan Dowdall "... is, by a clear margin, the most watched, talked about, and discussed political event in the world. " Wow, I'd better rush out into the street and let Brussels know that their complete disinterest in this process is apparently merely a charade behind which they hide their slavish watching, talking and discussing. Here are three politics events I, personally, discussed more this year. 1)The Arab Spring, 2) The Japanese Tsunami 3) The politics of my own home nation And for the record, most people would put No.3 first, if in fact it was not the only thing on their list. This is a very important debate and political event, but don't be so egotistical to genuinely believe it is the "most watched" event of the year for the WHOLE world.
Jonathan Dowdall Now now, no need for name calling or sarcasm, all.
Jonathan Dowdall So if I get your theory correctly, the US invasion of Iraq - which massively stagnated regional oil production and interrupted the previously quite free-flowing nature of Iraqi oil exports (which easily avoided US sanctions by third party exports) - was intended to "open up" the Iraqi oil market to the world? It's been fairly well established that the costs of Iraq have contributed to the out of control US defence budget, and that despite the "bonanza" of economic benefits the war is attributed by this theory, the US response since the economic crisis began has not been to instigate another war. Why not? Has their "genius" conspriacy theory to open new markets suddenly failed them? Surely all we need to do is invade Iran to end the crisis?
Jonathan Dowdall Is no-one reading the article I linked too? It illuminates studies that have indicated U.S and British business concerns have not taken the majority of the markets opened up since the invasion of Iraq - ie. that the theory the invasion was a profit motivated gambit by economic elites is built on shoddy foundations.
Jonathan Dowdall Second, this really tickles me. "The U.S. does not undertake war out of defence but for political gain." Not to put too fine a point on it, but this is a nothing statement. War is the continuation of politics by other means. If there was no political objective, you would not wage a war. All policy, full stop, is for political gain, full stop. I presume by this you actually mean "self-serving, self-enriching, politics of a militarally empowered political elite", or some other pejorative description of the political class? As it is, it means nothing.
Jonathan Dowdall Hi Matthew, interesting article. Two questions for you. Firstly, you lay out a pretty standard argyement on PM that the U.S. invasion of Iraq was carried out to fuel the industrial military complex, as well as give oil companies a healthy boost to their profits. One of my favourite pundits, Daniel Drezner, had this to say on this subject yesterday: http://drezner.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/12/16/worst_empire_ever Money quote - "arguments that the United States uses its military power to advance its economic interests don't hold up well at all -- unless one wants to posit that U.S. elites are really an executive committee of the Chinese Communist Party's economic bourgeoisie." Care to comment?
Jonathan Dowdall It's very kind of you to link to a Wikipedia page that contains the exact reference in the Koran that forbids forced conversion. Consider me thoroughly informed, thanks. Your inability to dinstinguish between the crimes of religious extremists and everyday Islam is disheartening. Your incredibley selective hearing must make everyday life very difficult.
Jonathan Dowdall Thank you for finally explaining your understanding in greater detail. An arguement based upon the dangers of economic mis-management, as opposed to a rhetorical discussion about the objective "rightness" of trans-national governance, has much greater potential for a reasonable discourse. So your thesis, if I understand it, is that if Irish politicians resisted, and not agreed to go along with the EU project, your local sugar and fishing sectors would have continued to thrive?
Jonathan Dowdall The only reason the EU is involved in Greek internal politics is because elected Greek officials broke their obligations under the Masstricht Treaty to abide by certain restraints regarding their economic activity within the single currency. That is to say, elected Greeks signed an international agreement, then broke it, and now are being bailed out by the other co-signators of that agreement. No one is "imposing their will", this is the enforcment of terms of a treaty Greece, as a sovereign state, signed. Why aren't you willing to accept that legitmate, elected officials enter into agreements on the international stage all the time? Why is a conspiracy to defraud state soveregnty the only explanation for you?
Jonathan Dowdall Europols mandate is incredibly restricted - national officers can't even share files on their computers without getting the nod from their Governmental office. I'm sorry if "looks like a police force to me" doesn't cut it as an explanation to me. Anyway, you think I am "splitting hairs", but all I'm asking you to do is justify your positions, which thus far continue to fall back to screaming "NOT IN MY NAME!" and indicating you think this is all a conspiracy by those evil Europeans against good, honest citizens like us. You really are terrified of this, aren't you?
Jonathan Dowdall The numerous alterations made to what was then the Constitution, which became, due to the "non", merely a treaty. That is to say that those "cowards" who you assign such grand, dastardly schemes responded to the democratic consensus and sought a different formulation for the EU's continued work. When we will be man enough to admit that the EU "dream" we are "scuttling" towards was created by generations of elected officials, who legitimately took their mandates to serve the interests of their people in area such as foreign affairs, tex, fiscal, transport and all the other areas where the EU brings coherence to what would otherwise 27 increasingly insignificant states? It's not a conspiracy. No-one is lying to you. We voted for this.
Jonathan Dowdall France and the Netherlands also voted "non", so let's not play the "little man against the giant" game. But you're talking yourself in circles. If "local self-government" is the name of the game, Europe has that by the bucket-load. Councils sit beneath regions which sit beneath Governments which, in mutually agreed forums, choose mutually agreed policies that are implemented at EU level. You're anti-central state Government too, I gather?
Jonathan Dowdall The EU has no police force or army. It also does not have a currency - 17 nations of 27 have agreed to cooperate in a currency union overseen by EU bodies. That's a different thing. When will people actually bother to look up what the EU does and does not do before commenting? P.S - incidentally, it's not a national anthem either. The tune "Ode to Europe" is performed before Council and Parliamentary plenarys top martk ceremony. If it had a name, it would be the "European Anthem", you know, like how football teams can have a tune played before a game, but aren't countries. I mean, Jesus.....