Tuesday February 14, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

SuperLib's past comments

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SuperLibFeb. 14, 2012 - 01:52AM JST

DentShop: Well, you dont know me or anything about my academic background - so not sure why you would cast such an aspersion. Nobody would deny that the Middle East has not had a long and fractious past. But to say that the US has only been involved in the region for 30 years is to be very uninformed.

Please, do tell about the region. I'm especially interested in hearing about the meddling of Russia and Europe, and of course the damage Middle Eastern countries have done to each other.

Posted in: U.S. admiral says forces prepared to confront Iran
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SuperLibFeb. 13, 2012 - 11:27PM JST

DentShop: The CIA overthrew the Syrian government in 1948, overthrew the democratically elected Mosaddeq government of Iran in 1953, involved themselves in the Suez crisis, the Six Day War, helped make Saddam Hussein the leader of Iraq in 1968 and helped murder thousands of civilians in Black September. The US involvement in the Middle East is long and bloody.

Oh, I think the Middle East has been doing just fine creating a long and bloody history on its own. Not that you would care.

Posted in: U.S. admiral says forces prepared to confront Iran
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SuperLibFeb. 13, 2012 - 03:51PM JST

DentShop: Is Israel really under threat though?

Nah. They just want to steal all that Iranian oil. Anything good on TV tonight?

Posted in: U.S. admiral says forces prepared to confront Iran
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SuperLibFeb. 13, 2012 - 11:49AM JST

How are other Japanese companies successfully selling TVs if the problem are the cheap imports?

Posted in: Incoming Sony CEO Hirai refuses to abandon TV business
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SuperLibFeb. 12, 2012 - 09:22PM JST

On one side you have a bunch of idiots in the government who are out of touch with what downloading is and are believing just about everything the corporations tell them. On the other you have people who don't seem to get that piracy is a problem and stealing is stealing no matter what justification you think you have.

Posted in: Europeans protest controversial Internet pact
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SuperLibFeb. 12, 2012 - 06:44PM JST

“Democracy doesn’t come out of the barrel of a gun.”

...but anti-democracy crackdowns sure do!

Posted in: Iran to present nuclear projects in days; lashes out at Israel
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SuperLibFeb. 11, 2012 - 06:31PM JST

A 2007 study in Scotland found 15% of 537 drivers aged 17 to 39 had used marijuana within 12 hours.

12 hours seems like a pretty silly range of time since someone who last smoked 12 hours before wouldn't still be feeling it. It makes the stat mostly useless.

Posted in: Marijuana users twice as likely to cause car crash, studies show
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SuperLibFeb. 11, 2012 - 06:23PM JST

Is it a nuclear powered submarine or a submarine with nuclear weapons?

Posted in: Argentina says Britain has nuclear weapons in Falklands
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SuperLibFeb. 11, 2012 - 06:20PM JST

No worries. Tomorrow the papers will be back with a fresh, new angle on the crisis to sell more papers.

Posted in: Greek cabinet approves debt deal after PM warns of chaos
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SuperLibFeb. 10, 2012 - 01:36PM JST

Another example of a handful of stupid Marines give anti-Americans more anecdotes to make sweeping generalizations based on bigotry.

Posted in: U.S. Marines posed with Nazi symbol in Afghanistan
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SuperLibFeb. 10, 2012 - 03:56AM JST

He might be talking about the guy who the Canadians had picked up by the US and sent overseas. That was the evidence that Canada was using rendition....but using the US to do it for them. With Canadian officials in Iraq and Gitmo, now this story, Canadians might have to wonder if they've been fed a steady stream of BS from their government that they bought hook, line, and sinker. And they would have to ask if their zeal to go after their brothers down South played right into the government's hands.

Posted in: Canada's use of torture data sparks outcry
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SuperLibFeb. 09, 2012 - 11:59AM JST

What's next is most likely continued sanctions and pressure with the ultimate goal of stripping the Iranian government with the ability to function financially. The measures have been set in motion but the harshest ones have not. More scientists will probably be killed. More pressure will be placed on Syria in order to remove an Iranian ally from the region. At that point Iran can either return to the negotiating table and agree to handle their nuclear program in a transparent way, or they could go nuclear. If they go nuclear you're going to see many more countries publicly speaking out about Iran at which point they become even more isolated.

If a shooting was does start it will begin with cyber warfare, and Iran will most likely start with terrorism. That's to say the boots on the ground are a long ways off, if they are even needed at all.

Posted in: Fears grow of Israeli attack on Iran
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SuperLibFeb. 09, 2012 - 11:39AM JST

As smithinjapan often likes to say, "no better than the terrorists...."

Posted in: Canada's use of torture data sparks outcry
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SuperLibFeb. 09, 2012 - 01:25AM JST

Of course Israel just flouts UN resolutions that it join the non proliferation treaty, of which Iran is a signed up and abiding member.

click I think I'll turn that one off early and head to bed. It's a rerun.

Posted in: Fears grow of Israeli attack on Iran
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SuperLibFeb. 08, 2012 - 08:40AM JST

yahukuni: We need the best brains in the world to get in a room and sort this out. It's just a matter of time, (imagine 20, 30, 50 years from now) and more and more countries will have the technology.

Yep. It's a race between the pace of technology vs. the pace of evolution.

Posted in: Fears grow of Israeli attack on Iran
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SuperLibFeb. 08, 2012 - 08:33AM JST

Ha!

Posted in: Appeals court reverses California gay marriage ban
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SuperLibFeb. 07, 2012 - 10:49PM JST

And to think if he had done it in the name of Islam people would be listing wars and reasons why his actions make complete sense.

Posted in: Norway mass killer demands medal at court hearing
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SuperLibFeb. 07, 2012 - 12:59PM JST

Cletus My point was as you pointed out apart from supplying arms, money and training to an external group has the Iranian military been involved directly in any actions

And the 500-lb gorilla you've been ignoring is the very real possibility that with a nuclear defense umbrella Iran could increase their arms, money, and training to their external groups and ratchet up the attacks on Israeli soil. I'm sure you're aware of how much chaos that would bring to the Israeli-Palestinian issue as well as the Israeli-Lebanese issue. Syria could come into play again as well. You might as well bury the peace process at that point and prepare for endless war. I don't see you even acknowledging this possibility which means it's too real for you or you just don't understand the dynamics.

You are also ignoring the very real possibility that Saudi Arabia would go nuclear at which point a chain reaction would start with the entire Middle East going after nuclear weapons. That's something that no one wants, but when you look at the situation it needs to be addressed. You aren't addressing it. Instead you choose to chalk up the situation as "people not respecting other people's cultures" which we know is just useless filler material.

There are 3 possible outcomes: 1) Iran starts to comply and agrees to have a transparent and verifiable civilian nuclear program, 2) Iran continues along the path and develops the bomb, and 3) Israel strike Iran preemptively. Two of those outcomes are disastrous. Only one leads to peace and stability, and the ball is in Iran's court on that one. We're left sitting here praying that Iran shows some kind of common sense and doesn't drag the entire world onto a path of endless hostility. Only time will tell.

Posted in: Fears grow of Israeli attack on Iran
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SuperLibFeb. 07, 2012 - 12:21PM JST

But Parsi, author of a new book on Obama’s Iran policy called “A Single Roll of the Dice,” warned that using the implied threat of war if sanctions do not stop the nuclear program was a large gamble.

Yep.

Posted in: Israel's Iran rhetoric has Washington on edge
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SuperLibFeb. 06, 2012 - 10:39PM JST

Johannes Weber: The Iranian theocracy knows very well that they could not use nukes and expect that their country survives that.

But they could easily ship more powerful weapons to their proxies and keep Israel under a constant attack with the defense umbrella of a nuclear weapon. They could also transfer nuclear technology to other countries and there's no guarantee that Iran could even keep their nuclear weapons safe given the structure of their government where one hand often doesn't know what the other is doing. Saudi Arabia would be next to go nuclear and whose to say that other neighbors don't follow suit, sparking a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

Iran supports terror against Israel. This has to be dealt with in a civil fashion by economic sanctions, freezes of Iranian accounts and arrests whenever possible. Discussions about whether killing suspects without trial will rage on forever, because they walk the fine line between self-defense against criminals and the fact that it is murder. Different opinions are part of a free society.

I'm all for the sanctions and freezes but keep in mind that Iran considers that to be an act of war.

Posted in: Fears grow of Israeli attack on Iran