Re: NASA TRIES, FAILS TO WITHHOLD PLANETARY DEFENSE REPORT

On May 25, 6:29 am, Ian Parker <ianpark...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 24 May, 19:12, Eric Chomko <pne.cho...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
.

Start with the one in Iran back in 1953. Spell out Britain's
participation first. Hint: BP.

The US does now in Latin America what Britain has done with her
colonies for centuries but no longer can because instead of the sun
never setting on the British Empire it now transits in less than a
hour.

You are right of course except for one thing. You must view history
the way people at the time saw it. The coups against democracy in Iran
are a shmeful episode. I do not think we would have Amadjinabad now if
sensible decisions had been taken then.

No doubt about that.


Fundamentally (this is true both for the UK and US) oil is
counterproductive. If oil were the determinant it would pay to cut
defense spending and spend the money on things like the Severn Barrage
and nuclear power (civil). Iran etc. would have to sell its oil to
somebody, and with non fossil fuel energy in place the price would
fall anyway.

When I say you must see history the way people at the time saw it, I
mean this. Clive was nasty by modern standards but was no worse than
previous rulers of India - The Moguls for example. Clive in fact came
along when the Mogul Empire was collapsing.

The US is no worse than the Spanish were. In fact all that US policy
has done is to maintain the injustice of the Spanish occupation. This
is true. In their turn the Spanish were no worse than the Aztecs who
had particularly grisly methods of treating prisoners of war.

However all this is missing the real point. How do you build a
hemisphere? In the EU there is freedom of movement. There are some
restrictions on Bulgaria and Romania which are strictly time limited.
A hemisphere must eventually have this as an aspiration. This is the
way the modern world is beginning to think. We live in the modern
world we do not line in Clive's world. How do you build trust? I think
the accusations of terrorism on both Cuba (and Mexico) are not only
untrue but are causing distrust in Latin America.

There is also no parallel with the lies told by the CIA. The East
India Company (I am using this as India was the brightest jewel of
British Imperialism) did not specifically lie and create a climate of
lack of credibility. It is this lack of credibility that I was really
arguing about. It was simply a long way away, and in the absense of
rapid communications you can get away with anything.

Right that is why the coup in Iran worked in 1953 but won't work in
2007.


Again we have to look at how we are to behave in the modern and
perhaps post modern world. I would like to say one or two things about
the US constitution. The Founding Fathers did a fairly good job of
separating the powers of the legislature and executive. They never
anticipated the power of the press. The Declaration of Independence
was in 1776. In 1789 there was the French Revolution and the famous
three estates of Nobility, Clergy and Commoners. Someone a little bit
later observed that there was a fourth estate, more powerful than any
of the other 3 - The Press. We are now moving into a world where AI at
least in some form is going to select what we view and the information
we receive. Google and Yahoo have search engines which are constantly
being improved. It is Google/Yahoo that are potentially able to
destroy freedom of speech - not any military or intelligence
organization. So far they have acted very responsibly, but I am
beginning to think their position should be guaranteed by actual
constitutional amendments.

How is that done?

The second BTW leads to 12,000+ deaths a year and is not really
relevant to the problems of the near future.

You lost me here. What leads to 12,000 deaths per year?

My point is that both George Bush and Tony Blair get into power via
elections and then end up serving the rich few that profit off of
things like war and the high price of oil. The People, for the most
part, are clueless and just go along with their lives while the Power
Elite takes what it wants. I guess as long as life is good enough
they'll continue to do so.

What bugs me about America is that we need competition from another
country to get us off our dead asses to get things done. The Apollo
missions based upon the Space Race with the Russians is a case in
point. Now we have international cooperation and ISS is deemed a while
elephant and an albatross. Where is the can-do spirit in the face of
no competition? It seems silly that we need the competition in order
to do great things.

Eric

- Ian Parker


.

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