tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post7215364275803722443..comments2024-03-29T00:44:42.046+13:00Comments on Bowalley Road: Where Is The Peace Movement?Chris Trotterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-16336096767598118842022-04-24T21:58:28.720+12:002022-04-24T21:58:28.720+12:00GS, pertinent points about of our present state. ...GS, pertinent points about of our present state. I heard Robert Reich on National Radio afternoon the other day and he summarises our position so easily I felt redundant. Every time I have to come up with our point of view it feels like giving birth anew (I'm a male imagining). Glad for so many of us who remember the right. Chris doesn't think we are significant anymore, I very much do. Not since the 80s has there been so much force for social democracy.sumsuchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03133092096534660472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-35193185554706522122022-04-18T14:20:32.484+12:002022-04-18T14:20:32.484+12:00@mikesh you have remembered some alternate history...@mikesh you have remembered some alternate history or more likely confused 2003 with either 1980 when Iraq invaded Iran and triggered the Iran-Iraq War or 1990 when Iraq invaded Kuwait and trigger the War to liberate Kuwait (aka Operation Desert Storm). George Bush gave <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationale_for_the_Iraq_War" rel="nofollow">various reasons for invading Iraq</a> in 2003 but "Saddam Hussein had invaded a neighboring country" wasn't one of them. Ianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04430437789984170487noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-80335154676389410842022-04-17T19:37:55.985+12:002022-04-17T19:37:55.985+12:00If their was a "Draft" of men and women ...If their was a "Draft" of men and women in western countries to go and fight in the Ukraine, you'd see a peace movement pop up real quick.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-59612499076991910532022-04-17T11:52:48.576+12:002022-04-17T11:52:48.576+12:00The peace movement as you call it is devoting all ...The peace movement as you call it is devoting all its efforts to protests about climate change, to black lives matter, to diversity, to refugees, etc, etc.<br />Most people who might care about 'peace' couldnt give a toss about these other 'matters'. Maybe climate is taken seriously but no one is really going to give up cars and heating and medicine and revert to horses, a vegetable diet, sack cloth clothing etc. <br />The western world has had a drop in living standards due to globalisation and things are getting , and about to get, worse. Food prices have only just started rising. Russia and Ukraine produce some 20-30% of world grain and seeds. World fertiliser prices are rocketing up. Virtue signaling moves to slow oil production is raising oil prices aside from effects of the Ukraine affair.<br />The cost of housing is going up in all western countries.<br />And you ask where is the peace movement? Most people are worried about their own state if affairs and have no time or energy left to devote to something that their efforts wouldnt change.Barryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14253074798445269827noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-38380235050147724572022-04-15T13:46:13.392+12:002022-04-15T13:46:13.392+12:00This war in Ukraine isn't even about Ukraine: ...This war in Ukraine isn't even about Ukraine: Ukraine is merely the theatre of a struggle between Russia and US/NATO. Ukraine's armed forces are simply NATO's auxiliaries. You could hardly say that NATO and the US are neutrals in this fight: they are belligerents, whatever their pretence. New Zealand should keep it nose well and truly clear of this mess: it has nothing to do with us.<br /><br />Do you SERIOUSLY think Russia would 'go nuke' over Ukraine? I feel certain that US would, because the US is bloody minded enough for anything. Remember, it is the US that has the 'policy' of 'First Strike' (announced by Bush Junior, and never repudiated), at any time for any reason at any excuse. Russia doesn't, not unless its very existence is at stake (which would probably mean it is already under imminent nuclear attack). <br /><br />Now, do you reckon Russia's very existence is at stake in this war? (If your answer is 'yes' to this, that would be a very interesting revelation, and state something about what you believe to be NATO's and the US's war aims). I don't even reckon Ukraine's existence is at stake, qua nationhood, though it will lose some territory it need not have done. Russia wants non-hostile buffer state. Destroying Ukraine would be stupid; taking over Ukraine outright wouldn't be a whole lot smarter. Ukraine wouldn't even have<br />to be especially friendly towards Russia to satisfy Russia's wants. <br /><br />This could have been achieved at any time between February 2014 to February 2022. It was Ukraine's intransigence, egged on by the US and NATO, over far from unreasonable demands that led to this war - or, to be more accurate, led to Russia's entry into this war. <br /><br />Cheers, (yeah, well)<br />Ion A. Dowman<br />Archduke Piccolohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15533325665451889661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-51495111850332475442022-04-15T13:45:31.247+12:002022-04-15T13:45:31.247+12:00I think it would be well to ask yourself some ques...I think it would be well to ask yourself some questions in respect of the 'Russo-Ukraine War', so called. First of all, ask what Russia might be about.<br /><br />It does no good to bang your knee with a hammer and go: 'Putin's gone crazy', 'made a misjudgement', 'Rutin's a monster' etc and blah. Suppose Russia is a nation who has decided to exercise the same 'right' that the United States has arrogated to itself: to draw red lines where its vital interests are concerned. Note, as you do so, that Russia's 'red lines' are a whole deal closer to Russia than the United States's red lines are to the United States. Suppose Putin's government knows very well what it is doing, and why. Try for a rational explanation.<br /><br />Ask yourself: what are Russia's war aims? OK, for sure, this is speculation. But work on the assumption that there ARE war aims, and they are rational ones. Ask yourself what are Russia's peace aims. I dare say they are a deal easier to figure out - they have been pretty much stated explicitly years ago. Of course, whether they are realisable is a whole different question.<br /><br />I am also perturbed by the ready assumption that Russia has been the perpetrator of the war crimes reported. The New York Times claims to have 'proof'. That is more than the Pentagon has been claiming (last I heard). The Pentagon allowed that there was insufficient evidence to support such a direct accusation.<br /><br />It appears that there are some circumstantial evidences that the crimes imputed to Russia have in fact been committed by Ukraine forces and/or sympathisers, against Russian supporters and sympathisers. There is the announcement by the Ukraine Minister of Police warning of a 'cleansing operation' to be carried out by Ukraine personnel. There are reports of the victims of these mass murders to be wearing white arm bands (signifying support for Russia), or being tied up with them. Ukraine's supporters wear blue (so I gather). There is some suggestion that the bodies found were too fresh to have been killed by Russian personnel, who had left the position several days before. At that, how come there a delay of those days - the best part of a week after they were alleged to have been committed, before the breathless announcement of these crimes?<br /><br />Maybe the Russians are guilty after all. But I'll tell you what. If the thing ever comes to an international investigation, you watch Russia being denied the chance to present their own case, or to present the evidence to support it.<br /><br />It will be MAS17 all over again, only more so. Even Malaysian Airlines and the Malaysian government didn't buy the findings of the so-called Joint 'Investigation' Team, whose 'a priori' brief was so obviously 'find Russia guilty' I wonder why it is that people were so ready to believe the outcome. <br /><br />Cheers, (yeah, well)<br />Ion A. DowmanArchduke Piccolohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15533325665451889661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-56118148350708239652022-04-15T13:34:33.531+12:002022-04-15T13:34:33.531+12:00Yeah, for some reason before invasion I've had...Yeah, for some reason before invasion I've had a ear worm of President Putin singing to himself an old Randy Newman song (via Alan Price), and his surprise the incursion got a very different reaction -<br /><br />I may go out tomorrow if I can borrow a coat to wear<br />Oh I'd step out in style with my sincere smile and my dancing bear<br />Outrageous alarming courageous charming<br />Oh who would think a boy and bear<br />Could be well accepted everywhere<br />It's just amazing how fair people can be<br />Seen at the nicest places where well fed faces all stop to stare<br />Making the grandest entrance is Vlad Putin and his dancing bear<br />They'll love us, won't they?<br />They feed us, don't they?<br />Oh, who would think a boy and bear<br />Could be well accepted everywhere<br />It's just amazing how fair people can be<br />Who needs money when you're funny?<br />The big attraction everywhere<br />Will be Vlad Putin and his dancing bear<br />It's Vlad Putin and the amazing dancing bear <br /><br />[very lazy satire when you just replace the name] The Barronnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-87794967575505306082022-04-15T12:39:37.383+12:002022-04-15T12:39:37.383+12:00The recent film of a gormless US President trying ...The recent film of a gormless US President trying to shake a non-existent hand throws into sharp relief the terrible dilemma facing America: if Putin is the madman you describe (and that appears to be the case) then should the US make a preemptive strike? Or does it wait for Russia to make the decision? We all have a stake in this.Max Ritchiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09700377308425417842noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-66008058095601129182022-04-15T11:19:25.031+12:002022-04-15T11:19:25.031+12:00"it is possible that a million or more Russia..."it is possible that a million or more Russians would have turned out to protest the invasion of Ukraine."<br /><br />"The most important thing to keep in mind is that Russia is a completely depoliticized country. People generally don’t want to have anything in common with politics. There is an incredible contempt and disdain for all kinds of politics just because Russians are completely certain that there is no possible way to change anything through politics, that no change is possible in general. So for that reason, people prefer to lead their private lives. They have opportunities to do that because most of them are better off under Putin. Any kind of political activity is all just complete nonsense to a vast majority of Russians. If you believe in extraterrestrials, that’s at least interesting. If you are into politics, you’re silly. Particularly for people in business, that’s a complete no go. I always say the best way to spoil the party is to start talking about politics in Russia. You will never be invited again." <br />Russian sociologist Greg Udin<br /><br />So all have to do is convince people that politicians are all the same, that there is no real difference between mainstream political parties, and that nothing you can do politically will change anything. I suspect you can see the beginnings of this in NZ with the steadily falling percentage of people who vote. It's quite apparent in the US as well. Once you've done this you can establish an authoritarian pseudo-democracy which is in essence a dictatorship. I'm pretty sure the extreme right know all this.Even in New Zealand, a major preference on the right seems to be for a "strong man" in charge, who can "get things done". 1922 anyone?Guerilla Surgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03427876447124021423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-49472207407629843592022-04-15T10:40:57.279+12:002022-04-15T10:40:57.279+12:00It is interesting to learn that there were extensi...It is interesting to learn that there were extensive protests against the 2003 Iraq war. It is so long ago that I think I must have forgotten. However, in 2003, Saddam Hussein had invaded a neighboring country, so I'd have thought that there would have been a lot of support for the US/UK action. mikeshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300725599640172455noreply@blogger.com