General Debate 1 July 2014

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Not since the Bugis Street redevelopment.
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July 1, 2014 10:39pm
Dom Knots

stephie, any idea why gilbert omited from the biography the letters between churchill himself and you – know – who?. lol. goodnight.
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July 1, 2014 10:44pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

Dom Knots (125 comments) says:
July 1st, 2014 at 8:05 pm
“yeah. so nice to see ‘the only democracy in the middle east’ start bombing innocent men, women and children in retaliation for the crimes committed by who even knows, yet. Sure a bunch of people have been arrested but shouldnt there be a court process or something to ascertain absolute guilt.”

In an ideal world yes. But if the 20th century has taught us anything it is that you can only win against insurgency/guerilla war by making the populace police themselves, and by at minimum matching the nastiness of the insurgents. When they are (quite sensibly) against you the only way to achieve that is to (unfairly) punish the population for the infractions of individuals. That is how every empire in history managed to install and maintain law and order on their terms with tiny numbers of troops up until WWII, but since then the west has tried to take a more moral approach – mostly unsuccessfully as we see in Malayan Emergency, India, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan et al.

I have seen it argued that the Brits were losing in Northern Ireland until the IRA started being opposed extra-legally with similar barbarism. And if you read Lee Kwan Yew’s experiences of the brutal Japanese occupation of Singapore – he was extremely impressed that within a very short time it went from a den of vice and thievery to the point where you could leave your wallet in the middle of the road in the morning and come back and pick it up that evening. The oppressive communist govts of China, Eastern Bloc, Vietnam, Korea achieved similar ‘peace’ through brutal and violent repression of all who opposed.

The Israelis are very pragmatic and have experimented with all sorts of approaches to keeping a lid on things. They largely ended suicide bombings by going after the family and friends of the bombers – bulldozing their houses. As brutal and unfair as reprisals are, they may ultimately save lives on both sides by instilling fear that reduces further incidents. Which is why they have adopted a policy of massively unbalanced reprisal, and that is also how modern dictators like Saddam, Gaddafi managed to control their countries for so long. It’s ugly but it works (unlike recent western approaches).
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July 1, 2014 11:10pm
Scott Chris

the true tradition of a lefty hand ringing

Nothing to do with it pinhead. The lefty hand-wringers as well as the brain-dead vigilantes like you are all out to hang Harris.
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July 1, 2014 11:48pm
Left Right and Centre

wikiriwhis business – those Stuff Nation articles are usually bullshit. Missing info.

Before they had ‘a little room to breathe’. Read: annual trip to Fiji / Bali type holiday destination.

‘Cost of living’. Read: filling the trolley right up with posh shit at NW. $15 bottle of conditioner ‘an essential’.

‘We don’t buy many extras’. Read: compared to the lotto lifestyle we actually deserve.

‘I was rejigging budgets and making cuts to spending’. Read: I only spend $150 every three weeks at the salon now instead of $225 every two before.
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July 2, 2014 4:02am
Dom Knots

Most people in Gaza don’t have wallets, Neo. There’s fuck all to spend money on. But very sweetly typed of you. I’m sure what you left there will be justification enough for many in this teletyping facility to sit back and watch ‘the only democracy in the middle east’ bomb and kill the living shit out of people without trial. The best lid israel could keep ‘on things’ would be the one where they remove their ass from the occupied territories. Save all your fat talk for your friends and family – I’m way to long in the tooth to buy the horseshit you’re selling. As i have stated many times here i just hope it isnt too late for the good people of israel. See you in the international court of law because once america is forced through public opinion and other means to cut the puppet strings from the dancing fool israel that is where they will be to pay for their war crimes. P.s – love the way you coupled insurgency/guerrilla.
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July 2, 2014 7:09am
OneTrack

judith – “But being indoctrinated by the ‘blatant political electioneering’ of the Muppet party day in and day out is okay?”

I see the mask of an independent voter has been dropped, and someone is now in full campaign mode.
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July 2, 2014 7:23am
Manolo

Savage Hamas will be punished: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israeli-missing-teenagers-hamas-warns-gates-of-hell-will-open-as-israel-bombs-gaza-strip-9574940.html
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July 2, 2014 7:24am
UglyTruth

There is no evidence that the decision” not to bomb “Auschwitz was part of the Zionist agenda

Just like there was no evidence of molten steel at 9/11, stevie boy?
Lying apologist for Zionism.
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July 2, 2014 8:28am
Dom Knots

go ahead and get yer porn sites back up guys. NZ is one of 4 nations not targeted by the NSA.
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July 2, 2014 9:35am

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