Solitair

Reply to The United Nations: Only As Good As Its Members in International JoeUser Forums

Don't get me wrong, I totally agree with the concept of a morally superior body made up of those countries who have earned their place. How they earn their place is open to debate. Representating their people through free elections is well and good, but is it the only way and who determines if the elections were really free. What about countries with different voting rights? What if the US granted the right to vote only to those who paid tax? What if E

Reply to Beta? in Political Machine JoeUser Forums

I believe Brad said they were aiming for a May release to be out in time for the election. Paul.

Reply to The US is now in the hands of a group of extremists in International JoeUser Forums

Brad, Historical invasions don't reflect current idealogy. Many nations exhibited a historical desire for imperialism, but in todays society that is considered unacceptable. Whenever that occurs there is outrage and usually leads to international condemnation and often reaction. A good example is Kuwait. What is less clear is when there is civil war within a country. Here the international opinion is beginning to turn towards intervention as i

Reply to Diplomacy in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

Sector ownership was discussed a long time ago and Brad stated that you don't OWN space. Therefore you have no right to demand other ships to leave. Your culture is not the same territory. The only thing you own are the planets and starbases and AI ships can't move onto those squares. It also makes the AI control much easier! As for late capital ships being far more powerful that starbases that has also been heavily debated. Various arguements about manouverabily suggest that a starship

Reply to GalCiv 1.2 update in Galactic Civilizations I Stardock Forums

excellent! ~SDC~

Reply to The United Nations: Only As Good As Its Members in International JoeUser Forums

I don't like the idea of reducing membership to only those countries which meet certain ideals. One of the important aspects of the UN is that almost every country is a member and has a voice. This means that there is a forum where conversation can occur irrespective of the hate or disagreement between those countries. I totally agree with the concept that cultures should also have some form of representation, and accept that the whole securi

Reply to Kyoto Protocol and why Americans don't want to participate in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Probably because a shut down of the North Atlantic Gulf stream would freeze most of Europe as oppossed to just the eastern seaboard of the US. Some of the suggested solutions are very extreme including seeing of cloud layers and even nukes. Paul.

Reply to One Planet vs. One big greedy country= in Current Events JoeUser Forums

It was interesting to note the call for economic sanctions against polluting countries in the last world climate meeting. I think in the end this is what will happen to try to force the major polluters to concede there is a problem and deal with it. Initial studies have suggested that the WTO would support sanctions because of unfair advantage due to more lenient environmental laws. Paul.

Reply to The state of JoeUser: Feb 2004 in Blogging JoeUser Forums

Only counted once is good to know. Any chance of a combined Joeuser and Derngin.net account? :) Paul.

Reply to The US is now in the hands of a group of extremists in International JoeUser Forums

Ah Brad, there is where I have to disagree. Why is the US free to focus on targets? What gives it the right to invade any target it wants? Therein lies the very reason there is so much anti US feeling worldwide. The rest of the world believes no nation has the automatic right to invade another. It was unacceptable for Iraq when it invaded Kuwait. Why should the US be different? Paul.

Reply to WMD stockpiles in Iraq were never the core issue in Politics JoeUser Forums

Brad to clarify my opinion. a) War in Iraq was justified for many points other than WMD b) US + UK did mislead their own people and the world as to extent of WMD (can't say if this was knowingly or not) c) 1998 would have been a totally justified time to invade Iraq due to WMD, 2003 was not. As for disagreements and dissent, please don't go black listing people. Most users of this site are mature enough to recognise or ignore trolling or personal comments. I have to adm

Reply to Creating a society of dependents in Politics JoeUser Forums

I apologise Brad for mistaking your analogy. It was certainly not intentional and now that you've re-explained it I can see your point. Your analogy however fails to appreciate that many of the taxes which pay for that party also come from other sources which that poor person does contribute to or have an equal right of (Vat, company tax, natural resources). It is also still suggestive that the poo

Reply to The US is now in the hands of a group of extremists in International JoeUser Forums

It did indeed violate those terms. Whether it was still violating those terms in 2003 was the big problem. Paul.

Reply to The state of JoeUser: Feb 2004 in Blogging JoeUser Forums

Brad, any chance of adding points (trolling / insightful) to the forum part of the system? Keep up the good work and don't reduce your debating too much. It's good to hear other people's opinions, especially if you disagree with them. It makes you rethink your opinions (maybe not immediately though ;)). As for the premium membership? Any idea of the costs? I'd be interested purely to support the site (as I'm unlikely to use graphics, or store blogs). Paul.

Reply to WMD stockpiles in Iraq were never the core issue in Politics JoeUser Forums

Ouch Brad. PLEASE check your quotes! You've gone and mixed Clintons 2003 quote with the one he made back in 1998! Big big difference. In 1998 there was a definite case for war due to WMD. Iraq had blocked the inspectors, evicted them in the end. Big difference to 2003 when Iraq was (in the words of the weapons inspectors themselves) "cooperating fully". Please don't try to warp the case by selecting 6 year old reports and pretending they came from last year. As for th

Reply to Bush - is he getting a bit lost in the truth in Politics JoeUser Forums

Lets be honest, while Bush focussed on WMD he did not make this his sole reason for war. This was purely the reason he used in trying to make the UN support a second resolution on war and the reason he tried to use for the original resolution to be broken thus justifying the war. So I don't think he needs to fall on his sword. He got it wrong and loses credibility for it, nothing worse. Whether the US will face some legal issues (potential futur

Reply to Who will lead the coalition in Politics JoeUser Forums

I think Blair is fairly safe actually. If there was a strong opposition leader his party would force him to go to avoid the damage, but the Tory leader keeps screwing up. He demands Blair's resignation every time something happens. Is not knowing that 45 min claim meant battlefield weapons a resigning offense? No, of course not. It just makes the real issue of leading Britian into a potential unjustified war tougher to defend. Pity the Tories don't see

Reply to Creating a society of dependents in Politics JoeUser Forums

Sorry Brad, but in response to the statement The votes of the poor, in my view, count no less than the votes of the rich. you replied

Reply to The US is now in the hands of a group of extremists in International JoeUser Forums

Brad, I'm afraid I also have to agree with the previous two posts. Totally supported the war in Iraq but it had nothing to do with a war on terror. There were indirect links though, a) America wanted a stable democracy in the middle east (could just as easily have attacked Iran or Saudi Arabia) b) Iraq's defiance was leading other countries to more openly oppose the US But lets face the truth, America invaded a soveign c

Reply to Iraq: Mindset behind intelligence failures in Politics JoeUser Forums

What blame themselves and admit they were wrong??? Never going to happen. Now it's the media's fault for convincing Tony Blair that 45 minutes meant medium range missiles, even though members of his own cabinate knew otherwise Paul.</fo

Reply to Kerry's Top Ten Contributors in Politics JoeUser Forums

Are there no limits on funding in US elections? Does the federal government actually match funds? How much? What a waste of tax payers money!!! Many other democracies have strick limits on how much a candidate can spend (or have spent on them). Soem countries even have completely centralised funding so that all candidates spend equal amounts. Paul.

Reply to The US is now in the hands of a group of extremists in International JoeUser Forums

The United States was attacked by whom? The US did invade Afganistan for refusing to hand over the attackers and the whole world stood behind them in support. Iraq had nothing to do with the US being attacked so don't try to imply it did (and yes the following statement The United States was attacked. It is respondin

Reply to Creating a society of dependents in Politics JoeUser Forums

some guy sitting on his ass doing nothing but drinking our beer. does NOT equal poor. Very insulting statement. Poor is usually defined as living below the poverty line (which is itself defined seperately for each country based on income required to achieve a particular level of comfort). The vast major

Reply to Tony says ...believe me as much I believe me in Politics JoeUser Forums

Accountable to whom? There lies the problem. To the people is of course the right answer, but who represents the people, who ensures they get an unbiased evenhanded view? Other politicians? The media? No, most people realise that in todays society it is very hard for politicians to be held accountable. Too much bias and you run the risk of a witch hunt (how many times have I heard the call for a politician to resign for stupid reasons

Reply to Iraq: Mindset behind intelligence failures in Politics JoeUser Forums

I'll provide my comments seperately from the article. It's interesting how the intelligence is beginning to be re-evaluated. Many of the sensational comments are now being seen to be false, but there is renewed focus on the underlying basic capability. This article strongly suggests that the American's didn't knowingly lie to the UN, but had convinved themselves of the truth of what they said. How important is this difference? I notice the comparisons to other intelligence blu