Life imitates art: Blair calls for Global ALLIANCE
POSTED BY: piratenews
UPDATED: Monday, April 17, 2006 23:29
VIEWED: 4728
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What did Joss know and when did he know it?
Quote:
Blair issues plea for 'global alliance'
London Independent
27 March 2006
Tony Blair today made an impassioned plea while speaking to Australian politicians for an international alliance to protect "global values" of fairness, justice and freedom.
The UK Prime Minister pledged to keep British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan until those countries were stabilised.
Blair told Australian politicians that the "immediate threat was from Islamist extremism," which he said was "not a passing spasm of anger, but a global ideology at war with us and our way of life."
"If we want to secure our way of life, there is no alternative but to fight for it," he said. "That means standing up for our values not just in our own countries but the world over."
Britain and Australia were the only two nations to send troops to fight alongside US forces in the invasion of Iraq three years ago and both countries still have forces in the country and in Afghanistan fighting Taliban and al Qaida insurgents.
"This struggle is about justice and fairness as well as security and prosperity," he said. "And in truth today there is no prosperity without security and no security without justice. That is the consequence of an interconnected world."
Blair arrived in Australia late on Saturday on the first stop of a three-nation tour that is expected to focus on global terrorism and the war in Iraq. His first stop was the Commonwealth Games in the southern city of Melbourne to experience venues and atmosphere ahead of London's hosting of the 2012 Olympic Games.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/australasia/article353957.ece
Creepifyin. War is Peace, Fairness, Justice, Prosperity, Security and Good Clean Fun. Who knew?
Where do we sign up for the Independents?
"You can't stop the signal!"
-Mr Universe, Pirate TV
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http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2006/03/8912.php
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I'd really like to know just what exactly is Tony Blairs idea of fairness an Justice
I really think George Orwell was pyschic
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I think he believes as we are all brought up to believe, that fairness and justice are about doing the right things at the right time for the right reasons. That we, the British people, would rather be left alone to do our own thing but that means leaving the world in the hands of less enlightened souls so it becomes our unfortunate duty to meddle in the affairs of others, reluctantly. That everything we do is for the best of reasons even if the implementation isn't always what we would have hoped for. That it isn't if you win or lose it's how you play the game.
He's quite a 19th century throwback our Tony, and far too Tory in his worldview to be leader of the Labour party.
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Looking at it I don't see anything at all wrong with that speech. Certainly nothing to worry anybody. It's never the intention that's the problem they are always good, it's the road to hell they tend to pave that people object to.
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It's interesting when a Communist or a Islamist announces intentions for a one world gov't, were everyone must bow down to one political model or religion, folks don't get all riled up. But when the leader of a free, more open country suggests contries come together for the common good, to fight the very REAL threat of Islamic terrorism, it's ORWELLIAN!!! 
People love a happy ending. So every episode, I will explain once again that I don't like people. And then Mal will shoot someone. Someone we like. And their puppy. - Joss
" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "
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PirateNews,
All your posts should be like this one. Subject, specific commentary. I think we can all follow a conversation on this pattern.
The speech is a little creepy, not for its intentions, but for its consequences. In essence, it says (and I think our Bush echoes this sentiment) that we are not going to wrap things up and go home. Rather, we're going to wrap things up and then expand our operations.
There's a point where these little wars are going to stop and some serious wars are going to happen. There's a point where people will remember what war is really like, and that tens of thousands can die in a single day's engagements. There's a price to be paid for meddling.
That price is going to be scary.
--Anthony
"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner
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Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
It's interesting when a Communist or a Islamist announces intentions for a one world gov't, were everyone must bow down to one political model or religion, folks don't get all riled up. But when the leader of a free, more open country suggests contries come together for the common good, to fight the very REAL thread of Islamic terrorism, it's ORWELLIAN!!!
I didn't get that from what anyones said. What I think it is, is that when the extremist stand up and say Orwellian things, everyone just goes, "Yah, that's what we expect from the crazies", and ignores the crazy thing.
But, when someone who should be rational, and that someone has the power to implement the Orwellian things, starts saying Orwellian things, that's when people start saying things.
And when someone says, "not just in our own countries but the world over." I find that kinda scary.
----
"We're in a giant car heading into a brick wall at 100 miles/hr and everybody's arguing about where they want to sit."
-David Suzuki
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Quote:
But, when someone who should be rational, and that someone has the power to implement the Orwellian things, starts saying Orwellian things, that's when people start saying things.
And when someone says, "not just in our own countries but the world over." I find that kinda scary.
Blair isn't King now, is he ? I was unaware that his power to implement his vision of how things should be rests on nothing more than a whim. This is what really confounds me. We have a very real threat out there, Islamic terrorist who have drafted their own call for war, said they're going to kill civilians and then have gone out and killed civilians. Now, the rest of us, Non muslims and *some* muslims alike, aren't too keen on the idea of seeing our neighbors, friends and family blown up in a subway station, seeing their heads sawed off by masked thugs as the video tape rolls, or watch as airliners are flown into sky scrapers. There is no reasoning w/ these zealots. There is no peace to be gained, for they don't WANT peace. They want us to obey them, their religion, or die. It's really just that simple.
Blair, and a few others around the world, aren't hip to the ideas that these terrorist are putting out. In fact, they dislike the ideas and actions SO much, they're willing to stand up and DO soemtehing about it all. And this act of survival, of standing up and not putting on a Neville Chamberlain mask is what creeps out folks like you?
People love a happy ending. So every episode, I will explain once again that I don't like people. And then Mal will shoot someone. Someone we like. And their puppy. - Joss
" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "
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There's some misguided intelligence here.
Zealots blow themselves up, kill people, and go on rampages mostly because someone tells them to. Some people, due to their circumstances or their psychological makeup, need to believe in something. The things that most appeal to them are usually the things that tell them that they are important. They can change things. They are loved and they will be rewarded. They can be heroes and fight the great evil. They can be somebody, even in death.
In some cases, this belief is constructive. "Do good things and you can be a hero. Give to charity, help your neighbor, etc. God will reward you." In fact, I probably qualify for this camp, except that I don't follow my religious leaders. These guys we call Christians or Catholics or Jews or maybe Buddhists, or the followers of some other benevolent religion. These guys are also Muslim, though that gets forgotten.
In other cases, the belief is destructive. The zealotry is the same, but what they're being TOLD TO DO is different. "Go into that café and blow up the evil non-believers and you will be a hero and God will give you 99 virgins." Something like that. These guys we call terrorists. They have the same passion of faith. They're not intrinsically evil. But their passionate faith is being directed by someone to a destructive end. This happened during the Crusades, too, and also during the colonization of America by the Spanish. So don't drink the cool-aide and think that Muslims invented it.
Now, who is directing these believers? A book, like the Bible? Not really. You know, both the Bible and the Quran have their violent passages, but neither of them tells you to blow up cafes full of civillians, or blow up school buses full of children.
Are these believers directed by their own faith, a direct link to God? Not usually. Joan of Arc is pretty rare, and so are the people who get orders from their neighbor's dog or a burning bush or the snake in eden.
These believers are typically directed by politically driven religious figures. And what do these poligious figures want? Do they want the infidels crushed, and 99 virgins, and the will of God manifested on the Earth? Maybe. But it's not their primary motivation. Their primary motivations are money and power.
Sometimes a poligious figure will be trying to secure his power base, or defeat his rivals. Sometimes he just wants you to send him ten bucks so that God doesn't call him home. Whatever. It's not about God. It's not even about the religion. It's about money and power. Zealots don't set policy. They act on the policy of others.
So, our enemy is not the religious extremists. They could as easily be swayed to eat grasshoppers and pray to their housecat. They are believers, and they will follow their poligious leaders in pretty much whatever they are told.
Our enemies are the poligious leaders of other countries, who have selected us as either a legitimate threat to their power, or a scapegoat threat (like the Jews in Germany) with which to defeat their poligious rivals and unite their Zealot populace in a philosophy of hate.
I think when we stop fighting 'religious extremism' and start treating these nations as nations with leaders, we'll get farther. At the end of the day, the only difference between their poligious figures and our poligious figures, is what they think they can get away with. They're still politicians looking for money and power.
Anyhow, that's my view on things. Your glance into the prism may show different colors.
--Anthony
"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner
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Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
Blair, and a few others around the world, aren't hip to the ideas that these terrorist are putting out. In fact, they dislike the ideas and actions SO much, they're willing to stand up and DO soemtehing about it all. And this act of survival, of standing up and not putting on a Neville Chamberlain mask is what creeps out folks like you?
Yes, because only Blair and Bush and all the happy little Neocons the world over are 'unhip' to the idea of being blown up in a subway. And why is it always 'they' when you refer to the 'enemy'? Who exactly are 'they'? The Afgheni people? The Iraqi people? The Islamic faithful? What is survival to you - bomb people at random until you get 'them'? Why do you think people flock to the banner of the Islamic extremists? It's because not knowing who the real enemy is and attacking anything that moves makes it really, really easy to hate us.
I'm unhip to being blown up on the subway myself. I live near a major military installation in a major metropolitan area. And frankly, ever since GWB started his unending war on a concept, I've felt increasingly unsafe. The reason being is that we're fighting the wrong war, the wrong way, at the wrong time, and the wrong guys are gaining more and more power as it goes on. Wiretapping, leaking to out political enemies, wars on 'them', tax cuts for the wealthy during a time of war, the fact congress lets Bush get away with his 'I do not think this bill means what it is you say it means' every time (yes, McCain, I realize you have an anti-torture bill, but I'll sign it and tell you I think it means I can still torture - seriously, WTF?) It is Orwellian.
Memo to the administration: Shooting random brown people is not the way to fight terrorism. Global cooperation involving special investigative teams and preventative measures is. The administration thumbed its nose at the 9/11 comission's report and went on about its merry dance. Now they're gearing up for Iran.
Think about the saying "you're not paranoid if they're really out to get you." The fundie nutbags don't look nuts to the Islamic world because instead of protecting ourselves, we're threatening the Joe Muslim. I mean, seriously, some of you, think about what you are saying - we're going to attack a village to get to the rebels, or terrorists, or whatever - do you honestly think the villagers are thinking, 'sure, blow up my house by mistake, or gun down my wife, I'll get a new one'? - no, they think, maybe there's something to this America is the devil stuff.
People who aren't angry or aren't successful eventually give up and go home; if nothing else try to make a deal. People who are mad as hell and have minor successes will keep going until you have to kill them. I know which way I'd rather have the US acting. Instead, we get War Is Peace. Bah.
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